Mark your calendar: Dessert Wars is scheduled to return Saturday, February 2, with more than 20,000 sweets ready to be devoured.
Taking place less than four months after Dessert Wars' summer festival at Soho Studios in Wynwood, this edition will be the first to be held completely outdoors, in front of the Ocean Bank Convocation Center on the FIU Main Campus.
Similar to the most recent Dessert Wars, the late-afternoon event will present about 50 vendors. There will be thousands of samplings, and organizers expect a similar turnout of around a thousand attendees.
Attendees can expect numerous stands stocked with cupcakes, cookies, brownies, doughnuts, and other confections. Several vendors will offer gluten-free and vegan options. Confirmed participants include One Love Cakes, Twice as Sweet Cakes & Cupcakes, and Sweetz by Niyaah.
Dessert Wars founder Brad Matthews still plans to expand the festival across Florida, including Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville. Nationally, he hopes to target Atlanta, Nashville, New York, San Diego, and Charlotte.
"We are completely on our own now and planning to take it across Florida in the next year," Matthews tells New Times. "Then we're going national. The goal is to be in eight to ten cities per year."
As with previous editions of Dessert Wars, guests will receive a ballot to rank every vendor on a scale of one to three. The vendor with the highest score will win.
Tickets cost $20, which includes a limited number of vouchers that can be traded for dessert samplings. A $40 VIP ticket includes samplings from all vendors and early entrance at 4 p.m. Each ticket also includes a to-go box to stash a few treats for the road.
Dessert Wars. 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, February 2, at Ocean Bank Convocation Center, 1180 SW 113th Ave., Miami; dessertwarsmiami.com. Tickets cost $20 to $40 via eventbrite.com.