Billy the Kid cupcakes at the 2012 Cupcake Smash

On April 28, 30 bakers–half amateur and half pro–brought 8 dozen mini cupcakes each into the Piazza at Schmidts for the second annual Cupcake Smash competition for a ravenous crowd of cupcake lovers. $7,627 was raised in ticket sales, with the proceeds going towards Philabundance–this was more than double what was brought in during the 2011 Smash.

For me, it was my second year competing and the rules remained pretty close to the same: Select a PYT menu item as your inspiration point and create a unique cupcake recipe. Amateurs competed against amateurs (Kind of … there was a pro that sneaked into the amateur division, which really ticked me off. Compete against your peers.) and pros against pros.

Attendees voted with their stomachs, dropping their tickets into their favorite cupcake’s bin. The top 5 of each division was determined this way, and then their cupcakes went on to the panel of celebrity judges. I wasn’t really crazy about this idea for judging, to be honest, but I also understand the difficulty of having each judge try a little of all 30 cupcakes.

Once again I found my inspiration among PYT’s burgers and sandwiches. I transformed the Goat Cheese Portabella burger into a smoked vanilla scotch whisky cake baked with 10-year-old Islay single malt LaPhroaig filled with a creamy goat cheese mixture, topped with a caramelized onion buttercream and finished with a balsamic vinegar reduction.

It was a flavor-packed cupcake that married sweet and slightly savory in the best of ways. I loved the fact that the LaPhroaig’s unique flavor–peat smoke and bandaids, as Ray says–came through, even though the scotch was baked into the cake (interesting note: alcohol aromatics are often lost during the baking process). The caramelized onion buttercream was a little wacky, but oh, so right, and the balsamic reduction kept the cake balanced.

This year I lovingly named the cupcake Billy the Kid, with the cute tagline of “Billy the Kid has been a baaaaaad goat and got into the scotch whisky … luckily for Billy this makes him delicious!”

Ray created my mascot Billy and we worked together on the design of my nifty sign (now hanging in my new home office). I even made tiny Billys as cupcake picks. And my final homage to all things goat? Ray had an old hat that his grandparents brought back from Germany which just happened to have a goat’s head pin and some feathers. I unpinned it from the hat and created a quick hair ribbon so I could channel some goat good luck.

Unfortunately, Billy the Kid didn’t get enough votes to make it to the semi-finals … but he did get a lot of approval. People loved the smokiness, and those who knew their scotch were equally impressed. And above all else, a group of bakers came together to raise money for a great cause.

Photos courtesy of Ray