ROYAL CITY - Given the opportunity to work secretly at home, Rosalexi Rodriguez created the Royal High School (RHS) Cupcake Wars winning cupcake for this year.

And there were no mixes involved, cake or frosting. It was all from scratch. It was vanilla flavored with a light whipped frosting.

Cupcake Wars is a baking contest created three years ago at Royal High School just for fun. Capitalizing on the popularity of television show, Royal Book Club sponsors contestants who bake and decorate cupcakes at home and bring them to the library, where they are displayed and sold as a fund-raiser.

"The creativity of the students is over the top, and the cupcakes are a delight to behold as well as to eat," librarian Susan Piercy said. "And no, the contestants do not throw the cupcakes at each other."

Categories, with prizes attached, include Kid Appeal, Best Chocolate and, of course, Best Book theme. A new category, Royal Spirit, was added this year.

Prizes are gift certificates from Mac's Mocha and a $25 gift certificate from Walmart for the grand prize winner. Rodriguez won the $25 this year.

Students from the high school and middle school vote on their favorite. Karen Lasen, parapro and pastry chef for De-Lish, and Paula Perryman, Home and Consumer Science teacher, judged the entries.

This year Katie Stewart's preschool visited RHS and voted on their favorite cupcake. In 2013, the entire fourth grade from Red Rock Elementary viewed the entries.

All the activities took place in the library, where the book club members sold the cupcakes for $1 each. Proceeds pay for new books for the club, book donations to the local Head Start program and other activities.

This year's winners, by category were:

• Most creative Ivan Nunez
• Best Chocolate Kailee Harris
• Best Book Theme Ashlee Moore
• Best Holiday Zach Snyder
• Kid Appeal Luz Colin
• Royal Spirit Yesenia Avalos
• Peoples' Choice Kailee Harris
• Overall Winner Rosalexi Rodriguez