Iron Cupcake Milwaukee -- Bacon

On Monday I participated in Iron Cupcake Milwaukee, a monthly local cupcake contest. Each month a theme is chosen and bakers, both professional and amateur (I use the term amateur here lightly, as you will see!), compete to create the best tasting cupcake using that theme. For a bargain price of $7 attendees can sample all of these offerings and then vote for the cupcake they think has the best flavor and also the entrant with the best presentation.

This month's theme was bacon....that's right, bacon! I was completely amazed and blown away at the creativity, thoughtfulness, and incredibly detail and labor that people put into their entries. The winning cupcake was painstakingly created by taking tiny circles of cake and layering them on a toothpick with bananas, peanut butter, and bacon, and was inspired by Elvis's favorite sandwich. Genius! And delicious! Another great idea was a play off of rumaki (bacon covered chicken livers). This "cupcake" was wrapped in bacon and although I didn't get a chance to taste it I heard buzz about it all night. Yet another favorite was a BLT cupcake that would make a great appetizer. It was a slightly sweet tomato cake topped with a mayonnaise butter cream and sprinkled with bacon and lettuce (and was created by a trio of cute young men dressed in coordinating black tuxes with pink satin bows, who ended up winning for best presentation)

I chose to participate to challenge myself to step outside the box of what I normally would make for the bakery. After several failed attempts (a bacon corn muffin with fig preserves and fig goat cheese butter cream, an apple cupcake with caramel butter cream and bacon toffee) I settled on a bacon cupcake with a blackberry jam schmear, vanilla butter cream and bacon toffee.

Second to the creativity and inspiration of the other bakers, the highlight of the evening for me was being able to see a cake from Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago that was presented to Iron Cupcake creator and founder Sandy Ploy in honor of her birthday. The owners of the bakery have competed on Food Network cake challenges and it was amazing to see there work up close and have a taste!

I am so intrigued by the custom people figures and definitely have that on my list of things to learn this year. What a fun and inspiring night! Who knew that bacon and cupcakes could bring so many people together? Next month's challenge is "Curry".......