Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee - Booze June 22nd, plus article

photos via Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee captioned:

Sandi Oh, one of the awesome IronCupcake:Earth bakers came all the way from Minneapolis via roadtrip to toss her hat in our ring with two entries Spiced Pineapple Cupcake and Coconut Spiced Cupcakes.

Another new friend, Mattie, brought her awesome Haruko Cupcake, a Green Tea Cupcake with Lemon Curd and a Sour Cream Basil Icing. Mmmmm, I love those Asian flavors.

See more Iron Cupcake photos in Sandy's Flickr stream.

The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel wrote about Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee and had this to say:

The 13 contestants competing for the thrill of winning the Iron Cupcake brought free samples of their spice-themed entries for any pub patron who wanted to play, as they say in Iron Cupcake circles. Pub patrons happily tasted cupcakes and then voted for their favorites.

"I think about cupcakes all the time," said contestant Ashley Weber, 25, of Milwaukee, who has been competing for months, and who hopes to open her own cupcake shop one day. "Sometimes, an idea comes to me in a dream. The cupcake world is a huge, growing business. The fan base is cult-like."

Weber's Salt 'n' Pepper fresh strawberry and pepper cupcake didn't win. But she has grabbed the Iron Cupcake ring twice before.

A year ago, the Iron Cupcake competition was just getting started with a handful of cupcake lovers. Today, the contest's founder and cupcake blogger - who calls herself the Milwaukee Cupcake Queen - has created a buzz around the monthly contest, which draws eclectic crowds averaging 100 people.

Sandy Ploy and her blog, www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com, also have inspired spin-off competitions in San Francisco and, starting next week, in Chicago and Las Vegas. Another Iron Cupcake competition is expected to launch next month in London, Ploy said. She also has an Internet-only Iron Cupcake recipe/photo competition that has attracted 325 bakers from 23 countries. (Visitors to her blog cast votes.)

The next one, June 22nd, is all about the alcohol. Looks fun. One of these days I want to get out there and witness an Iron Cupcake for myself.



Plus there's Iron Cupcake: Chicago on June 1st.