“Who’s going to ride the wave? And who’s going to wipe out?” he continued, while contestants from Maryland, New Jersey and Manhattan Beach prepared cupcakes for the first round.
Stephanie Franz, executive pastry chef at Manhattan Beach-based Cupcakes Couture, and her assistant Natalie Flores, prepared a lime-infused cupcake with a rum-braised pineapple center and topped with coconut frosting, guava caviar pearls and a white chocolate wave.
After three rounds, Franz and Flores came out on top – taking home $10,000.
On Saturday, the bakers will host a celebration at Cupcakes Couture from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guests can try the winning cupcakes and partake in a raffle that includes a baking class with Franz and Flores.
Sunday marked Franz’s second appearance on Cupcake Wars – last season, she was disqualified for not presenting her cupcakes correctly due to time constraints. “I was so disappointed in myself,” Franz said, adding, “I wanted to go back and prove to everybody that I could do it.”
Born and raised in Orange County, Franz was ecstatic about the episode’s theme. Franz and her assistant prepared a dish for each of the three rounds, one of which was a milk chocolate cupcake with a crunchy praline center, garnished with a chocolate covered macadamia nut to look like an oyster.
Franz said the judges’ favorite was a lemon blueberry cupcake topped with homemade blue gelatin cubes to represent the ocean. While competitors took the theme literally by putting surfboards or shells on their presentations, Franz said, she took an abstract approach. “I think that’s what set us apart,” she said.
Two years ago, Franz partnered with Jenine Cravatt, a New York City-native, after Cravatt had the idea of opening a cupcake shop in the South Bay.
Cravatt moved to the area after her getting engaged to a South Bay resident, and had always complained that there were no cupcake stores nearby. So, she opened her own. They’ve since expanded – they now do dessert bars, prepare cakes, and take custom orders, whether dietary or design-related.
Franz recalled working 80-hour weeks just after the store opened – adjusting to a new kitchen, perfecting recipes and training staff proved to be time-consuming.
Franz attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu and worked for the Montage Hotels in Laguna Beach and Beverly Hills. At Cupcakes Couture, Franz is able to focus on creativity – she’s baked and designed a Batman cake, an Alice in Wonderland cake and even a shoe cake. “As long as we have enough time,” she said, referring to special design or dietary orders, “we can pretty much do it.”
