A Birthday Like No Other

For my birthday this year, I wasn’t going to do anything major. After all, I just spent nearly a week in New York. That was present enough. My plans were to just do dinner with a couple of close friends, and even that ended up getting postponed. So, you can imagine my shock this past Monday when the crowd at IronCupcake snuck up on me with the ultimate birthday surprise.



Two of our faithful IronCupcakers, Erin and Danielle, took it upon themselves to throw me a little surprise. Boy did they do a good job. They called a bunch of the businesses that have been on the IronCupcake playground and got presents...yes PRESENTS, for me! I have spent the better part of the past 2 years gather goodies for everyone and everything to make IronCupcake awesome. And they turned around and did it for me. I was so touched. Really ladies...thank you.


Amongst the loot were teas and a tea pot from our friends at RISHI TEA; Raspberry Framboise and Double Chocolate Stout complements of BLATZ LIQUOR; a gift card from the gang at AJ BOMBERS; decadent candy bars from INDULGENCE CHOCOLATIERS, a book by Gilda Radner complements of the gals over at GILDA’S CLUB; plus goodies from a few of my long time bakers as well! If I have forgotten any goodies, I will add them as I find them, my trunk is STUFFED with stuff left over from that night still. (ha ha ha)



But that is NOT where the treats ended. They called my buddy Michelle down at Chicago’s Bleeding Heart Bakery and their ENTIRE STAFF came up for the challenge garnering a bagful of shirts just for me and...the piece de resistance...the MOST FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC birthday cake...EVER.





Jim, my photo angel - my mac daddy, managed to capture my facial expressions perfectly as this work of art was revealed.

The cake was a 9 layer monster of a chocolate cake with every filling they use at the bakery. I had talked to Vinny, Michelle’s hubs, earlier in the day and he was laughing at the green cake dye on his hands...come to find out it came from my cake. LOL. The giant cupcake had to have weighed 50 pounds, it was perched on a motor that made it rotate and sprinkled all over the top were bits of past challenges: sushi, beer, chili peppers and bacon. Like that would not have been enough on it’s own, there was a sugar likeness of ME, complete with my black mary jane shoes. It was fantastic. Just awesome.

We barely put a dent in the cake that night and I took the leftovers to work the next day. I didn’t get a photo, but what was left after the co-workers/vulchers got to it looked like the emptied carcass of what was once a cupcake. Kind of like those inflatable yard Santa the day after xmas when someone turned the air off.



Now, Milwaukee, not to be outdone by the massive talent from down south, took its own stab at a Sugar Sandy. Erin, our incredibly talented IronCupcaker who has been responsible for some amazing sugar art in the past including the Simpsons, an office, Twilight tower and more ALSO made a sugar Sandy. This one set atop a throne of cupcakes with a robe, sceptor and crown. So cute, I am so honored.



Seriously, HOW DID WE GET HERE? When did IronCupcake transform from a couple of buds smack talking to this citywide phenomenom? I am so lucky. Thank you all, and special thanks to Danielle, Erin and the Bleeding Heart Gang for making this a birthday I will never forget.