Chester Bake Shop Wins ‘Cupcake Wars’
Long Valley native Cheryl Burger and Roxbury resident Stacie Filipow of the Sweet Spot Bake Shoppe will feature their winning cupcakes in the store.
In the end, passion and creativity outweighed training and experience. Cheryl Burger, owner of the Sweet Spot Bake Shoppe in Chester, was the only contestant not formally trained for baking beat back a former cake boss employee and two other teams to win Sunday’s installment of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.
As winner, the Long Valley resident takes home $10,000 and had the honor of serving her cupcakes at actress Kristin Cavallari‘s baby shower.
“We are a small little shop and we can do a lot with $10,000,” Burger said. “There is equipment we can purchase now."
From the first challenge, the judges had mostly complimentary things to say about the four cupcakes Burger and Filipow made.
And the one that didn’t work?
“They didn’t like the margarita cupcake so we changed it to a coconut and lime cupcake,” Burger said. “I am here to win.”
The other winning offerings included a banana cupcake with yogurt whipped cream filling, sweet potato cream cheese frosting and white chocolate, a lemon cupcake filled with blueberry compote and topped with vanilla butter cream and drizzled with blueberry syrup and a vanilla cupcake filled with strawberries and chocolate whipped cream with strawberry buttercream icing.
“Judges loved our cupcake in the first round, but that just put a tremendous amount of pressure on us for the next round to male our cupcakes perfect,” Burger said.
While winning the money was nice, Burger said getting the word out about her shop was one of the major benefits of being on the show.
“We’re in a nice little small town and this would be great for more people to come to us and see what we do here,” Burger said.
And now, residents of Chester and nearby towns need only come to main street to sample the same cupcakes that pleased the judges palletes.
“I knew we could win because I know we serve delicious cupcakes every single day.” Burger said.
Look for our complete conversation with Cheryl Burger this week on Patch.
n1salvatore@comcast.net
10:37 pm on Sunday, August 12, 2012
Congratulations
DMS
10:37 pm on Sunday, August 12, 2012
Congratulations
TTFHCS
10:53 pm on Sunday, August 12, 2012
Congrats !!!!!! from Narrin
Thomas Lotito
1:17 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congratulations, but this is not breaking news....It's a page three human interest story at best.
Kimberly Bonita
8:19 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Thomas Lotito...you should have just stopped at 'congratulations'. No need to be the one at the party who pops the balloons...for a small town shop, this IS breaking news for all the people who support them.
Thomas Lotito
9:41 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Kimberly Bonita, then the email alert should have read "Breaking News for Cupcake Lovers."
Russ Crespolini
9:45 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Hey guys,
Mr. Lotito has the right to disagree with the choice to make this breaking news. Since the news did break last night that they won, I chose to tag it and send it as such. After a week of some sad stories I wanted to share the good news out.
That said, I don't know if "Breaking News for Cupcake Lovers" would work because a lot of people who read our sites are looking for soft community news so zoning it might not be best.
But it is good to think of more personalization to try to account for different people's tastes. As always, thanks for the comments and the thoughts. I appreciate it very much.
Thomas Lotito
11:06 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Thank you Russ, when you get a breaking news story it's usually something that could possibly impact your life, unfortunately it's mostly negative. When you mix breaking news stories with human interest stories you lose your gravitas. In other words, your paper becomes more like the boy who cried wolf.
All that said; I like cup cakes, and I will shop at the Sweet Spot Bake Shop too.
Russ Crespolini
11:14 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Mr. Lotito,
I understand your opinion. Our readers are all over the map and some don't look at breaking news the same way. As we are not a newspaper. But truthfully, I make judgement calls based on what I think is going to interest and best serve my communities. If you want to discuss this further, drop me a line at russ.crespolini@patch.com. I welcome the feedback anytime.
judi
8:19 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
WOW !!! Mr. Lotito--are you "DEBBIE DOWNER??"- Can't you be just a little proud of 2 young women who are trying to have a go at having a small business in our town...Cheer Up- it must be very lonely in your world!!!!!!!!
Thomas Lotito
11:06 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Judy, Stop walking around with a chip on you shoulder I did congratulate the winners.The remark was aimed at the editor. This story was not breaking news.
cv
8:57 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congrats Girls for the win it is so nice to see a positive story!!!!!!!!!!!
Stephanie
8:57 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congrats!!! It was awesome to see small town shop and LV girl win it all!
Cindy Rhodes
9:28 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congratulations to Cheryl and Stacie!! You were winners from the start - best organized, best taste, best decorations - the whole package!!
mrs birch
9:25 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
You guys were awesome! We are so happy for you <3
Denobin
11:06 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
If you love the Shoppe then make sure you visit and "Like" their FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheSweetSpotBakeShoppe
The Dacey's
11:06 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
Way to go we watch it and was so proud we are coming down to get some of those winning cupcakes Congrads! Just a FYI I was looking for the story first thing and was glad it was part of the breaking news keep up the good work patch my family loves it.
Jersey
2:13 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
Wonderful news!! Congrats, ladies. Hey, get more cupcake trees with some of the prize money b/c I love that presentation at my family gatherings, ok? :) lol
12345678
2:13 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congratulations!! The judges seemed to really love your cupcakes! Can't wait to try them all!
Indoor Outdoor
2:13 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congratulations to these Long Valley girls who deserve this honor for their hard work and pursuit of a dream. Patch is not CNN and is designed for community. As such, local accomplishments deserve high rank, recognition, and praise. Great to be heralded as Breaking News, Russ. Keep up the great work!
Jennifer Simon
9:29 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congratulations!! And I consider this breaking news for a local shop. It's nice that someone out here in Western NJ has gotten some positive attention for an excellent product. It's too bad that hard work and excellence aren't breaking news stories more often....it's violence and deceit that garners the attention most of the time.
Nancy Bodnar
7:10 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
This is great news......a fun and happy story. Very happy for these girls. Funny thing is, I thought Tom was one of their patrons when I read "this is not breakin news".....as in, of course these cupcakes won! Haha! Keep up the good work.
Teeluvsaruba
12:38 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Congratulations. Can't wait to stop down and try your award winning cupcakes. Great job ladies.