Cupcake Wars: A Sweet Ride

Show: Cupcake Wars

Cupcake Wars judge Candace Nelson is the founder and pastry chef of Sprinkles Cupcakes , the world's first cupcake bakery. She joins us on the FN Dish each week to recap all the sweet details of the competition from her seat at the judges' table. Here's what she had to say about last night's episode, LA Auto Show.

Cupcakes and cars are an unexpected pairing, and this week’s Cupcake Wars produced anything but expected results!

Kory stalled in the first round, producing a plain vanilla cupcake without any frosting. It was hard for me to believe that with a table overflowing with gas station goodies like nachos, cola and licorice, there wasn’t a single challenge ingredient incorporated into his cupcake! It’s a shame, but it was clear Kory had to go.

In round two, each contestant gave a very different spin on the car theme – Kim went futuristic with silver foil liners and a personalized fondant license plate. Evelyn went cheeky with fuzzy dice and whitewalls, though Brendan thought they were too kitschy for true car enthusiasts. Glenn went classic with an orange cupcake, a woody with surfboard and a whitewall tire cupcake cleverly positioned on its side. We were all a little confused about the orange theme but we hoped he planned to tie it all together in round three. We said goodbye to Evelyn.

In the third challenge, Glenn’s vintage filling station certainly told a beautiful story, but we find it too quaint for the gearheads at the Auto Show. Kim’s display was a striking mix of lights and chrome, which tied in perfectly to the look of her cupcakes and the theme of the day. She managed to make cupcakes look cool and sleek…quite a feat! Kim drives off with the win!

Bake up a batch of Kim’s winning Caramel Apple Cupcakes and check out FoodNetwork.com for more about Cupcake Wars, plus dozens of our best cupcake recipes .

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