The fourth episode of the fifth season of Cupcake Wars was paying homage to the original comedy website, Funny or Die. The reward was to present at a party rewarding the success of the enterprise. The judges for this episode were Candace Nelson of the world’s first cupcake bakery- Sprinkles Cupcakes, Florian Bellanger of MadMac Macarons, and Seth Morris- writer and actor on the Funny or Die website.
The four competing bakeries were Michelle Flowers for Vintage Cupcakes located in Ogden, Utah; Anomaly Romano for Take the Cake located in Ashville, North Carolina; Jackie (first name only) for Jack’s Cakes located in Los Angeles, California; and Don Hein for Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen located in Vista, California.
The taste test challenge was to incorporate at least three funny ingredients, with a choice of the following: bananas, cumquat, rhubarb, quince, tofurky, hotdogs, marzipan, Gouda, fig, cheese puffs, parsley, and marshmallow fluff.
Michelle Flowers decided to try and make a rhubarb relish, having never tried rhubarb before. Cooking some up, she tried it and to her horror it was much to sour and bitter. Unable to imagine how to salvage it, she scrapped the idea and went with crumbled cheese puffs instead. She recovered for the judging, and Jackie went home instead. She was sent home for failing to have her flavors stand out and by having an overly sweet frosting.
The second challenge was to decorate with the spirit of Funny or Die in mind. Half of the points go towards the decorations, and half go to taste. Don decided not to do decorations on his visual challenge, feeling that his stories behind each cake would be enough. Michelle had major issues with her lemon cupcake and her decorations. Michelle ended up heading home for her gaudy designs.
The final round had Don and Anomaly going head to head in a 1,000-cupcake war. Don went with a display that replicated the “Between Two Ferns” segments off the Funny or Die website. Anomaly went with a computer theme with a monitor design for her display. Hers was interactive, with chalkboard voting stations to replicate the social media interactive aspect of the website. She went with a “swanky” design that did not match the overall feel of the event.
The overall winner was Don Hein for his consistent integration of the Funny or Die themes.
