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Ginger Ice Cream Spices Up Dessert Wars for the Win

Mr.Green Tea Ice Cream Company takes top prize.

It was a packed house last night for Dessert Wars at Branches Catering in West Long Branch. The event was hosted by 94.3 The Point with proceeds going to the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties

Mr. Green Tea Ice Cream Company's Ginger Ice Cream confection took the top prize in a field of 23 desserts.

"The fresh ginger in the ice cream was the top one for me. It was in a martini glass with a nice balsamic wash on the inside of the glass, so when you scooped the ginger ice cream, you brought it up past the balsamic and they had little chocolate covered chop sticks. One of the chop sticks had like a chili sugar on it," explained judge Bob Sickles of Sickles Market in Little Silver.

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"It was creative. It was well presented. It looked great. They froze the glasses so the ice cream didn't melt. There was something else going on that I can't remember, but something underneath the ice cream, and it tasted great," he said.

"The winning dish came from our president and CEO, Rich [Emanuele]. He thought the sweet ginger with the savory balsamic would go together great and he was right," said Emanuele's son Michael Emanuele.

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"Out signature is green tea, but for the last 15 years ginger has always been my favorite," said Rich Emanuele.

"It was a surprise and a great honor," he said of the win.

Mr. Green Tea Ice Cream Company was founded Rich Emanuele's father 35 years ago in Manhattan to provide superior ice cream to Japanese restaurants, but is coming out with a line of pints in June that will be available at high end grocery stores, said Michael Emanuele.

Ocean County Vocational School (OCVTS) culinary student Ashley Johnson of Jackson was named Sweetest Student by the judges. 

"We all worked together as a team, but we each shined in everything. Certain people did certain things. I took part in making the passion fruit mouse, the brownies, and I also did the sugar piece," said Johnson, who is a post-secondary student at OCVTS's Brick Center.

The People's Choice award winner was announced this morning on 94.3 The Point.

Ninos Coal Fired Pizza and Restaurant of Toms River was the crowd favorite.

"It's lady fingers dipped in espresso, then we whipped up marscapone cheese with egg whites, and we sprinkled Godiva chocolate on top. It's really light," said owner Anthony Schifilliti,  of his grandmother's winning recipe. 

The judges were looking for a combination of taste, texture, presentation, and creativity, they said as the competition got underway. 

"You're looking for accuracy and flavor. So if it's good chocolate, it wants to taste like real good chocolate. ... If it's a ganache or something, it wants to have that texture that's really nice. So the taste and the texture matter most to me. Then creativity is interesting," said Sickles.

"If the presentation is great, but it doesn't taste so good, that's just lost on me. Ultimately it's taste and texture first. I think we had a lot of really good desserts here tonight. It was delicious," he said.

In addition to the Ginger ice cream dessert, Sickles thought the cheesecake from Dees Cakes of Adelphia and the Red Velvet cake from Ye Olde Pie Shoppe of Little Silver were both "delicious."

Seannee Harris, owner of Dees Cakes, works out of a commercial kitchen to replicate her mother Dee's recipe for creamy cheesecake. 

"I used to tell her all the time when we were younger, 'You should sell this; everybody loves it.' So she did it locally, but my mom has 7 kids. I think it was a lot to do. ...Everybody who's tried it, even people who don't like cheesecake, love this cheesecake. That's how I know it's special," said Harris. 

Dees Cakes can be purchased online at DeesCakes.net or by phone at 732.303.1332. Free delivery is available in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, said Harris.

"It's like being in a state of ecstascy when you eat it," said , Eileen Caruso, owner of Ye Olde Pie Shoppe of the Red Velvet cake stuffed with chocolate mouse, cream cheese icing, and chocolate ganache that Sickles enjoyed.

"As her son, this is my new personal favorite," said T.C. Caruso.

"There was a cheese presentation. It was a spiced, poached pear with a port wine glaze and a little gorgonzola cream, which was very interesting," said Sickles of the dessert offered by The Cheese Cave Artisan Cheese Shop of Red Bank. 

"It's a classic salty/sweet contrast," said owner Steven Catania of the dessert he created as an alternative to "all the chocolate desserts."

"There was a very elegant dessert here tonight with carmelized banana and chocolate dots and a few other things, and that was actually very well done. I thought that was worth a pretty high grade, plus it was pretty elegant on the plate," said Sickles of the Praline Crunch entered by Nicchio Ristorante of Belmar.

"Presentation is a big one, but when you taste it, it just has to make you take a step back and go "Wow!" said Judge Toni Costiglia of Wine & Dine Web.

"I really loved the Guiness stuffed cupcake. It had a lot of different flavors in it," said Costiglia.

The Chocolate Guiness cupcake stuffed with Baileys Irish Cream ganache and topped with Guiness foam was conceived by, Lisa Porada, owner of Chocolate Carousel in Wall.

"We do stuffed cupcakes as a regular menu item in our store. We do 45 flavors every day. So we're always on the search for a new flavor. This flavor was inspired by St. Patrick's Day this year. We wanted to do something with beer, so we came up with this and it was so popular, it became a regular menu item," said Porada.

"Since then, I've also introduced the Cosmo cupcake, which is vodka and cranberry stuffed with lime, and it's really awesome," she said.

"The Peanut Butter Crunch Tart was very unique. The texture was very unique," said Judge Tina LoBosco of CMSC Spirits.

Bruce Wynn, owner of Eat Cake in Matawan, conceived the chocolate peanut butter torte with a Oreo crust and Creme Anglais that LoBosco preferred.

"We have the ability to make any candy bar or like popular flavors and meld them together. This is another one of those examples," said Wynn. 

Joe Leone Introna of Joe Leone's Italian Specialties in Point Pleasant Beach only judged one portion of the event because of a time conflict, but said he looks for a combination of presentation and quality in a winning dessert.

"Sometimes some of it's a little bit oversugared and overpowering," said Introna.

A representative from 94.3 The Point estimated that more than 1000 people attended Dessert Wars.

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