For the Win

A secret ingredient put this Kids Baking Championship competitor over the top.

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taking the grand prize on Kids Baking Championship is a pretty sweet deal: You walk away with $25,000-and of course fame and glory. But the most recent winner of the competition, 11-year-old Nadya Alborz, got something even better: She scored the phone numbers of hosts Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman. "I get to chat with them sometimes!" she says. The Knoxville, TN, tween has her Syrian mom and grandmother to thank for giving her an early start in the kitchen and for teaching her to use ingredients common in Middle Eastern recipes. For her final creation-a strawberry jam-filled layer cake-she dressed up buttercream frosting with sweet, floral rosewater and won over the judges one final time. "It feels, and tastes, really nice to include my culture," she says.-Carol Lee

CUPCAKES WITH STRAWBERRY JAM AND ROSEWATER BUTTERCREAM

ACTIVE: 45 min l TOTAL: 1 hr 10 min (plus cooling) l MAKES: 24

FOR THE CUPCAKES

Cooking spray

2⅔ cups all-purpose flour