Winner Bakes All (10 page)

“Why are you baking an engagement cake? Who's engaged?” Jenna asked. Something told her she didn't want to hear the answer.

Her mother smiled and held out her hand. On it was a sparkly pear-shaped diamond ring. “I am!”

Hugs and sprinkles go out to:

Our loving family: the Kahns, Berks, and Saperstones. (Jason, when are you making the movie version?)

Our
amazing
recipe developer, Jessi Walter of Taste Buds. (Now a Mrs.! Congrats!)

Our PS 6 family, especially Ms. Fontana, Ms. Levenherz, and Ms. Errico.

Carrie's BFFs: Jaimie Ludwig and Darby Dutter—what would I do without you two?

The BAE Level 3 girls, especially Julia Applebaum and Alexa Malone (stretch, girls!); and PS 6 pals Delaney Hannon, Abby Johnson, Ava Nobandegani, Brynn and Dale Heller.

Carrie's Camp Hillard crew: Julia Goldberg, Reina McNutt, Rebecca Pomerantz, Jessica Roth, Sara Binday, Allison Lax, and Erin Donahue.
Grease
is the word! And Gabby Borenstein—my fave Hillard counselor forever!

Sheryl's supporting cast: Holly Russell, Kathy Passero, Stacy Polsky, Pam Kaplan, Michele Alfano, and Debbie Skolnik.

The cupcake experts who have been so supportive of
Carrie's Cupcake Critique
: Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne of
DC
Cupcakes
;
Cake
Boss
Buddy Valastro; Doron Petersan of Sticky Fingers, and Rachel Kramer Bussel and Nichelle Stephens of the
Cupcakes
Take
the
Cake
blogspot.

The folks at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky—we couldn't ask for a better team to work with! Steve Geck, Derry Wilkens, Leah Hultenschmidt, Aubrey Poole, Helen Nam, and Jillian Bergsma.

Illustrator extraordinaire Julia Denos for bringing the PLC characters to life on every cover.

Our agents at the Literary Group: Frank Weimann, Katherine Latshaw, and Elyse Tanzillo.

Photo by Heidi Green

New
York
Times
bestselling co-author of
Soul
Surfer
, Sheryl Berk was the founding editor-in-chief of
Life
& Style Weekly
as well as a contributor to
InStyle
,
Martha
Stewart
, and other publications. She has written dozens of books with celebrities including Britney Spears, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Zendaya. Her 10-year-old daughter, Carrie Berk, a cupcake connoisseur and blogger, cooked up the idea for The Cupcake Club series while in second grade. Together, they have invented dozens of crazy cupcakes recipes in their NYC kitchen (can you say “Purple Velvet”?) and have the frosting stains on the ceiling to prove it. They love writing together and have many more adventures in store for the PLC girls!