Cupcake Wars, behind the scenes at Destination Imagination

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The smell of freshly baked cupcakes filled the air as children gathered their candy and pretzel toppings at their work spaces.

They chose brightly colored icing in piping bags to begin decorating their works of art. Cupcake Wars gave student competitors in the Destination Imagination Global Finals the chance to play in the kitchen, competing only for fun as a break from their more demanding DI projects.

The Cutting Edge Classroom in West Knoxville hosted the Cupcake Wars. Small groups took turns to spend a few hours with Chef John Alunni.

Aluni said he developed a kid-friendly cupcake recipe that the kids could mix up for him to bake. Then he demonstrated how to pipe the icing before turning the aspiring chefs loose to create their own designer cupcakes.

Topping options included brightly colored licorice sticks, pretzels and chips. Teams created their own version of a DI theme for their cupcakes.

"I'm making the Sunsphere disco ball thing at the Knoxville Convention Center, and I'm using buttercream with a round tip, butterscotch syrup and cinnamon crunch cereal."

Meanwhile, back in downtown Knoxville, teams of competitors from all around the United States and 14 other countries assembled props for their presentations. Teams had to ship props to Knoxville, then repair or complete their props prior to their competitive presentations in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.

A team of 4th graders from Charlottesville, Va. used drill motors to run their own bumper cars.

"So our challenge was to make a working amusement park attraction in an unlikely location. So we made bumper cars that were in Atlantis,"

one student said.

Competitions continue through Saturday in Knoxville.