This was our second time doing Cupcake Wars for our tween patrons (ages 9-12). We made some big changes from the first session. If you want to see what we did there, follow this link to the write up! Other wise, stay tuned to see how we changed things and how it went.
Our goals with this program were the same as the first session 1) To have fun and spark creativity, 2) Boost confidence and skills among tweens in a pro-social environment, and 3) To teach at least one baking/cooking skill during the session. This time, we taught them how to make American Buttercream.
Description: Bakers to the front! Do you have what it takes to make the best confection? It’s cupcake vs cupcake in this taste and presentation-driven competition. Ages 9-12.
Items Needed: We still chose to order unfrosted cupcakes as a base for the program. After we get a few of these under our belt and fine tune the flow and formatting of the program, we’re going to bake cupcakes together so that the kids can have more creative autonomy. But for now, we ordered 3 dozen. Last time, the kids did their cupcakes individually. This time, we asked them to work in a team. Our teaching kitchen has 3 stations with 4 seats at each, so we asked the kids to become teams of 4. Each team made 9 cupcakes (1 for judging, 1 for each kid to eat during judging, and 1 for each kid to take home with them).
We followed with a seasonal theme, so we used a lot a Winter flavors that the kids could add to their cupcakes, buttercream, fillings, or toppings to make their team creation.
- Oranges
- Hot cocoa
- Marshmallows
- Peppermint
- Gingerbread
- Peanut Butter
- Chocolate chips
- Nutella (hazelnut)
- Cinamon
- Cranberry (sugared cranberries)
Script/Flow:
1. Intro – (10 mins)
-Sign waivers – we always have to have patrons in our kitchen programs sign a waiver.
-Wash hands
-Rules
-Use materials appropriately. You get one warning and then will leave the program.
2. Skill Demonstration – (15 mins) This session we taught them how to make an American Buttercream.
3. Challenge Introduction – (5 mins)
-You can manipulate the cupcakes and frosting with any of the provided materials.
-We will judge on the appearance of the cupcake and the taste.
-Our categories this time will be:
1. Most impressive
2. The most delicious
3. Overall winner
4. Brainstorming – (15 mins) – We made a mandatory brainstorming time since we asked them to work in a team this time around. This gave the kids a chance to practice working collaboratively and to make a plan for flavors they wanted to use, decoration, if they wanted to make any changes to the cupcake such as filling, etc.
5. Let them work! – (35-45 mins)
6. Judging – (10 Mins)
-Try each cupcake – Ask them to tell us about their cupcake or what flavors they used.
-Assign winners!
How It Went: After learning a TON from the last session, things went a LOT smoother. We figured out where the bottlenecks were, how to get the kids set with the materials they wanted to use (doling out different ingredients, etc) and how to make it so that we weren’t tasting 12 different cupcakes…It all came down to making the kids work in teams!
For The Future: We’ll still be considering how to open up the creativity without all-out chaos ensuing. We’d like to eventually actually cook the cupcakes during the program, but it will take some thinking to get there. It could work and would have some good benefits such as even deeper teamwork and problem-solving, but J and I will have to think about how to entertain the tweens while their cupcakes are baking and cooling. If anyone out there has ideas – we’re open to hearing them!
Librarian Ginny 