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Vegan Chef Emerges Victorious in TV's 'Cupcake Wars'
One of Chloe's vegan cupcakes (Lindsay William-Ross/LAist)
One of Chloe's vegan cupcakes (Lindsay William-Ross/LAist)
Vegan food scored a big win last night on Food Network's Cupcake Wars, thanks to local chef Chloe Coscarelli. Battling round by round against bakers using animal-based ingredients (butter, eggs, and so on) Coscarelli managed to out-score everyone to take top honors in the episode.Blogger Quarrygirl has a full recap of the episode, where she breaks down the cruelty-free cupcake action. For the first round, Coscarelli made a "ginger nutmeg spice cake w/ a vanilla bean buttercream frosting, date drizzle and sweet almond topping," and while "the judges were doubtful at first" they really liked what they were eating, and "raved about them non-stop."
In Round 2, when they were challenged to produce 3 flavors of cupcakes, Coscarelli baked up "chocolate strawberry shortcake, raspberry tiramisu, and dark chocolate orange" cupcakes, all 100% vegan, and pulled the highest scores. In the one-to-one final round, the bakers had to not only bake, but come up with an elaborate display for an event. Despite some tense moments, once again Coscarelli won the round...and the show.
It's not everyday that vegan cupcakes are favored over the traditional dairy-heavy ones, but like earlier this year when Coscarelli's vegan panino won Brentwood's Coral Tree Cafe's "Panini Off" competition, this shows that vegan food is growing in acceptance, popularity, and prominence. Want to try some of Coscarelli's cupcakes? The local chef and vegan herself told us she shares her recipes on her website, and urges people to try them out at home.
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