Mr. Harris and his crew had worked two weeks on the Golden Spoon—and it was still nowhere near ready to reopen.
“We can’t patch the broken rafters. We need to start with brand-new decking,” Sadie’s dad tried to explain to Mr. Ludwig.
“I don’t know what that means…and I don’t care,” Mr. Ludwig moaned. “Just fix it.” The entire store was now covered in ugly black tarp, and Mr. Ludwig couldn’t bear to see his beautiful Golden Spoon in such a state of disarray.
“Wow,” said Sadie when her dad took her to visit the site. “This is one big hot mess, huh?”
Mr. Harris nodded. “You’re not kidding, kiddo. This is some fine job you got me into.”
•••
“I think my dad is going to kill me for making him repair the Golden Spoon,” Sadie told her friends at lunch the next day at school. “It’s taking way longer than he thought.”
“Tell me about it,” sighed Kylie. “Without Mr. Ludwig’s order, we’re down about $900 in sales these past two weeks.”
“That’s not good.” Jenna whistled through her teeth. “We can’t stay in business unless we get more business.”
Sadie had done everything she could. Their only option now was to wait for her dad to finish his work on the Golden Spoon—and hope that its customers came back.
The only good news in her life was her math quiz score.
“An A-minus! Sadie, that’s wonderful!” her mother declared when Sadie showed it to her after school. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I guess I’ll have even more time to study with our cupcake business drying up.” Sadie sighed.
“I’m so sorry, honey,” her mom said as she hugged her. “I know how much it means to you girls. Maybe it’ll bounce back.”
Sadie went to her bedroom where she could think. She dribbled a ball on the hardwood floor. It was what she did whenever she was worried or upset.
“Money, math, Mr. Ludwig,” she repeated with each bounce of the ball. “Mom, Dad, divorce. Peace, Love, Cupcakes.”
She threw the ball, and it bounced off the back of her door, just missing the net. She was about to take another shot when her iPod touch rang. It was Kylie calling her on FaceTime.
“Put that ball down, Sadie…we’re going to battle!”
“Huh?” Sadie asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember that video we sent in auditioning for Battle of the Bakers? Well, I got an email today from the producers. They want us to compete in two weeks!”
“Are you serious?” Sadie gasped. “We’re going to be on TV?”
They both jumped up and down and screamed.
“I am calling an emergency meeting of PLC tomorrow after school,” Kylie said breathlessly. “We need a serious battle plan—and more hands on deck. I’m thinking we should call my camp friend Delaney and get her on board, too. And we’ll need to watch every episode from the past three years and take notes.”
Sadie’s head was spinning, and things got even crazier as soon as Lexi and Jenna heard the news. They came to the teachers’ lounge kitchen the next day with a long list of what the club needed for battle.
“Let’s start with a dozen more tips for piping,” Lexi said. “If we want to look like professionals, we need the right tools.”
“And I wrote down key ingredients we have to bring,” Jenna said. “Ten types of chocolate, three types of vanilla, some imported spices…”
“Whoa, guys, slow down!” Juliette said. “I think it’s fine to create a wish list, but you have to be smart about this. You don’t have an unlimited budget.”
“But how will we win if we don’t have all this?” Lexi insisted. “Those other bakers will be much more prepared.”
“You’ll do the best with what you have,” Juliette replied. “You always have, and your cupcakes are amazing. This isn’t a contest about who has more money to spend. It’s about being creative and smart.”
Kylie sighed. “In other words, we don’t stand a chance. We’re totally out of our league.”
“If the producers thought that, they never would have asked you to compete,” Juliette pointed out.
“Maybe they thought we’d provide some comic relief on the show,” Jenna said. “We did leave in the part where Sadie got a flour shower.”
“They obviously saw star quality in your club,” Juliette said. “So let’s just be optimistic, and you girls do what you do best: bake cupcakes!”
•••
Kylie thought it would be most efficient to divide and conquer, so she gave each of the girls an assignment. Lexi packed boxes with fondant, modeling chocolate, molds and assorted sprinkles, sanding sugars, and edible glitter. That way, they’d have tons of options for decorating, no matter what the challenge. Jenna was entrusted with all of PLC’s recipes. She organized them by theme, flavor, and filling, and printed them out on recipe cards.
Sadie, Kylie, and Delaney divided the sixty-six previously aired episodes of Battle of the Bakers between them and took notes on what the judges liked or disliked and what the winners baked. Every episode consisted of two mystery challenges and ingredients—plus a final presentation round for the finalists. The last bakers standing were the winners.
“I’m definitely seeing a pattern,” Sadie reported to her clubmates. “The judges hate when you use anything artificial like food coloring. This one baker won with a red velvet cupcake she made with beet juice.”
“Eww, gross!” Jenna cried. “No beets are going near my cupcakes.”
“Then there was this other guy who made a kale cupcake…” Sadie explained.
“Kale?” Delaney made a face. “As in that green stuff?”
“Yup,” replied Sadie. “Topped with cream cheese frosting and crushed hazelnuts. The judges said it was ‘divine.’”
“Beets, kale…doesn’t anyone do a plain, old chocolate cupcake anymore?” Jenna sighed. “Has the entire world gone loco?”
“I think it would be fun for you to expand our horizons a little,” Juliette suggested. “Beets or no beets, you should get a little creative.”
The cupcake club decided a little practice would be a good idea. “Pretend I’m the judge,” Juliette instructed. “This is just like Battle of the Bakers, girls. I’m going to give you a category, and you’ll have sixty minutes to create a cupcake that is both delicious and artistically pleasing.”
“I can handle the artistically pleasing part,” Lexi said.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that!” Juliette chuckled. “Your category is caveman cupcakes, and your time starts now!”
The girls looked at each other, completely stumped.
“Did cavemen even eat cupcakes?” Sadie asked.
“Do you mean real cavemen…or like The Flintstones?” Jenna asked.
“Up to you! Any theme could come up on Battle of the Bakers,” Juliette insisted. “Think outside the box!”
Kylie closed her eyes and tried to picture a prehistoric setting. “I’m thinking swamp beast…” she said.
“Ooh, swamp beast cupcakes. Yum!” Jenna said sarcastically.
“What about mud? Like the Mississippi mud pie cupcakes we once baked?” Sadie suggested.
“Exactly!” said Juliette. “Think about what you’ve perfected already and how you can adapt it to the theme!”
“We could add marshmallow rocks on top, and I could do different dinos out of chocolate, like a stegosaurus and a T. rex!” Lexi chimed in.
“What about cave paintings? It’s a caveman cupcake…let’s do some cave paintings on a chocolate cave. We can mold the cave shape by pouring milk chocolate into a funnel!” Jenna added.
“Brilliant, ladies! Get to it!” Juliette called. “You have fifty minutes left!”
They raced around the kitchen, tripping over each other and spilling batter and chocolate everywhere. When the cupcakes came out of the oven, the cake was rich and gooey, and Jenna piped an extra large mound of chocolate marshmallow frosting on top. In the end, they presented three different cupcakes to Juliette on a platter—each one delicious and elaborately decorated.
“By George, I think you’ve got it!” Juliette cheered. “You could actually win this, girls!”
“Good thing we didn’t make a Tyrannosaurus wreck,” Jenna joked.
The girls groaned but felt revved and ready for battle!