by Sheryl Berk
“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 ot
her 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!”
Jenna thumbed through PLC’s recipe file, searching for the perfect cupcake to bake for the Golden Spoon’s grand reopening party.
“It should be something golden delicious,” she said.
“Like the apple?” asked Delaney.
“No…like a golden cake. How ’bout this?” Jenna pushed a recipe card in front of Kylie.
“A lemonade cupcake? Well, it’s definitely the right color…”
“How about pineapple? Or banana?” Delaney suggested.
Lexi shook her head. “We’ve done those tons of times. It’s such a special occasion that we should do something really spectacular.”
Sadie took a stack of recipe cards from Jenna and flipped through them. “No, no, no.…yes!”
She pulled a card out and placed it on the table in front of her friends.
“Whoa…that looks awesome,” Jenna said. “But we’ve never tried it like that before.”
“How hard could it be?” Kylie pondered, skimming the ingredients. “It’s a basic golden cake and caramel oozes out of the center…makes my mouth water just thinking about it!”
“I love the gold sugar crystals on the frosting,” Lexi said. “Too bad we don’t have one of those fondant printers like the Cake King had. We could do the Golden Spoon logo on top.”
“All agreed…say ‘cupcake’!” Kylie said.
“CUPCAKE!” everyone yelled, seconding the motion.
•••
Six hours later, Sadie, Mrs. Harris, and the girls were helping her father load his truck with twelve dozen Golden Caramel cupcakes.
“You’re gonna save me one, right?” Mr. Harris asked his daughter.
“Are you kidding? After all the hard work you did on the Golden Spoon? You can have two!” Sadie hugged him.
When they arrived in Greenwich, a big crowd was already lined up outside the door.
“Wow,” Kylie remarked. “Looks like Mr. Ludwig’s customers missed him!”
“Or they missed PLC’s cupcakes,” Mrs. Harris pointed out.
They piled out of the truck and knocked on the door. Mr. Ludwig was watching out the window with a huge smile on his face. “You’re here! You’re here! Please come in!”
Sadie had never seen him so excited. He practically skipped to the door to open it. He was dressed in a lavender suit with a metallic gold tie.
“Close your eyes,” he insisted. “Don’t look just yet!”
The girls obeyed as Mr. Ludwig guided them through the door and into the store.
“You, too!” Mr. Harris said, covering his wife’s eyes. “No peeking!”
“I feel like I’m on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Mrs. Harris said, chuckling. “What do you have up your sleeve, Gabe?”
The store smelled like wood chips and fresh paint, one of Sadie’s favorite aromas.
“Okay…open them!” Mr. Ludwig commanded.
The girls couldn’t believe their eyes! The entire store had been painted a beautiful shade of purple. There were brand-new glass shelves from floor to ceiling, a crystal chandelier dangling from the ceiling, and in the very front, a giant display for Peace, Love, and Cupcakes.
“OMG!” Kylie gasped. “We get our own cupcake display?”
“Well, I thought having cupcakes at the Golden Spoon every week from the finalists for Battle of the Bakers would be a big draw for my customers.” Mr. Ludwig winked.
“Dad, you did an amazing job!” Sadie exclaimed. The display looked like a giant cupcake with glass shelves from top to bottom.
“And you’ll notice I did a peace sign on top…not a cherry,” Mr. Harris added. “I know how Fiero feels about maraschino cherries.”
Just then, Fiero, Carly, Jerry, and Mrs. Vanderwall stepped forward.
“You’re here? You came?” Sadie said breathlessly. Dina, Cece, and Chloe were also there to celebrate.
“Well, zees gentleman said he has zee finest coopcakes—so we had to taste for ourselves,” Fiero said.
“And now that we see who makes them, I’m sure we won’t be disappointed.” Jerry smiled. “Right, Mrs. V?”
Sadie opened the box and handed her a Golden Caramel cupcake.
Mrs. Vanderwall took a lick…then another…then another.
“Mmmmm,” she said. “Mmmmm.…mmmmmmm.”
Kylie elbowed Sadie. “That’s a definite ‘I like it’!”
“You know, I discovered these girls,” Mr. Ludwig began. “They owe it all to me.”
“Here we go!” Jenna groaned.
“I have an incredible talent for finding culinary talent…”
“Oui? You like zee French macaroons?” Fiero int
errupted.
“Do I like them? I love them!” Mr. Ludwig cried. “I could talk food for hours!”
“Then we’ll be here a very, very long time,” Mr. Harris whispered and tugged on Sadie’s ponytail. “I can’t understand a word that Fiero guy says!” He took Sadie’s chin in his hand. “Did I mention how proud I am of you?”
“Yeah…a couple dozen times,” Sadie said, blushing.
“We’re proud of all of you,” Jerry jumped in. “Which is why Battle of the Bakers decided to award you this.” He handed Sadie a large white envelope.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Open it! Open it!” the girls screamed.
Inside was a check for $500—and a certificate that read, “In Special Recognition of Battle of the Bakers’ Youngest Finalists: Peace, Love, and Cupcakes.”
“OMG!” Kylie squealed. “So we’re winners?”
“Apparently so,” sniffed Mrs. Vanderwall. “I suppose even Michelangelo made a few mistakes now and then.”
“That will cover the cost of the fondant printer we wanted,” Lexi said. “Just think of all the awesome stuff we can make now!”
“With a display this size, I expect you to fill it weekly,” Mr. Ludwig reminded them.
Sadie was thrilled—but not just over the check and the certificate and the crowd of customers gobbling up their cupcakes. She noticed that her mom and dad were not only getting along, they were holding hands in the corner of the Golden Spoon. Her mom was oohing and ahhing over her dad’s handiwork, and they looked happy for the first time in a long time.
Kylie tossed her a cupcake, and Sadie caught it in one hand. She took a bite and savored the moment.
“Pretty good, huh?” Kylie asked her.
“Not just good…” Sadie smiled, licking the sticky caramel off her fingers. “Golden!”
Snowball Coconut Cupcakes
Makes 14
½ cup sweetened coconut flakes + 2 tablespoons for garnish
½ cup butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
