Cupcake Wars

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One Year After Cupcake Wars: Where Are We Now

The Winning Cupcakes

Orange Olive Oil and Rosewater Cupcake

An orange olive oil cake brushed with a honey glaze and topped with a rosewater scented butter cream frosting and a rose petal.

Peach-Berry Shortcake Cupcake

A peach corn cake is topped with a lemon cream cheese frosting, a berry compote and a tarragon shortcake.

Orange-Scented Chocolate Campfire Cupcake

An orange-scented chocolate cake topped with cream cheese frosting, dark chocolate chards and an orange wedge.

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Cupcake

Tomato and thyme cake is topped with a honey mascarpone frosting, Parmesan crisps and roasted, sugared tomatoes.

Cupcake Wars Quartet - All four winning cupcakes.

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Meet OllieCake

When we first got the call from Cupcake Wars’ producers, the first thing they said was “Your cupcakes look amazing, but what’s with the name Urban Cookies? We’re a cupcake competition!” No problem we said, and dusted off our OllieCake brand name.

If you’ve been a customer for a while, you may remember the launch of OllieCake in May of 2009. Not just the brand name of our gourmet organic cupcakes, but also named after the owners’ first son, Oliver. If you visit the bake shop often, you’ve probably seen Ollie roaming the bakery, possibly wielding a foam sword.

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Meet Our Baking Team

Brady Breese: A football player, a chef, a physical therapist, a financial advisor… all the careers Brady Breese thought would be his calling in life – but none panned out. Instead, he became the owner and creative director of his own organic bake shop – Urban Cookies and OllieCake – specializing in gourmet cookies and cupcakes.

A self-taught, home-grown culinary artist, Breese started out with a passion for cooking and a love-hate relationship with baking. Until in 2004, while working as a life insurance agent, he entered an employee bake off and won with a decadent flourless chocolate torte; much to the dismay of his female counterparts who had held the first-place spot in previous years. And, so the baker was born and one year later so too was his bake shop – a venture he launched with his wife, who handles marketing for the company.

Salvador Garcia: Sal spent nearly 20 years in the construction industry mostly as an iron worker in California and in 2008 he made a drastic career change; one that brought him to Arizona and combined his two best assets: his hard working mentality and his hard working hands. Earning his certificate of baking and patisserie at the Le Cordon Bleu Scottsdale Culinary Institute, he joined the Urban Cookies team as an intern and quickly became only the second hire in our company’s history.

He’s a dedicated family man and father to three boys Chaz, Jesse and Nicholas. He spends his extra time hanging out with his dog Grizzly Bear, watching football and baking of course.

Brady and Sal on the set of Cupcake Wars in Los Angeles, CA

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Go Behind the Scenes: Preparing for War and Winning the Battle

OllieCake - How We: Won

How We: Auditioned

OllieCake - How We: Kept the Secret

OllieCake - How We: Left for L.A.

The Official Audition

OllieCake - How We: Trained

OllieCake - How We: Trained