CT Wins Big on Food Network w/ Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes + Chef Plum

Spoiler Alert!

What an exciting weekend for Connecticut!  On Saturday, Waterbury based Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes was set to compete on Cupcake Wars on Food Network.  Then, a day later, Chef Plum of Plum Luv Foods was poised to make his appearance on the second episode of Guy’s Grocery Games.

Words could not express how tense things were for us and all their fans.  We knew both Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes and Chef Plum had what it takes to win both contests, but you never know.  There are so many twists and turns for competition shows on Food Network, so we waited very impatiently to find out if they’d rise to the top.

Up first on Saturday was Nicole and Jeremy Braddock of Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes.  Friends and family watched live at their one year anniversary party as they competed against three others to be the winners.  Normally you would win $10,000, but there was a devilish additional prize.  The winner would get the honor of being the official vegan cupcake (Zombie is vegan) of Rob Zombie’s newest venture:  The Great American Nightmare.  It’s a haunted music scare-fest in L.A. that lasts the entire month of October and culminates with Zombie himself taking center stage.    Oh, speaking of Rob Zombie, he was the guest judge.  peed ourselves if Rob Zombie was our judge…he’s a freaking genius and we love his music.>  With Jeremy being in the band 100 Demons, you have to know this contest was made just for them.  Plus, how could they not win with their amazing variety of cupcakes and their killer creativity?  For example, Nicole made a black garlic cupcake with white chocolate (vegan) cardamom frosting to kick off the first round.  Well, they rocked it and frosted the competition!  Hardcore, Nicole and Jeremy!

And then the tension kept building until it was finally 8 pm on Sunday.  We saw Chef Plum run into the supermarket, carefree but dead set on winning…so much like himself.  At first, we weren’t sure if Plum would make it past the first round.  Contestants were asked to make stir fry, but he thought a bit outside the box and stuffed the stir fry into a pouch and made dumplings/pouches.  One of the judges called him out on it, but surprisingly the judges voted his dish the best of that round.  Round after round, Chef Plum kept winning with dishes like his mole-inspired chili inside of an Eggo waffle until it was just him.  When he got to the final round, he made a mad dash through the grocery store to pick up items from Guy’s list.  He was able to pick up a total of 7 items, bringing him $14,000.  Guess you owe your kids that hamster, huh?  In fact, maybe get a fancy Tibetan hamster or something?

Congratulations to Nicole, Jeremy, and Chef Plum.  Your hard work, devotion, and creativity paid off big time.  It’s great to see you represent Connecticut and kick serious ass at the same time.  So, don’t forget to stop by Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes in Waterbury and pick up some amazing cupcakes.  Also, why not get your tix for Chef Plum’s latest Underground Dinner experience at Williams Sonoma in Danbury on 11/10 from 6-9 pm?