Elkridge bakery wins TV's Cake Hunters competition

Kupcakes & Co.’s custom-made, seven-tier wedding cake was chosen as the winning cake by a local bride and groom on an episode of Cake Hunters, which aired on the nationally televised Cooking Channel June 29. Kupcakes & Co., a family-owned dessert bakery in Elkridge, competed on TV against two other bakeries in the region.

The winning cake, which rose 5-feet tall and weighed 250 lbs., consisted of Kupcakes & Co.’s popular half-baked cookie dough and brownie batter flavors covered in buttercream icing and white chocolate fondant in the wedding’s colors of pastel pink, grey, gold and mint green. The separate groom’s cake, shaped like an overflowing beer mug, was funfetti-flavored.

“We put our heart and soul into our desserts, and we spared nothing for this wedding cake,” said Michelle Kupiec, who founded Kupcakes & Co. with her husband and two daughters in 2011. “We’re thrilled to present one of our most spectacular creations on Cake Hunters.”

Kupcakes & Co. designed the cake to reflect the bride and groom’s relationship. Staff sculpted and airbrushed the bottom tier, which spanned 18 inches in diameter, to look like a tree stump in recognition of the couple’s love of the outdoors. Higher tiers were wrapped in edible 24-karat gold as well as sugar lace matching the bride’s veil.

The top tier, at 6 inches across, supported edible handmade and hand-painted bride-and-groom sculptures standing in white chocolate which dripped over the top edge. Likewise, edible handmade flowers garnishing the cake resembled real flowers used in the wedding. The cake cost more than $7,500 in materials and labor, Michelle said.

Cake Hunters filmed the episode in October 2015, capturing every step of the process. Kupcakes & Co. prepared sample cakes for a tasting for the bride and groom in the bakery’s celebration room. When the couple selected Kupcakes & Co., staff worked late into the night for several days to finish the cake in time for delivery to the wedding reception in Virginia.

Cake Hunters premiered in May as the most-watched pilot in Cooking Channel history.