Cupcake War 3: Maya's Cuppies VS Amna Patisserie
Welcome to Bahrain Cupcake War Round 3
I did say I was lazy.
But damn this was a post I did NOT want to write, for reasons you'll find out below.
Before reading, get a better idea of how the score system works at the Cupcake War Introduction.
Sigh let's do it then.
The judges for Cupcake Round 3 are:
Noor Nooruddin: Someone who thought banana cupcakes were a good idea.
Ali Haji: Cupcake War probably made him hate cakes even more.
Nawaf Nooruddin: Possibly the Simon Cowell of the group.
Zainab Abdulrahman: Doesn't like Ali Haji all the time.
Imran Al Aradi: Wishes he didn't miss last round's Betty Crocker debate/war.
Johara Al Khalifa: Guest judge of the round. She brought gahwa. Bless her heart. We'll be inviting her again.
The Contestants and Their Cakes:
- Maya's Cuppies: One of the more well known home-based cupcake businesses in the country, so we were looking forward to it.
Cupcakes being judged: Oreo Cupcake and Rocky Road Cupcake
- Amna Patisserie: Amna has been in business for many many years, and is a well known staple (for most people) in the kingdom, and she does way more than just cupcakes, even more than just desserts. Huge menu on the website.
Cupcakes being judged: Oreo Cupcake and Banana Cupcake
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Oh boy...
Maya's Cuppies: Oreo Cupcake
Who wouldn't choose an Oreo cupcake, seriously? So, we did. The strange thing about the cupcake is that the frosting was actually cream cheese frosting, unconventional for Oreo cupcakes (or chocolate cupcakes).
After the tasting, we rated the flavoras follows:
Noor: 4/10
Ali: 3/10
Nawaf: 4/10
Zainab: 4/10
Imran: 3/10
Johara: 4.5/10
Average: 3.75
Cream cheese was not only unconventional (a negative for Noor, who hates cream cheese frosting), but it actually was too cheesy to the point where it was almost savory. The cake was not particularly special nor was it very Oreo-y.
Maya's Cuppies: Rocky Road Cupcake
Funky flavor, first we've seen.
Flavorratings:
Noor: 4.5/10
Ali: 6/10
Nawaf: 4/10
Zainab: 5/10
Imran: 6/10
Johara: 5.5/10
Average: 5.1
Slightly better than the Oreo cupcake due to a lack of cheesy frosting, but it had the same cake foundation as the Oreo cupcake, just a different frosting. Frosting wasn't very "rocky," if you know what I mean, we expected a little bit of crunch but there was none. Still, better than the previous one.
LET'S SEE IF THE COMPETITION CAN DO BETTER
Amna Patisserie: Oreo Cupcake
Flavorratings:
Noor: 5/10
Ali: 3/10
Nawaf: 5/10
Zainab: 4/10
Imran: 3/10
Johara: 4.5/10
Average: 4.1
Only slightly better than Maya's Oreo Cupcake, probably because the frosting wasn't cheesy. The frosting, was, however, a bit on the oily side.
Amna Patisserie: Banana Cupcake
Flavor:
Noor: 5/10
Ali: 5/10
Nawaf: 1/10
Zainab: 4/10
Imran: 1/10
Johara: 2/10
Average: 3
So... this didn't go well. Honestly most of the judges couldn't finish a full bite, the cake was incredibly dense and no one really knew what the frosting was. If anything, it was more of a muffin with a mysterious frosting on top.
Big fat note: I've had a few people say "well that's not fair, you should have tried the X cupcake because that's their best one." We feel that that would actually make it unfair. This competition is to test out the cupcake businesses, that means anything from their menu should be good. This isn't "Red Velvet Cupcake War." Don't put something on the menu if you don't want anyone to order it. Also, most of the cupcakes we order are recommended by the owners.
Extra Point Winners:
- Appearance and Presentation (3 points):
A TIE: Amna Patisserie - These cupcakes were huge, and looked very "baked at home by my mother," so it was inviting (for half the judges anyway).
Maya's Cuppies - The rest appreciated the subtlety and clean and polished look of Maya's tiny cupcakes.
- Accessibility (3 points):
Unanimous Winner: Amna Patisserie - With the availability of a website (with the full menu), a physical place of operations, and the fact that the owner herself answers the phone and gives you recommendations, Amna was the clear winner here. Maya had the Whatsapp contact and a Facebook page that's actually pretty active, so it wasn't particularly inaccessible.
- Value for Money (2 points):
Unanimous Winner:Maya's Cuppies- It's no surprise that home businesses without actual shops tend to price their products cheaper than more established and commercial companies. It's not tremendously cheaper, at about BD1 per cupcake instead of BD1.2 at the competitor's end, not a huge difference but it ultimately swayed the vote as most judges felt they got more out of Maya's.
- Menu and Variety (2 points):
Unanimous Winner:Maya's Cuppies - The flexibility that the business owner had with the products, and the funky flavors she boasted is what won Maya's Cuppies the vote. That being said, Amna Patisserie does have a very large menu with a variety of both savory and sweet yumyums.
Grand Totals:
WINNER: Maya's Cuppies
While it was pretty close, Maya's flavors just had a liiiiiittle bit more than the two Amna cupcakes in the competitions, along to snatching a lot of the bonus points.
Congratulations to the winner of Cupcake War Round 3!!
Stay tuned for our next round!
To get in contact with the cupcake businesses in this round:
Maya's Cuppies: Maya's Cuppies' Facebook page
Amna Patisserie: Official website
Tournament Bracket:
Next: A Piece of Cake VS Star Cupcakes
Thanks for reading!
