Let us congratulate iamjosephinejacobs for winning our Baking Rivals contest! 

Here is her winning entry:  What About Butter?

As I walk into V-Treats, the new vegan bakery down the street from my shop, Cup-Cakery, I'm hit with the smell of zucchini. Other than cake, what kind of desserts can you even make with zucchini? Probably nothing as satisfying as one of my rich dark chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate cream cheese icing. 

I am determined to give the owner of this new bakery – if you can even call it a bakery, they don't even use butter for Christ's sake – a piece of my mind. Ever since the place opened, I've been losing business left and right. I've even had custom orders canceled because the customers found a more "universally friendly" option. To hell with "universally friendly" dessert options, I'm out for blood, cold, hard, non-vegan blood! 

How can anything even taste remotely good if it doesn't have butter in it? Butter is the heart of baking. It never lets you down. What is that saying, when all else fails, add a bit of butter? Or, in my case, a large scoop of it. 

"Next, please!" a voice calls from behind the counter. "Hi, how can I help you?" a girl in a stupid green ball-cap says when I approach her. 

"Hi, can I talk to the owner, please?" I ask, flashing a smile. 

"Sure," she says before disappearing through a set of white double-doors, which undoubtedly leads to the kitchen.

Screw this and screw whatever hot-shot businessman who owns this stupid vegan establishment. How dare they ruin the sacred practice the world calls baking. How can these people even call themselves bakers? They don't use butter!

I stand there, arms crossed over my chest as I wait for the ball-cap girl to return with the wannabe-hipster owner. When she returns unaccompanied, my blood begins to boil.

"I'm sorry, miss, but the owner will be another few minutes. Please, take a seat, he'll be right out!" she says, pointing over to the array of dainty tables and chairs clustered around the window. 

"Thank you," I say sternly before heading in the direction of the chairs.

I hate to say it, but it's a nice touch having a small seating area in the shop. I'm not admitting that I like this place; I'm just noting that they had at least one good idea. 

The shop is buzzing. The bell above the door keeps ringing over and over, signaling yet another customer entering the place. I can't believe how many people come here. Do this many people stick to a vegan diet? 

"Hi there, I'm the owner," a male voice booms above me as I take notice of his outstretched hand. 

"I am not shaking the hand of the person who's responsible for my dip in business," I spit without making eye contact. 

"Valarie?" the voice asks. 

I tilt my head upwards, taking note of the man standing in front of me. 

"Ethan?" I gawk, taking note of his tall and broad figure. "You own this place?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. 

"Yep, just opened a few months ago. It's great, isn't it?" 

"I wouldn't say it's great," I say, gesturing to the chair across from me. 

Ethan takes a seat and gives me a confused expression. "Hold on, what do you mean by I'm the one responsible for you losing business?" 

"I own Cup-Cakery down the street," I say plainly. 

"Oh," he says, "I didn't know. That's great! I'm glad you were able to make your dream of opening a bakery come true." 

"Let's cut the bullshit. I'm here for one thing, and one thing only," I say, placing my elbows on the table and eyeing him down. 

Ethan doesn't tense up like I hoped he would. Instead, he seems perfectly calm. "Val – I can still call you that, can't I?" he asks. 

"Sure." 

"I'm not sure what you want from me, but it sounds like you're not happy having some friendly competition in the baking-sphere." 

"You consider the product you're producing here baking?" 

"Well, yes." 

"Ethan," I say, shaking my head and smirking, "this is not baking. You don't use the key ingredients." 

"And what are those, sugar, spice, and everything nice?" he mocks.

"No. Butter, Ethan. Tender, rich, velvety sweet butter. An ingredient you seemed to love once upon a time, if I remember correctly," I smirk. 

"Val, there's more to life than butter." 

"So, you're telling me that you've bought into this vegan bullshit?" I accuse, causing some of his customers to gasp. 

"Look," Ethan says, leaning into me, "I don't want to get into this with you. I know we ended badly after graduation, but this is ridiculous." 

"You think this is about us? God, no! This is about my business, Ethan. My livelihood." 

I may have lied to Ethan a smidgen. I still think about him a lot, even though I haven't seen him in years. Part of me still misses him. 

"The last time I checked, we serve completely different crowds." 

"I thought so too until I started losing customers to a shop that has 'universally friendly' dessert options," I say, air-quoting my words. 

"What makes you think that it's my shop stealing your business?" 

"Because it's the only one in the area!" I spit. 

"Do you honestly think that the product I'm turning out here is crap?" 

"Yes. I think everything about the vegan lifestyle is crap!" 

"How about we put it to the test? If you try one of mine, I'll try one of yours." 

I have to admit, Ethan's proposal is very tempting, but I'm not about to begin fraternizing with the enemy. "If your dessert doesn't have butter in it, then we don't have a deal," I snap. 

"Suit yourself, but don't come back here complaining that you've gone out of business." 

I roll my eyes, stand, and walk away. There is no way I'm going to let him get to me. I'll have to figure out a way to win over the die-hard dessert lovers on my own.