Fakir Audingas

While the debate over the best cupcake in Washington goes on, the contest for the cutest bakery owners was decided earlier this year when sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, the photogenic co-owners of Georgetown Cupcake, were picked to star in TLC’s six-part summer series. Filmed earlier this year, it debuts Friday at 10 p.m.

“You can get cupcakes anywhere — even in a grocery store or bake them at home. I think people come here because it is an experience and something special,” Sophie said.

The sisters, originally from Toronto, had the perfect back story for TV: Sophie, 33, and Katherine, 31, quit their corporate jobs (Sophie worked in finance, Katherine was an event planner for Gucci) to start a family cupcake business on Valentine’s Day 2008. With savvy marketing and word of mouth, the tiny Georgetown business boomed and customers lined up outside to buy 5,000 of the .75 cupcakes every day.

TLC jumped on the bandwagon. The hook, said Howard Lee, veep of production and development for TLC, was “how these two women could leave their day jobs and pursue their passion. I think that’s a dream that many of us have.”

The shop has a devoted following, and its Chocolate Ganache cupcake won The Washington Post’s Cupcake War in 2008. But not everyone is a fan. “I’ve been to their store three times and I think their cupcakes are good, but I didn’t feel like they’re fantastic,” said Linda Martin, author of the local 52 Cupcakes blog. “But they definitely created some sort of mystique.”

Martin’s favorites come from Baked & Wired, a bakery just blocks away from Georgetown Cupcake. Co-owner Teresa Velazquez, who opened her place in 2001, said she’s never met the sisters but doesn’t consider them rivals. “Our product is different than their product,” she said. “Everyone has a different idea of what a cupcake should taste like.”

Velazquez, who plans to watch the premiere, wasn’t approached to be part of this or any other reality show. “You have to have a certain personality for that,” she told us.