L.A. bakers gear up for Cupcake Challenge ’09

March 26, 2009 – Precious McCall would be the first person to admit that her award-winning Paradise Cupcake might not sound very appealing.

March 26, 2009 – Precious McCall would be the first person to admit
that her award-winning Paradise Cupcake might not sound very appealing. It's a bubble of bright orange, mandarin-flavored cake filled with
whipped pineapple cream, then frosted with vivid green pistachio
pudding and garnished with coconut.

"People are afraid of it because the flavors are so unusual," McCall
says. "I have to force it on them, and then they're like, 'Oh, my God,
what is this?' It really doesn't matter if you don't like coconut or
pistachio. Once I get people to try it, they love it."

McCall's not bluffing. The signature dessert from her baking business, Sugar Jones, beat dozens of entries to win best original cupcake at last year's inaugural Los Angeles Cupcake Challenge, the local food competition that's most likely to induce a diabetic coma. | READ MORE