It was a sweet victory for Angela Chandler and Nicole Ferriman of Hokulani Bake Shop.
Chandler, general manager of Hokulani, teamed up with Ferriman, the shop’s lead baker, in three rounds of challenges against three other teams on the Food Network’s "Cupcake Wars" Season 4, Episode 12, titled "Screamfest."
The team took the top prize of $10,000 and showcased their cupcakes at a VIP party for Hollywood’s Screamfest Horror Film Festival in October.
The episode ran twice this week and airs again at 5 p.m. March 6.
"It was definitely shocking," Chandler said of the victory. "We were the first ones on the show from Hawaii, and we wanted them to know we could bring it, even though we’re from a small island."
Chandler, 23, is originally from Texas. She came to Hawaii with her husband, who is based here in the Army. Ferriman, 24, from Waianae, is a graduate of Gros Bonnet Culinary School. The pair will use the prize earning to pay off culinary school debts and do a little shopping.
Chandler says winning gives her more confidence about her baking abilities. She dreams of opening up her own "mom-and-pop" bake shop one day.
After taping and winning the show in the fall, they returned to work at Hokulani and had to remain quiet until the episode aired, which was tough.
For the show, four teams competed in three elimination rounds. In the last round, finalists were required to bake 1,000 cupcakes and create an original display reflecting the Screamfest theme.
In the first round, in which competitors used ingredients such as cow’s tongue and cow’s brain, Chandler and Ferriman made a chocolate port wine cupcake with cherry filling. They topped it with fried cow’s tongue (for extra points). A chocolate port cupcake with frosted buttercream is currently available at the shop for $3.50 — without the tongue.
They created three cupcakes in the second round — a "Bloody Mary" comprising all the ingredients of the drink, including celery salt, tomato juice, vodka and a buttercream frosting spiked with cayenne; a "Dark and Stormy" ginger beer cupcake with lime buttercream; and a black anise cake filled with cherry and topped with a black licorice liquor buttercream. Chandler says the "Bloody Mary" cupcake will be available at the shop soon.
"We’re working on it," she said.
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Hokulani Bake Shop has three locations — at Waterfront Plaza (better known as Restaurant Row), Pioneer Plaza and the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. Visit www.hokulanibakeshop.com.
