ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- When Teri Blevins told her family recently that she successfully concocted an apple pie cupcake recipe, she remembered her son turned to her and said: "I've never loved you more than as much as I love you now."

Blevins, who as a hobby bakes and sells cupcakes out of her St. Albans home, is used to the accolades. Usually, someone is on hand to eat a cupcake or three.

"When you come bearing cupcakes, you are instantly popular," she said. "Everybody is glad to see you."

Blevins recently sent one of her cupcake recipes to a national contest to compete against more than 200 other recipes from bakers across the country.

Her Devilly Good Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle was named one of the top 10 cupcake recipes in the competition, which was sponsored by cake mix giant Duncan-Hines.

Once the competition cupcakes were whittled down to 10, critics from magazines like Saveur and Ladies Home Journal sampled the finalists' creations. Wisconsin native Katie Rousonelos' Red Carpet Glamour, with chocolate ganache filling and vanilla bean frosting, beat Blevins' Devilly Good recipe.

As the winner, Rousonelos will pass out her cupcakes to celebrities during this year's Emmy Awards.

"If I had it all to do over again, I asked myself 'would you have made a different cupcake?'" Blevins said. "And the truth is, I wouldn't have."

Aside from her apple pie and Devilly Good cupcakes, Blevins bakes Oreo cream, brownie white chocolate cream, coconut cream pie, key lime pie, and especially dangerous death by chocolate cupcakes.

She said her husband's favorite is her orange Dreamsicle cupcake, made to taste like an orange cream Popsicle.

"When you bite into this cupcake it tastes like you are biting into a Dreamsicle Popsicle," she said.

When Blevins is in her experimental stages, she takes a bowl of batter and a spoon to her husband, Dan, to get a second opinion.

"Here, try it, tell me," she tells him.

He considers her the "cupcake wizard," she said.

Blevins bakes cupcakes only because she said they are easier than baking full cakes. There are fewer ingredients and less of a mess afterward, she said. She sells six to eight dozen cupcakes from her home every week at prices ranging from $15 to $24 a dozen depending on the cupcake.

Blevins works in customer service for third-party used car financer JD Byrider. She said after a tough day, it's nice to come home and do what she loves.

"This is why I love baking," she said. "When I come home, I put all of the baking ingredients together and it comes out. It's very therapeutic for me."

Those interested in Blevins' cupcakes may call her at 304-421-8640.

Reach Zac Taylor at Zachary.Tay...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5189.