Cupcake Smackdown has been a tradition at VPM for years, but this year, Spartan Youth Service has taken over as the new organizer and host! The fundraiser was hosted last Friday in the atrium, with all proceeds going to SPIRIT Day buses. 

Cupcake Smackdown is an annual baking competition where participants, Memorial students, can enter to submit at least a dozen cupcakes that they make and design by hand. A panel of four VPM staff members judges the cupcakes and ultimately decides the winner based on taste, decoration, and creativity. This year, our judges were Mr. Farner, Mr. Ward, Ms. Glaaser, Mr. Kvistad, and Mr. Hutchins’ student teacher.

The bakers of the top three cupcakes, chosen by the judges, receive prizes for their work, with first place winning a $50 gift card of their choice, second place winning a $40 gift card of their choice, and third place winning a $30 gift card of their choice. Students and staff then purchase tickets to trade for cupcakes at lunch and vote for a fan favorite to win the People’s Choice Award. At lunch, the line for cupcakes extended all the way through the atrium and Welcome Center.

This year, submissions included flavors like pistachio chocolate orange, raspberry lemonade, tiramisu caramel, and triple chocolate. Students got creative with the decorating, with one Jellycat-themed cupcake featuring miniature, edible models of the strawberry Jellycat plushie on top and others featuring carefully-piped frosting turtles. In the end, Ruth Atkins and Iona Hassett won 1st place with Chocolate Peanut Butter S’mores Cupcakes, Lily Doyle and Addie Ludke won 2nd with Raspberry Lemonade, and Rori Larson-Simmons won 3rd with Burger of the Day burger-shaped cupcakes. As voted by students and staff who bought cupcakes, Lily Doyle’s Dubai Chocolate Strawberry cupcakes won the People’s Choice Award.

Cupcake Smackdown is just another tradition that SYS has adopted, and we hope that it will continue to be an exciting and delicious fundraiser in the VPM community.