Winner Bakes All (7 page)

“Go through that pantry and find us some ice cream!” Sadie said, shoving Delaney toward the freezer.

“We'll need to melt Belgian chocolate on the stove slowly,” said Jenna. “It has to pour smooth and thick over the top of the cupcake.”

“The ice-cream scoop needs to sit on a cupcake,” Kylie added. “What's the best flavor we make?”

“Vanilla bean!” the girls shouted in unison.

“Then vanilla bean it is! Let's get baking!”

Sadie knew the recipe by heart: 2 ¼ cups of flour, 1
½
cups of sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup of whole milk, 4 eggs, 1 stick of butter, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, and of course, the seeds from one vanilla bean.

“See, you're pretty good with memorizing numbers,” Kylie told her. “Ms. Erikka would be proud!”

While the cupcake base baked, Delaney and Jenna worked at the stove, creating the perfect hot fudge sauce. In a pan, they mixed condensed milk, semi-sweet chocolate, and two tablespoons of butter until the mixture took on a smooth, glossy texture.

Once the cupcakes cooled, Sadie placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and Lexi drizzled the chocolate over it, making a delicate web. “Should we put a cherry on top?” Delaney asked.

“No cherries! No cherries!” Sadie shouted. “Fiero hates cherries.” A cameraman shoved a camera in her face, trying to catch her in a moment of panic.

“Yes, thank you, we've got it all under control.” Kylie smiled and waved into the lens. Then she whispered to Sadie, “We can't freak out on TV. These cameras are recording everything we do and say.”

Instead of cherries, Lexi made a white chocolate peace sign and perched it on top of the fudge and ice cream.

They had only seconds remaining before Jerry called time. “PLC…you presented first last time, so this time you'll be last.”

“Oh, no!” Sadie panicked. “The ice cream will melt!”

“Let's hope the other bakers talk really fast,” Kylie said, crossing her fingers. “Or we're going to be serving the judges hot fudge soup!”

Cece and Chloe went first. “Since Carly said our last cupcake needed to be more of a treat, we filled this one with candy!” Cece explained.

Fiero took a bite. “What is zees? I think I cracked my tooth on it!” he cried.

“Oh, that's a gum ball,” Cece replied.

“It is like a rock. Zees is bad. Very bad!” he grumbled.

Dina's cupcake was exactly what Jerry asked for: upside down. “I put the frosting in the wrapper, then placed the cake on top,” she grinned. “Like a little hat! I call it Topsy Turvy.”

“Well, you definitely kept to the theme,” Carly said. “But I don't think you gave us anything fresh or new from the last round. I wanted to taste something different. I'm a little over the pickles and parsnips. You didn't work very hard to impress us.”

Finally, it was Sadie's turn.

“Well, we decided to make our cupcake the opposite of our first one. The cake is cold—it's ice cream—and the topping is hot—it's fudge.”

Fiero looked down at his plate. “And zees? What is zees white thing on top?”

“Oh, that was supposed to be a white chocolate peace sign—for Peace, Love, and Cupcakes,” Sadie answered. “I guess it melted.”

“My coopcake…it eez soggy. I like the cake part, but the ice cream, it eez how you say…”

“Gooshy!” Jenna shouted from the wings. “I call it gooshy!”

“
Oui
, like the girl says. It eez gooshy!”

Carly put down her fork and used a spoon to taste it. “I have to agree with Fiero. I like the flavor of your vanilla bean cupcake, and the chocolate fudge is divine, but the ice cream made this sad little puddle on my plate.”

“Oh, no,” Kylie groaned. “She thinks our cupcake is sad!”

As if that wasn't bad enough, Mrs. Vanderwall threw in, “Yes, very disappointing indeed!”

While the judges deliberated, the cupcake club members huddled in their kitchen.

“Don't give up yet,” Sadie begged. “Fiero chipped a tooth…maybe they'll be disqualified for that.”

•••

Jerry cleared his throat. “Okay, bakers, time to face the judges.”

Sadie took her spot in between Cece and Dina.

“This was not an easy decision,” Carly began. “We didn't feel that any of the bakers truly baked cupcakes worthy of
Battle
of
the
Bakers
in this round.”

Sadie's heart was doing jumping jacks. Had they all failed? Were they
all
going home?

“However, one baker did nothing new to impress us with her cupcake,” Carly continued. “Dina…I'm sorry, you're done in
Battle
of
the
Bakers
.”

“That's okay…I've won twice. Time to pass the torch!” Dina said. Then she winked at Sadie. “Good luck!”

Sadie had no time to let the good news sink in before Jerry started barking orders.

“Cupcake bakers! You have two hours to create a 500-cupcake display. Since you've spent all day learning that opposites attract, we want to see a cupcake display that proves it. You can use a master builder of your own and one additional assistant. Ready…set…bake!”

“We want Mommy to help us!” Cece and Chloe yelled. Their mother appeared from the side of the set, giving them a thumbs-up. “And my husband, Stan, the NASA engineer,” Cece said, grinning.

“What do you think Connecticut Cupcake is going to make?” Lexi asked.

“We can't worry about them,” Kylie insisted. “Our display has to stand on its own two feet.”

“That's it!” Sadie yelled. “Two feet!” She grabbed a pencil and made a stick figure. Then she drew another on the other side of the page.

“What is that supposed to be?” Lexi said, turning Sadie's drawing upside down. “It looks like a bunny rabbit…or maybe a turtle with a top hat?”

“It's not a bunny or a turtle,” Sadie explained. “See? It's a couple?”

“A couple of what?” teased Jenna.

“A man and a woman,” Sadie sighed. “You guys…it'll work! Trust me!”

Kylie looked over Sadie's scribbles. “I get it. What if we put them on wheels and push them together? Each one will have his and her own cupcakes, and then in the middle, we'll mix the two together. See…opposites attract.”

“And let's make the frosting two different flavors, for example, sweet chocolate and salty peanut butter, so when they come together, they make a beautiful new swirled frosting,” said Lexi.

Sadie was relieved that PLC had a game plan, but she was still worried what Cece and Chloe were up to. She looked over and saw their sketch: it was a giant “U” shape covered with mini-cupcakes coated in silver fondant.

“What are they making? A horseshoe?” Delaney asked.

Kylie shook her head. “Not a horseshoe. A giant magnet. It's really clever.”

“But our idea is better,” Sadie insisted. “If we can build it.”

“Did someone say they needed a builder?” came a voice from the edge of the set.

“Daddy?” Sadie gasped. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Mom were mad at me.”

“After that sweet presentation? Not a chance!” said Mrs. Harris. “Thank you, Sadie. It was really lovely. We were trying to get backstage to tell you.”

Sadie smiled. “So you're not getting divorced?”

“Divorced? Where did you ever get such an idea?” Mr. Harris replied. “Sometimes parents fight when they're stressed, honey. It doesn't mean we're getting divorced.”

“We're sorry if we upset you. We're going to try our very best to work things out…together.” Mrs. Harris squeezed her husband's hand and smiled. “But for now, you girls have a cupcake battle to win!”

“Dad, can you be our master builder? And Mom, can you be our extra assistant?” Sadie asked. She handed her mother a purple PLC apron.

“We would love to!” her parents said, hugging her.

Sadie stretched out on a big sheet of plywood and lay down on it so Lexi could trace her outline. “You are way too tall!” Lexi laughed. “My hand is getting tired drawing you!”

“The plan is to cut two of these out and then Lexi will paint one to look like a man, the other to look like a woman,” Kylie explained to Sadie's father. “Then we'll need to build some shelves so it looks like they're holding the cupcakes in their hands.”

“Got it,” said Mr. Harris. “And I can put them both on a rolling track so they come together with a light push.”

“We still have 500 cupcakes to bake!” Sadie remembered. “And the clock is ticking down!”

“I got the chocolate…” said Jenna.

“I'm on the peanut butter,” said Kylie.

“And we'll need a third group that's chocolate with peanut butter filling—I can do that!” said Delaney.

“Wait…Sadie, how many of each type of cupcake do we need?” Kylie asked. “What's the equation?”

Sadie bristled: “How should I know?”
Really?
Did Kylie have to throw math at her now, when they were all under so much pressure?

“Think, Sadie. You can do it. And we need to know how many of each flavor to bake.”

Sadie pictured the 500 cupcakes divided into three groups. “Make 166 chocolate and 166 peanut butter. That's almost 14 dozen of each. Then let's do 168 chocolate and peanut butter swirl cupcakes. So 166 + 166 + 168 = 500.”

Kylie grinned. “Awesome, Sadie. We're on it!”

By the time the first coat of paint had dried on their display, the cupcakes were coming out of the ovens.

“How are we doing on time?” asked Sadie. She had already piped five dozen chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge.

“Less than an hour left,” Lexi sighed. “I'm getting nervous. We're so outnumbered!”

“Just keep painting and piping,” said Mr. Harris. “I'll get this track working.” But as much he pushed and pulled, the two figures refused to roll together.

“I think the weight of the large shelves is slowing them down,” he explained. “We need bigger wheels.”

Just then, Sadie had a brilliant idea. “Dad, what about my skateboard?”

“That might work,” he said, unscrewing the wheels from the board and attaching them to the display. He gave a push and the two figures glided gracefully together in the center.

“Awesome!” Sadie cheered. “Now let's get those cupcakes on!”

The girls formed an assembly line, passing the cupcakes from Jenna and Lexi down to Delaney, Kylie, and finally Mrs. Harris and Sadie to put on the shelves. “Keep 'em coming. Keep 'em coming!” Sadie coached. “Faster! Faster!”

Jerry was pacing back and forth in front of the giant kitchen clock.

“Three minutes…two minutes…one minute left!” the host called. “Hurry!”

As a buzzer sounded, Sadie placed the last of the 500 cupcakes on the display.

“It's really amazing,” Mr. Harris said. “A masterpiece if I ever saw one.”

Sadie looked over at the Connecticut Cupcake display.
It
was amazing: a giant spinning magnet covered in metallic silver cupcakes. The top of it shot off sparks.

“Wow, that is really cool,” Sadie said. “And hard to top. Let's hope the judges agree with you, Dad.”

•••

When it was time to reveal the winner, Jerry had all the bakers gather in the center of the studio. “Connecticut Cupcakes…Peace, Love, and Cupcakes, you both put up a valiant fight. One of you made a giant cupcake magnet that shoots fireworks; the other created a perfect pair that joined together with a chocolate-peanut butter kiss. In the end, only one can take home the prize. Only one can win
Battle
of
the
Bakers
.”

Sadie held her breath. Say our name! Say our name! she silently pleaded with him.

“Congratulations…Connecticut Cupcake!” Chloe, Cece, and their mommy jumped up and down, screaming and hugging one another.

Sadie felt like someone had sucked the air out of her…like when she ran over a nail with her bicycle tire. “We lost?” she said. “How could we lose?”

“You girls were amazing,” Mr. Harris said. “You're champions in my eyes.”

“That's really nice, Dad,” said Sadie. “But we didn't win the $5,000. We didn't win the
Battle
of
the
Bakers
.”

“It's okay, Sadie.” Kylie tried to comfort her. “We were still on TV—which means a lot of people saw PLC and will be ordering our cupcakes.”

“Really? Would you want to order cupcakes from a losing team?” Jenna moped. “I don't know about you, but I'd be on the phone to Connecticut Cupcake ordering a dozen of those Pretty in Pinks.”

Juliette ran up from the audience and gave them each a hug. “Good job, girls. You really looked and acted like pros out there. I am so, so proud of you all!”

•••

When Sadie got home, every muscle ached. She flopped down on her bed, not having the energy to even take off her frosting-stained apron and clothes.

“You look like you've been through a war,” her brother Tyler remarked.

“Not a war. A battle. I can't move.”

“I saw you on TV. The cupcake you did for Mom and Dad? That was pretty cool.” It wasn't very often that her brother paid her a compliment.

Sadie smiled. “Thanks. I really want things to get better for our family.”

“They will,” Tyler said, patting her on the shoulder. “Money may be tight, but the Harrises put up a fight!”

“I'm glad you're getting A's in math,” Sadie teased. “Because you are one awful poet!”

“Seriously, little sis, you know it's gonna be okay, right?” Tyler gave her arm a playful punch. “Dad says we're just going through a rough patch. And you know he's really good at smoothing out rough patches with sandpaper.”

Just then, Sadie remembered: the Golden Spoon roof!

“I almost forgot!” she said, jumping off her bed. She suddenly felt a second wind of energy—maybe her father had some good news. “Thanks for the pep talk!” She gave her brother a punch back.

“
Ow!
Take it easy! That hurt!” Tyler whined.

“Wimp!” Sadie giggled, and headed downstairs.

She found her father hunched over his desk, looking over blueprints.

“Hey, Dad…I could sure use some good news. How's the Golden Spoon coming?”

“Oh, it's coming…slowly and surely,” he answered. “Mr. Ludwig likes to change his mind a lot, so I had to make some revisions. But I think you and your friends should put a week from Sunday on your calendar.”

“What's that?” Sadie asked.

“The grand reopening of the Golden Spoon in Greenwich!”