With Chef Elizabeth Falkner last year, post sugar judging high

Cupcake lovers, fans, bakers, eaters and fanatics, this one is for you! I’m so happy to announce the launch of the Chocolate Adventure Contest from Scharffen Berger and TuttiFoodie! This year it’s all about cupcakes and I couldn’t be more thrilled. This year I’ve been asked back and it’s quite an honor to be invited back to join John Scharffenberger, Chef Elizabeth Falkner, Alice Medrich and Angie Dudley from Bakerella in judging the winning recipes. Last year was a phenomenal experience, the level of creativity in the winners and runner-ups blew my mind. It was such a wonderful opportunity and experience and I’m just giddy that I get to do it all over again!

The contest goes like this: create a cupcake using Scharffen Berger chocolate and any combination of the Adventure Ingredients, a selection of unique and interesting flavors. The winning recipe will appear in Food Network Magazine and the winner will get the chance to fly to New York York City to distribute the winning cupcake on one of the city’s Sweet Trucks. The recipe will be featured on chocolateadventurecontest.com, ScharffenBerger.com and TuttiFoodie.com and of course here on mattbites. There are fantastic second and third place prizes, too.

I’m so excited about tasting all the delicious entries and I suppose I should start practicing, right? Get all the contest details at Chocolate Adventure Contest and if you’re at BlogHer Food this weekend in San Francisco make sure to stop by Chef Elizabeth Falker’s demo where she’ll be kicking off the Chocolate Adventure Contest. I’ll be there too, make sure to say hello!

With the holidays in full swing I just wanted to remind you that you have a little bit of time left if you’re entering the Chocolate Adventure Contest from Scharffen Berger! The grand prize includes $10,000 for the winning recipe in both the Sweet and Savory categories and some swell second place prizes. We’ll be judging on creativity, taste, ease of preparation and whether the recipe reflects a spirit of adventure and yes, I’m one of the judges!

You’ll find more information at Chocolate Adventure Contest along with the complete rules of the contest and how to submit your recipe. You have until January 3, 2010. You can read my previous post about the contest here.

I can’t wait to taste all the amazing entries.

I don’t know about you but I’m still coming down from the high of last week’s festivities at BlogHer 09. The event in San Francisco exceeded everyone’s expectations and it was so humbling to be in the presence of so much talent. I spoke on two panels about photography with two of my favorite authors and bloggers, Heidi Swanson and Lara Ferroni.

On the tail end of this amazing experience I wanted to announce some exciting news: I’m joining John Scharffenberger, Chef Elizabeth Falkner, Alice Medrich and Tutti Foodie’s own Lisa Schiffman as judges for The Chocolate Adventure Contest. This contest from Scharffen Berger and Tutti Foodie encourages you to create an inventive recipe for any course––appetizer, entreé, dessert, or even a drink––using Scharrfen Berger chocolate and at least one adventure ingredient.

And what are these ingredients, you ask?

• Fresh mint (any varietal)
• Crystallized ginger
• Pandan leaf
• Banana leaf
• Sumac
• Raw honey
• Cacao nibs
• Fresh or whole dried chili pepper
• Malbec
• Peanut butter
• Black-eyed peas
• Rice flour
• Papaya
• Cumin
• Paprika (any varietal)
• Smoked sea salt

Ok, so now you can see why I’m just a wee bit thrilled to join these amazing folks and taste the one-of-a-kind creations I know you’ll create? The grand prize includes $10,000 for the winning recipe in both the Sweet and Savory categories and some swell second place prizes. We’ll be judging on creativity, taste, ease of preparation and whether the recipe reflects a spirit of adventure.

You’ll find more information at Chocolate Adventure Contest along with the complete rules of the contest and how to submit your recipe. You have until January 3, 2010 so please, get on this!

The official kick off is tomorrow with Chef Elizabeth Falkner in New York at The Institute of Culinary Education. If you were lucky enough to sign up and attend in person or via the webcast you’ll hear all about the event.

Have fun!

P.S. Please excuse my very large round face on this page. Clearly I will spend more time with Photoshop’s Liquefy next time.