- Hi I'm Alix and I have one week
to figure out how the heck
to frost 250 cupcakes in five minutes.
Maybe good, I hope.
(Alix squeals)
(laughing)
I love watching those memorizing cupcake videos
where the bakers pipe the frosting in a perfect swirl
so consistently and so fast.
So I asked the bakers at Georgetown Cupcake
how many cupcakes they can frost in five minutes.
And they told me 250.
Now I'm a pretty competitive person
and I wanted to push myself,
but you know practice makes perfect
and if I'm gonna be a pro, I gotta train like a pro.
So here I have 250 cupcakes, five bags of frosting,
and five minutes on the clock.
Let's do this.
I'm a little stressed out here.
Okay, I'm ready.
- [Producer] Five minutes on the clock.
And, go.
(ding)
- Oh no, there's definitely something
with the swirl that I'm doing wrong.
They look like poops.
Three minutes, okay.
Gotta gotta get through these far ones first maybe good.
Get to that, no!
Two minutes?
You know how they say there's like runner's high?
I feel like I'm on like a cupcake frosting high.
Oh, okay, just going with it.
- [Producer] 10, nine, eight, (Alix squeals)
seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, time's up.
(buzzing)
- Oops, there's gotta be one in here
that's good enough to be sold, right, one.
That one's pretty good, number six.
How do I harness the power of number six, in all 250?
This is gonna be a long week.
All right I am at home now.
I've set up myself a little frosting station.
So first I'm gonna start with 30 seconds on the clock.
I'm gonna try and get 25 cupcakes piped.
I also wanna really focus
on learning the technique of piping.
I figured if I used an even bigger piping tip
it will be easier to squeeze and hopefully
my arm won't get as tired as it did
because that was a workout.
Oh God, I'm nervous again.
Three, two, one, I can already tell
that this piping tip is much easier.
(beep) I put 30 minutes on the clock.
(playful music)
So even at home I focused less on technique again
and more on speed,
and I ended up getting 10, 20, 29 cupcakes done.
Still gotta figure out some way to improve my form.
All right I'm taking a break from frosting,
gonna eat some dinner,
but in the mean time I'm gonna keep practicing
by watching professional cupcake videos.
Look at how beautiful that frosting job is.
They start piping the inside of the cupcake
and move in the swirl towards the outside.
Now hopefully I can digest some of these techniques
along with my dinner, right, peace out.
Rie, the only person I'll take help from.
So basically I've been challenged
to pipe 250 cupcakes in five minutes.
- Okay, so. - I know, same.
- You don't want to squeeze from here.
And you want to squeeze with your dominant hand.
Hold this way and go like that.
- [Alix] Oh, look at you.
- [Rie] Better? (Alix squeals)
- Look at her, oh my gosh.
My frosting just glowed up.
- Ready, go.
(gentle music)
30 seconds.
- Yeah but look how good they are, not great.
- I feel like speed wise you are doing great
because you had five seconds left
and you already had finished.
- I got through all of these ones right here.
Technique wise, without the speed,
I was doing way better.
It's just marrying the two.
Thank you for your help, hands.
(laughing)
Okay, so it's about 7 a.m. right now.
I woke up a little bit early
so I could get some practice in.
So I think if I keep going
and working on my technique and form,
I'll naturally just be able to get faster.
After about 30 cupcakes my hand starts to feel
like it's about to fall off.
So this round I started off pretty good actually.
Come around here and then you can see
about here is where my hand started to cramp.
But you know what, its improvement,
and it's only up from here, bye.
All right it's day four, tomorrow's the big day.
I'm still over here practicing.
I can tell you I have a whole new appreciation
for these cupcake frosters though.
To be honest, I don't think I'm gonna be able
to get through all 250,
especially if I'm trying to make them look good.
But you know what, I am gonna try,
and that's what matters, right?
Hopefully that's what matters.
(loud sigh)
I'm still developing my frosting muscles.
You know, I actually just switched the direction
of my swirl because, I don't know, my arm got tired,
and it seems to be working even better.
Look at me go, she frosted, she scores.
(laughs)
Oh, shouldn't have done that.
Don't fire me.
Okay today is the big day we've all been waiting for.
I wouldn't say I'm feeling too confident this morning
but there's no going back.
Okay I'm gonna put one minute on the clock,
I'm gonna try through all 50 on this sheet.
(upbeat music)
(timer rings)
Okay, in one minute I got through 42 cupcakes.
All right, here we are, the first row.
Not great but not too bad.
And as always, gets worse and worse.
I do think this is the closest I've gotten
to maintaining both quality and speed,
although I was still eight short, so,
(laughs) there's that,
but you know maybe when I get in there
and adrenaline is pumping, and the frosting is flowing,
miracles can happen.
Maybe this onesie is lucky.
Maybe I should wear this.
Okay, I'm at work, I'm heading upstairs
to go attempt this challenge,
and I actually just got a video message
from Georgetown Cupcake.
- Hey Alix, it's Sophie from Georgetown Cupcake.
I heard you're trying to frost 250 cupcakes
in five minutes so I wanted to share some of our top tips.
First we want to start with nice light and airy frosting.
So we wanna mix it on high speed for about five minutes,
then when you put it in a bag you won't have to squeeze
so hard with your hands.
Second is technique.
You wanna start in the center of the cupcake,
go around in a circle and end with burst of pressure.
That's gonna make sure that each cupcake swirl
is perfect and beautiful.
And third and probably most important
is to always frost with confidence.
Once you start swirling don't stop.
Once you start to hesitate or waver a bit,
your swirl's gonna be broken and look a little sloppy.
I hope these tips are helpful,
and from everyone at Georgetown Cupcake, good luck.
- Those were some great tips.
I hope I can remember them when I'm doing the challenge
and I guess we should just go for it.
Rie's behind the scenes.
- I'm clapping for her, I'm mental support.
- I've been practicing all week
with increments with 25 and 50,
but I haven't again been able to practice
with the whole 250 so I'm a little bit worried
about the stamina and the muscle cramps.
- [Producer] Ready, go.
- Oh my God, oh my God, I'm past number six.
That's all I wanted, confidence.
All right this onesie's really hot,
actually maybe wasn't the best move.
- [Producer] Three minutes left.
(suspenseful music)
Two minutes, two minutes, go Alix, go.
Don't lose it, whoa you can do it.
- [Rie] One minute and 30 seconds.
(suspenseful music)
- [Producer] One minute left.
Consistency, consistency.
- [Rie] 15 seconds.
(suspenseful music)
(everyone cheering)
- [Producer] You actually did it.
Like, you did it.
(all laughing)
- I've always wanted to put my face in cake,
and this felt like a good moment.
Some of them kinda got stuck and flipped.
Some of them I just put my face into.
When I was practicing I always noticed
that I started off pretty strong
and then as my hand starts to cramp
it gets a little weaker.
But I do think, for the most part,
I kept pretty good quality throughout.
I still got a little bit of a swirl,
like some aren't great,
but passable, I think, is fair.
Oh my God.
- This is bragging rights.
(dramatic music)
- [Alix] I would just like to thank Georgetown Cupcake
for sending me those tips,
that confidence really got me through this challenge.
And I'd like to thank you, Rie,
for helping me with my technique.
- I didn't do anything but you did it.
- I'd also like to thank my onesie.
What better way to celebrate than with a cupcake.
Cheers. - Cheers.
(upbeat music)