Cupcake Hero Results: A Collection of Clove Cupcakes

It turns out that being a cupcake hero judge was just as much fun as I had hoped. Laurie of Quirky Cupcake and I had a blast reviewing all of your different cupcakes and, of course, eating! The picture to the left is of a couple of my favorites that I made for my friends. I won't tell you which they are. You'll have to spot them as you read through the post.



Without further ado, I bring you the collection of clove cupcakes:



Orange Clove Cupcake with Candied Orange Peel

Submitted by: Garrett of Vanilla Garlic

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows I'm a Garrett junkie. I love his cupcakes. He was the first entry in our hero contest and I was quite excited to see his submission. These cupcakes did not disappoint. I could easily have declared them a winner right off the bat. However, after seeing another orange clove cupcake come in and several others that contained orange and cloves in various formats, I decided that while tasty, these weren't quite hero. This does not mean that I would not make them any day of the week.

Orange Clove Cupcakes

Submitted by: Marye at Baking Delights

The flavor of these girly pink cupcakes sounds great, but Marye tells us that they collapsed and that the frosting was too runny. In her blog post, she even turns her troubles into a lesson for us all. "I always liked the part in Toy Story where Buzz Lightyear finds out he is not flying..he is just falling creatively. Learn to fall creatively in your cooking and baking. It is the mark of a good cook." Thanks Marye for the lesson and we are glad you shared your story and cupcake with us!

Pumpkin Muffins

Submitted by: Rose from Rose's Recipes

I would say no frosting = not a cupcake. However, Laurie is nicer than me and she's in charge so we get to see these muffins and the festive pumpkins. They do look like a nice breakfast treat!


Spiced Sour Cream Poached Pear Cupcakes

Submitted by: Sihan from Befuddlement

These fall under my same, "no icing, no cupcake" rule, but you gotta love poached pears. Mmm. I'll take one, icing or not!!





Apple Ginger Cupcakes with Orange Clove Buttercream

Submitted by: Natalie of Bake and Destroy

Natalie warns us on her blog that these cupcakes are not for the casual ginger eater. These have some crazy ginger in them. Ginger lovers out there, you must check these out! She also definitely takes the prize for the most unique cupcake prop.


Pumpkin BOOCake

Submitted by: Valerie at Bake Your Cake and Eat it Too

Valerie really got into the Halloween spirit with the spider web frosting. Love it! She warns that the black frosting stains your lips. It seems to me that it would be well worth it. Besides, isn't goth a good look for Halloween?




Clove Cupcakes with Carmel Frosting

Submitted by: Gretchen of Canela y Comino

Gretchen titled her blog post "Ham Cupcakes?". I kind of wish she had actually made ham cupcakes (not that these don't sound great). I may have to make ham cupcakes at some point. I don't think my tasters would mind.



Orange Cranberry Sauce Cupcakes

Submitted by: Thayer of I Like Cake

These cupcakes feature homemade cranberry sauce. They are bound to make it onto somebody's Thanksgiving table. Will it be yours?


Oatmeal Spice Cupcakes with Penuche Frosting


Submitted by: Breadchick from The Sour Dough

Not only are these cupcakes in Laurie's words, "wicked good", but Breadchick composed a song to tell the tale of her adventure making them. High creativity marks! Definitely check out the post and sing along. Try the cupcakes too!


Velvet Spice Cupcakes with Figs


Submitted by: Becky at Key Lime and Coconut


I wasn't won over by the appearance of these cupcakes, but I was won over by the flavor. One of my tasters called this cake, "perfect" and half of my tasters liked this one better than the winner. The only thing that held it back for me was the figs. I liked the recipe because I loved the concept of figs with cloves. It's a creative and tasty pairing. However, the figs taste was not detectable enough in the cupcake. I'd make this again though without the figs or with more figs (maybe a fig jam filling?). Loved the chocolate frosting with the small hint of clove.

And the Winners Are....

Blueberry and Mango Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramelised Mango Buttercream


Submitted by: Minko of Couture Cupcakes

Just reading the title of this cupcake forces you to picture and ponder new flavor combinations. That in itself is prize worthy. However, Minko even went through the trouble of providing a vegan and non-vegan version of the recipe on her blog. Nice! Laurie and I decided to give these the Quirky Cupcake award for the month. She will be getting a Cupcake Hero button!



Root Beer Clove Cupcakes with Spiced Orange Cream Frosting


Submitted by: The Tempered Woman

In my opinion, this cupcake possessed everything that I would expect from a hero:
1. It has complex flavors.

2. Both the icing and cake shined and worked perfectly together.

3. The signature ingredient of clove was very prominent.

4. The topping and syrup filling gave it that je ne sais qua that pushed it over the edge.

When I baked these, I had lots of extra orange syrup leftover. I highly recommend not letting this syrup go to waste. I used it for an orange french toast. However, I really could have just put it an a glass and drank it.

Congrats, Tempered Woman! You are this month's Cupcake Hero! You will be getting cupcake hero T-Shirt from Laurie.

*The Tempered Woman is from the same city as I. This in no way influenced my voting. I have never met her and, in fact, had never read her blog before this contest. However, having tasted her cupcakes, I would love to meet her try some more of her creations.