House of Cupcakes triumphant on ‘Cupcake Wars’

House of Cupcakes on Witherspoon Street features around 20 different types of confections every day. Among all the sugar and spice, this House just won a war.

Princeton’s own House of Cupcakes finally revealed its victory last week as the second-season winner of the Food Network’s show “Cupcake Wars,” which featured four of the country’s top cupcake bakers pitted against each other in three elimination challenges and vying for one top prize of $10,000 as well as a chance to show their goods at a premier event.

For House of Cupcake owners Ruth and Ron Bzdewka, the win meant a chance to shine at the high-profile album release party of Cirque du Soleil’s newest show, “Viva Elvis,” after winning the title with creative recipes, including oatmeal raisin cupcakes with orange cream icing.

Each individual challenge reflected the Cirque du Soleil theme, testing competitors’ creativity and nerves while producing circus-worthy culinary masterpieces.

In the first round of competition, the contestants had to create a cupcake featuring two themed ingredients. In round two, the competitors had two hours to create three more cupcakes.

For the final round, the Bzdewkas, along with half a dozen assistants, baked and decorated 1,000 cupcakes and arranged them in a rotating, lighted display.

“The whole thing was very hectic, very exciting,” Ruth Bzdewka said of the experience. “It was exactly how you see it on television.”

Ruth and Ron took on the show together, with Ron serving as the head chef and Ruth as his assistant, securing the win with a combination of one sweet and two savory cupcakes.

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“We had to work with what they gave us,” Ruth Bzdewka said of creations such as their tomato soup cupcake and their beer and sauerkraut cupcakes. “We thought, ‘Vanilla is so plain.’ So we decided to do something crazy.”

The Bzdewkas are no strangers to the world of cupcakes or to turning adversity into opportunity. They opened their House of Cupcakes in August of 2008, right in the middle of the economic recession.

“For a long time, there was just nothing,” Ruth Bzdewka said. “Thankfully, slowly, things have started to pick up. Now, thanks to the show, a lot more people have learned about where we are and business is a lot better.”

Business has improved so much after the win that the House of Cupcakes is planning on expanding. Its kitchen will now be moved to a new space in the back of the building and the size of the eating area — along with the menu — will be doubled.

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According to Ruth Bzdewka, the couple plans to add gourmet donuts as well as candy apples to their menu in the process of expansion.

All of this, she noted, is thanks to the support of their customers. “They’re incredible. Unbelievable. All day long, people come in and congratulate us. It’s very exciting, amazing, how the community supports us. They’re even more excited than we are.”

What the Bzdewka family is most excited about, however, is a chance to give back. The $10,000 prize money the couple won on the show will all be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, a cause that Ruth Bzdewka said is close to the couple’s hearts.

“We have two children,” she said. “Thank God they’re not sick, but what St. Jude’s does, it really touches you. It enables parents to stay with their children during the whole experience. St. Jude’s turns no one away and that is something we really wanted to support.”