Battle Of The Desserts

Recently Virginia is For Lovers / the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) launched their Culinary Madness Challenge as a fun spin off on March Madness brackets. The contest encourages the public to vote for your favorite Virginia culinary masterpieces.The initial bracket, launched this week, contains 76 dishes from around the state of Virginia, in four groups, containing incredible entrees, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and desserts.

The VisitMartinsville staff had hoped that Martinsville-Henry County would be lucky enough to be represented in the contest by a local business and were ecstatic to discover, in fact, that we have two exciting teams in the bracket! Both Rising Sun Breads and Dippers Ice Cream are listed in group #4 of the Culinary Madness bracket. 

According to VTC officials, the TOP FOUR (4) vote-getters in each group will battle it out in the first-ever Virginia is for Lovers Culinary Madness bracket challenge and voting is open now. Starting April 10th, the TOP SIXTEEN (16) finalists will be featured in the Savory Sixteen round with head-to-head match-ups. The winners will move on to the Enticing Eight and then the Flavorful Four. Two finalists will be paired off in the championship round later in April with the winner being crowned the “Virginia is for Lovers Culinary Madness Champion” on April 29th.

You may vote for as many dishes as you like in each group but you may only vote one time during the initial vote-off. Since both Rising Sun Breads and Dippers Ice Cream submitted dessert-type items, we want your help in voting for these sweet treats in Martinsville's "Battle of the Desserts!"  Let's discover more about the contenders...

Dippers Ice Cream made it into the bracket with their brand new Peanut Butter Bang Sundae. For this delectable dessert, freshly baked chocolate cake cup is filled with homemade Peanut Butter & Brownie Explosion ice cream and topped with homemade hot fudge and peanut butter sauces. This sundae recipe is new to Dippers this season but the key ingredient of Peanut Butter & Brownie Explosion ice cream, made fresh on-site, has quite a fan following. 

Dippers is located just off US Hwy 220 Business in Ridgeway next to Tractor Supply. The business is owned by Tracy and Rodney Cox and their son Andrew. 

Rising Sun Breads made it into the bracket with their Virginia Chocolate Swirl. This treat features chocolate Croissant dough rolled into a swirl, filled with a layer of chocolate, peanut butter and Mexican cocoa, topped with a peanut/chocolate crumble, baked and drizzled with chocolate while it is still hot! The dish is a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds.

Rising Sun Breads is located on Brookdale Road, across the street from the Martinsville main branch post office. The business is owned by Darla Main-Schneider. 

Both desserts look delicious and present stiff competition. Darla has a home field advantage as Rising Sun Breads has been serving the community since 2008. Rising Sun's mission is to provide top-quality, all natural ingredients, baked in an old world bread-baking technique, to create baked goods for everyone to love. Darla has grown her business from sharing kitchen space with other bakers to owning her very own bakery and cafe'. She strives to source as many of her ingredients locally as possible including eggs, milk, butter and honey.

While new to the food arena after opening their doors in 2012, Tracy and the staff at Dippers have proven that they know a thing or two about ice cream. Creating a cult following of ice cream lovers in one season that ultimately led to building a new larger facility, expanding their product line and hiring additional employees, Tracy has also garnered the national support of NASCAR food blogger Steve Post who gives the Peanut Butter Bang Sundae rave reviews. 

Now is your turn to help move one, or both, of these delicious recipes forward in the competition. We don't want for you to vote for a dessert simply because it is from Martinsville-Henry County; we want you to make an informed and educated decision so head over to Dippers Ice Cream and Rising Sun Breads today or tomorrow to try the Peanut Butter Bang Sundae and Virginia Chocolate Swirl for yourself!

Then...click to vote! You have through April 9th to cast your vote in the first round. Which MHC area dessert will win the most votes and possibly be named the 2014 Virginia is For Lovers Culinary Madness Champion? We'll see!