Well, tonight was my first experience of the Iron Cupcake competition in Leeds…. and it was certainly a tough one! It’s a monthly challenge to all budding cupcake bakers out there to come up with the yummiest and most beautiful creation according to the theme of the month.
This month it was ‘blue & pink’ in aid of Cancer Research uk and people had come up with some very clever ideas (14 entries in total). Everyone arrived & set out their cakes and signs. The best cake from each entry was photographed and displayed, whilst the rest were cut up for judging. The entry fee for each ‘baker’ is £5 (which usually gets you a free drink – but tonight was donated to charity). You can also put yourself forward as an ‘eater’ (which Tom did – see his picposterous) and go round with a scorecard – marks out of 5 for presentation & out of 10 for taste. Everyone was having a greattime and giving it careful consideration! And you weren’t allowed to linger around your entry to put any pressure on people!!
I liked the ‘Strawberry & Cream’ cupcake, which was delicious and light, and a gorgeous ‘Blueberry’ one (which came 2nd.) There were some amazing cocktail themed ones, like ‘Blue Lagoon’, ’Cosmopolitan’ (which won) with umbrellas & adornments and lots with very bright blue & pink frosting.
My entry was ‘Turkish Delights’ – based on the red velvet chocolate cupcakes (Hummingbird Bakery recipe) topped with a pink rosewater & cinnamon buttercream, pink glitter and pieces of turkish delight. I was pleased with how they turned out, the cake was rich, the topping was just sweet enough but unfortunately slightly gooey! When cut into quarters, it did somewhat ruin the presentation 
(But I did get some hints from some of the other bakers!) I also forgot to take a photo until they had nearly all gone – oops!
Prizes are given out for first & second place, but that’s not really the point. It was great fun to do the planning and baking and even better to enjoy everyone else’s! And in true competitive spirit I have now retreated to plan my next attempt!
Details:
When: Sunday @ 6pm – see website for dates
Where: The Adelphi, Leeds (lovely function room upstairs)
Idea: Bake 12 cupcakes in line with the theme of the month, bring 3 whole to display and the rest cut into quarters for tasting. You must have a pretty sign to tell folks about your creation.
Website: http://www.ironcupcakeleeds.co.uk/
