Drum roll, please! The winner of the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® Holiday Bake-Off Giveaway is… Audrey Shay! Congratulations, Audrey! I hope the Cupcake Prize Package makes your holiday baking more enjoyable and delicious! Big thanks to I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! for sponsoring the Holiday Bake-Off Giveaway and my trip to New York to compete in the first ever I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® Holiday Bake-Off. How’d I do?
Well, I’m proud to announce that I won the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® Holiday Bake-Off! It’s true, my I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buttercream! Frosting and Snowball Cupcakes won!
This was my first baking competition and I was a bit more nervous than I thought I would be. The sights and smells of the competing baked goodies were very intimidating.
I only hope my fellow competitors knew I was joking when I used the reality show cliche, “I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to win!”
A few last minute plating changes and the fate of my Snowball Cupcakes was in the hands of the judges. The last to be evaluated, I was worried about the flavor of my cupcakes being lost in palate fatigue. But the Snowball Cupcakes prevailed! Barry Sands, Brand Manager for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!, awarded me the grand prize — a Classic Series Kitchen Aid Mixer. It was an honor just to participate, and winning is simply overwhelming. (photo credit: www.paulgelsobellostudio.com)
Chef Normajean Longfield, Unilever’s Test Kitchen Director, whipped up desserts, told tales from the test kitchen and asked about our baking equipment and goals. We discussed food trends, various Unilever products and lots of baking tips. Sure I love my I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!, Skippy and Best Foods Mayonnaise, but I never gave much thought to the Unilever company. Meeting Normajean and the people that work at the Test Kitchen changed that. Developing great recipes using products you trust is serious business, and you can tell Normajean and her team love what they do.
First, Normajean whipped up these Ultimate Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies that we could hardly wait to try.
Next up was this Holiday Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Cookie Crust.
Finally, the little black dress of Normajean’s Holiday Baking Demonstration, Decadent Orange Truffles.
Just when I thought I might have deliciousness overload, lunch was served!
I couldn’t believe all of the different ways I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! was used to make the various savory and sweet appetizers. I loved the tasting; I know I’m not the only one leaving with a lot of great holiday entertaining ideas.
Two of the biggest surprises to me were the Orange Port Glazed Turkey Meatballs and the Maple Glazed Ribs.
The Twice Baked Fingerling Potato Bites were a crowd favorite.
Nothing says the holidays like Honey Nut Glazed Brie.
Sweet Potato Pancakes with Brown Sugar Cream will be on the menu for my next party.
A super-fun idea, Buffalo Chicken Sliders!
It was a great experience visiting the Unilever Test Kitchen and meeting all of the fabulous bloggers I now consider friends. The very talented Anna from Cookie Madness has beautiful photos of all the delicious entries. Check out all of the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Holiday Bake-Off recipes and bloggers:
Aly’s Trilogy of Fondues
Liz’s Homemade Twix Bars
Anna’s Profiteroles with Peppermint Ice Cream and Chocolate Ganache
Alison’s Pecan Pie Bars
Barbara’s Snickerdoodle Snack Cake
Jenn’s Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes
Tiffany’s Cranberry Muffins with Orange-Marmalade Glaze
Amanda’s Peppermint Patty Brownies
shay says
Yay! Its even more awesome because you won too! Congrats and I will let you now how my batch of Snowball Cupcakes turn out. Thanks so much!!!
HoneyB says
Congrats! They look awesome! I really like those buffalo chicken sliders too!
Tiffany says
Congratulations on your win! And of course we knew you really were there to make friends. Your win was just icing on the cupcake!
Anna says
I’ll take cupcake dinner over a chicken dinner any day!
Average Betty says
Congratulations, Shay! I hope you enjoy the Cupcake Prize Package and the Snowball Cupcakes!
HoneyB! Thanks you and I know – those Buffalo Sliders are right up your alley!!
Tiffany, I can’t wait to try your Cranberry Muffins with Orange-Marmalade Glaze this holiday season! It was so wonderful to meet you and spend time with all the ladies… something we’ll all remember for the rest of our lives :)
Anna, you and me both!! Love y’all <3
Liz@HoosierHomemade says
Congrats! It was so fun to meet you! Your cupcakes are gorgeous :-)
~Liz
Average Betty says
Liz, It was great to meet you!! Your Twix Bars were insane – I’ll definitely be making them this holiday season :)
Barbara Bakes says
Congratulations on your win. It was so nice to get to know you. You have such a fun outgoing personality. Wish we could hang out more!
Average Betty says
It’s so wonderful to know you, Barbara! Hopefully there will be more fun events in the future :) Mmmmm Snickerdoodle Sundae!!
teresa thomas says
wait did you win or audrey shay…. im confused.
Average Betty says
Hi Teresa,
Audrey Shay won the giveaway and I won the bake-off :) This is my winning Vanilla Cupcake recipe: http://www.averagebetty.com/recipes/vanilla-cupcake-recipe/
Thanks for asking!