It’s time for Benicia cooks and chefs to get serious about dessert.

In fact, said Helaine Bowles, Benicia Public Library outreach coordinator, it’s time to go to war.

The Benicia Library Foundation has had two Cupcake Wars in recent years, and Bowles said they “were a great success.”

Last year the foundation took a break from the baking battlefield. But this year, organizers decided to expand the combat, so kitchen warriors could compete in cookies, cakes and cupcakes, pies and unique desserts, Bowles said.

The inaugural Dessert War takes place Wednesday, and the battleground is the Doña Benicia Room of the public library.

Don’t expect a food fight or any thrown pies. Instead, entries will be subjected to the ruling of two judges, Bowles said.

“The real catch here is the two women that are judging and the person providing coffee are Benicia High School graduates,” she said.

In fact, the judges are Corey Fanfa and Andrea Mikami Ballus, owners of Sift Bakery, who won the 2011 Food Channel’s “Cupcake Wars.”

They battled through three challenging bakeoffs — choosing the right combination from a prescribed list of ingredients, or having to create an elaborate cupcake within a tight deadline — to take home a $10,000 grand prize.

Their winner was a raspberry cupcake topped with champagne buttercream icing.

The pair also have appeared on the Food Network’s “Cupcake Champions,” and their Sift Bakeries operate in several North Bay cities and in San Francisco.

This year, Elvis Lieban, one of the owners of Artis Coffee Roasters, Berkeley, is providing the coffee for the library’s baking event.

Like Fanfa and Ballus, Lieban is a Benicia High School graduate. He also graduated from Solano Community College and the University of California-Davis before transferring to Babson College, in Boston, to enroll in its master’s degree level in business administration for entrepreneurs.

Lieban and two other Babson students, James Gutierrez and Alex Lowe, opened Artis Coffee Roasters in Berkeley last year so shoppers could select coffee beans, watch them being roasted and in six minutes have coffee ready to take home.

The company was launched in December 2013 after the trio won the EDENs Retail Challenge at the 2013 Smart: The Art of Retail Conference, a grant program that gave them the opportunity to turn their idea into a real business.

The three raised another $700,000 on their own, then opened their Berkeley store.

“Of course, the main part of the story is the Dessert Wars,” Bowles said.

Deadline to enter is Monday, and forms may be picked up at the library or through its website, www.benicialibrary.org.

Only 40 entries will be accepted, she said.

Competitors will pay a $10 entry fee for each dessert, and checks will be payable to the Benicia Library Foundation, she said.

Participants must bring two dozen cookies, one cake, a dozen cupcakes, two pies or an equivalent amount for unique desserts to the Doña Benicia Room of the library, 150 East L St., by 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Spectators are welcome, Bowles said. Those who want to do more than watch can pay $5 per person or $8 per family to get a taste of the goodies and participate in choosing an audience favorite.

Dessert entries need to be in the Doña Benicia Room of the Benicia Public Library, 150 East L St., by 6 p.m. Wednesday, and judging will be on appearance, originality and taste.