The Sweet, Silent Killer

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Fishin' for Complements

Gold Fish Matcha Mini White Chocolate Cupcake, originally uploaded by The Lone Baker.

Matcha and White Chocolate Mini Cupcake, with pool of white chocolate ganache and white chocolate fish covered in pure gold leaf. Tiny cupcakes to be served as part of Japanese dinner. Recipe is available on The Lone Baker blog.

So Many Chefs...

I could blog for another week about all of the chef encounters from the Home Housewares show, which was now 2 weeks ago. I do not want to lessen the coolness of meeting most of these chefs, but at the same time, I don't want to drag it out any longer.
The perk about hitting the Int'l Home Housewares show is all of the celebrity chefs that are on-hand to promote their books, products, latest venture. For a chef-geek like me it is a haven.

In addition to my previously mentioned Top Chef encounters, I was also lucky enough to meet Iron Chef Cat Cora, Oprah Winfrey's buddy and Common Thread's founder Chef Art Smith and the ostentatious – the only way to describe – Chef Suvir Saran.

Well, there was 1 1/2 other chef encounters. Guy Fieri of Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives made himself known during Chef Mario Batali's demonstration. Hello -- the two of them on the same stage -- it was a testosterone-filled egomaniacal exchange of personal imposed awesomeness. I later met Chef Batali briefly, and my previous opinions of him were confirmed. Kind of a big jagbag. Sorry gang...I tell it like I see it. Far too self-important for me to give a crap about for more than 1 second. I don't care if he can cook.

What's New in Cupcake Land?!?!

There was a whole lotta cupcaking going on at this year's Home and Housewares show in Chicago. A lot of aprons, a lot of mugs and plates and things we have seen before. But there were a few things that were different and stood out from the pack. Coming soon to a retail outlet near you are these clever Bake and Serve silicone cupcake baking cups by Fred & Friends.


This one caught my eye because it had a substantial quality to it. I have purchased several piping/filling bags over the years, but the quality never seems to stand up to the need. The size of the bag is always too small. You know what I mean if you use these at all. This set from Kitchen Aid had sturdy tips that secured to the bag well and a handy flat case the stored the lot.

Debbie Meyer (yeah, that is HER with her new product), the creator of The Green Bag, has a new gadget called The Cupcake Genius. A standard cupcake pan with a brace of sorts that inserts a silicone plug into each cake while baking causing a hole to be in the finished product. Punching a hole in a cupcake was a big effort for the season, as you will see below as well. This item is currently only available through HSN.

The last stop of cool cupcake finds had a double treat, as not only was it a cool product -- my favorite of the day -- but we also got to visit with the pastry chef from our friends at Swirlz Cupcakes in Chicago. He was onhand to do live demo's of the new Cuisipro Cupcake Corer and Decorating Set. A great little gadget that extracts a perfect plug out of a cupcake...

...and then has a handy little syringe tool that injects creamy sweet yummies into said hole. I will be testing one of these soon, please stay tuned for the results!

EXCLUSIVE: How-To from What's New, Cupcake!

Last week, while attending the Home Housewares Show in Chicago, I didn't just stalk all of my chef's...I got to spend 2 glorious days with my very dear friends Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.



I love spending time with them whenever possible, but when they are about to release a follow-up to their best-selling book, it makes for extra fun and an exclusive how-to video just for the viewers of my blog! (um...LUCKY!)



We were able to spend time catching up, checking out the various new cupcake products at the show (post coming soon), I snuck them in to Michelle Garcia's Food Network Challenge viewing party and dinner with my BFF. Tons and tons of fun.



But, come on gang, lets face it, I geeked out when I got some private cupcake time with my favorite cupcake experts. While they were prepping for other appearances, I was able to snag this awesome video with detailed instruction on how to make the gorgeous Chrysanthemum cupcake at the top of the post. The new book, WHAT'S NEW, CUPCAKE? hits stores on April 1st, or is available now on Amazon.com.

ICM:CHEESE Challenge

WEEKEND EVENT!!! Sunday, April 25th!

Another old-school IronCupcake favorite; IronCupcake:Milwaukee's challenge theme for April is CHEESE! A Wisconsin classic with as many variations as there are cupcakes to be eaten. We have a team of partners for this challenge, featuring Larry's Market and Holland's Family Cheese!

Just four months of cheesemaking and with the very first batch from Marieke Gouda Foenegreek, Holland's Family Farms won Best of Class in the Open Class for Flavored Semi - Soft Cheeses (biggest class at the competition) at the 2007 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest held in Madison. Since then they have won 25 more awards in 3 years time, every time the cheese has been entered it has won an award.

TWO WAYS TO GET TICKETS
Order in advanced and pay only $8 or pay $10 at the door (cash only, correct change preferred) gets you cupcakes galore, cheese tasting, drink specials and entry into our monthly raffle.

PRE-IRONCUPCAKE AT MOTOR!
Check out MOTOR after the IronCupcake challenge for a delicious dinner by the Milwaukee River, shop in the Harley-Davidson store, enjoy the museum grounds.

IronCupcake GIVES BACK & BOOK DRIVE!
Every month IronCupcake chooses a local non-profit to share the money raised at each event. For April, our recipient will be Literacy Services of Wisconsin. Member of their staff will be onhand to share how YOU can get involved in helping be sure that EVERYONE in Wisconsin learns to read. For every new or used book you bring to donate to Literacy Services of Wisconsin, you will receive and extra entry into our monthly raffle. (Must be present to win.)

CELEBRITY JUDGE!!
IronCupcake:Milwaukee is excited to announce that the CELEBRITY JUDGE for our APRIL challenge will be none other than the face of the Milwaukee Police Department, Anne E. Schwartz. Currently, she is the Public Relations Manager for MPD, we see her whenever a major police incident in Milwaukee hits the media. But she is more than that...in the past she was a reporter at Channel 12 and Channel 4, the managing editor at the Waukesha Freeman and a reporter for the old Milwaukee Journal's Green Sheet. In 1991,her coverage of the Jeffrey Dahmer story earned her a book deal and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Read more about Anne E. Schwartz on onmilwaukee.com.

TEXT VOTING!!
Keeping up with the technology and the times, we are pleased to welcome TooMuchMetal/Smac Design and their CONTEXT-VOTE online text voting! PLUS, now accepting pre-orders for the next IronCupcake:Milwaukee t-shirt!


The APRIL challenge will take place on SUNDAY, April 25 at 3 p.m.
Bakers spots filling fast, sign up today!

IronCupcake:Milwaukee
CHEESE Challenge
with WI Milk Marketing Board, Larry's Market & Holland's Family Cheese
SUNDAY, April 25 at 3 p.m.
RUMBLE at the Harley-Davidson Museum
400 W Canal St • Milwaukee, WI 53201

IronCupcake is open to all ages, but please keep in mind that this is a crowded bar setting and anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

How the Time Flies!

Remember this little pumpkin? We all waited patiently for her to join the party. Hard to believe that she is 3 now. She had a tiger birthday last weekend and what could make it more complete than Tiger Cupcakes!? I snagged this gorgeous photo taken by her Auntie Tracie of {TSJ} Photography, off of Mama's blog, Pass the Cereal. Happy Birthday EJ!!

Rub & Sniff

In the upcoming issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray - a "rub & sniff" ad for new Post Cupcake Pebbles. This and a cover shot of RR posed for a pillow fight. hmmm.

ICM: Milwaukee Gets Curried Away!

It was IronCupcake:Milwaukee's CURRY challenge last night. An intimidating ingredient with delicious results.



Samir Karimi from our theme partner, White Jasmine Spices, was on hand with their magical creations of curry and coriander and other fragrant goodies.



We had a super hero in our midst as well; none other than THE Comet Dog with his owner, now home from Iraq, representing their mission to bring creature comforts to injured soldiers overseas. Comet Dog was our non-profit this month and it is an honor to support their mission.



Wooing our crowd was the charming and adorable Chef Michael Feker of Il Mito restaurant and The School of Culinary Magic. As our celebrity judge, Chef worked the room and the ladies and swept most of us off of our feet!



One of our new bakers, Gale, came in with a vengance. Her Spicy Turtle Cupcake took home the White Jasmine PARTNER'S PICK and the prize from our Celebrity Judge, Chef Michael Feker. The creation; a chocolate cake spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, curry and other secret spices was topped with homemade caramel cream cheese frosting, a splash of caramel sauce and sweet cayenne-curried pecans.



It was the debut of our new text voting technology brought to us by Fred Gillich of TooMuchMetal/SmacDesign. Being that IronCupcake is the product of a technology geek; it was a no-brainer that I be intrigued by the technology that Fred has developed. It will make our IronCupcake events run smoother and be more interactive for the crowd. Bring your cell phones from now on and enjoy the ride! With Fred's voting program and the help of my many volunteers, ICM is getting better and better every month!



The winner of our BEST DISPLAY was Laura & Mary Beth with their Creamy Curry Piña Colada Cupcake — a pineapple curry cupcake filled with pineapple curd and topped with a coconut rum frosting.



Our winner for BEST TASTE was the entry from David & Natasha. Natasha and David, dressed either as Julia Child or Mrs. Doubtfire (we aren't sure which), presented their As American as Curried Apple Pie — a vanilla cupcake filled with diced apples sauteed in butter, brown sugar, and sweet curry powder, topped with coconut milk curry butter cream and a pie crust round.



As always, my Mac Daddy hero, Jim Conway was on-hand taking awesome photos of all the delicious treats. Thank you Jim. Check out a slide show of some of his shots below.



Our next challenge is CHEESE, the date and location will be announced this weekend. Bakers spots are filling VERY fast, so if you are interested in baking, be sure to sign up soon!

Eggs - Flour - Sugar - IRON!...AWESOME!

Pre-orders now being accepted for the AWESOME new IronCupcake:Milwaukee T-Shirt available exclusively at TooMuchMetal/SmacDesign. In the coming weeks we will also make this design available to our other IronCupcake cities as well. But, for now, Milwaukee, you get to rock 'em first!

Hooray for our new partner TooMuchMetal/SmacDesign for handling the day-to-day biz of t-shirt land.

Order yours now for only $18 bucks!

Top Chef's equal Top Fun!

In addition to a meeting with Chef Richard Blais, I also met Dale Levitski, another alum of TC Season 5. Dale was giving demos (puff pastry gnocchi - to die) and talking about the tasty nomnoms of his new restaurant, Sprout, which he recently opened in downtown Chicago with another Top Cheffer, Sous Chef Sara Nguyen. It was Dale's tip that got me over to meet Richard, a win win all around! Oh yeah...and don't ask about my hair, WTF...at least it got better as the day progressed.

Shed a Little Light on the Sweetness

Saw this on Twitter today, @Sur_La_Table found this amazing treat. OK, so it isn't a cupcake, but OH MY GOD, it is definitely spectacular. The Candelier...a chandelier made of 5,000 acrylic GUMMI BEARS! Shut up, already! Hurry up and get yours, only 10 will be made -- all for the low, low price of ... well, they don't tell us on the site, but yes, it CAN be yours...

Chef Supreme

This past Monday and Tuesday was the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago. An awesome opportunity to check out upcoming products for the cupcake universe...but equally as awesome is the opportunity to meet some super chefs! One of those chefs, Top Chef's Richard Blais, was there. He is now the culinary advisor for the Sous Vide Supreme – a home version of the now infamous slow water bath style of cooking that has grown in popularity at home with the thanks of Top Chef. Their booth had walls - unique at the show - so only invited guests could really get inside. But you know me...I wiggled my way in and got to meet him and pose for a couple pix and even get an autograph in my Top Chef Quick Fire book. Ladies, I gotta tell ya...he is a total cutie! Great eyes, Great smile.

Knock Knock...

...anyone there? I know...I have kind of been MIA the last couple of weeks. I am sorry, my cupcake friends. But I can tell you that I have been really busy and have lots of fun stories to share in the coming days. So, please...stay tuned. Chef sitings, cupcake news and an exclusive how-to before you can see it anywhere else!

But for now...the Cupcake Queen needs her sleep.


xoxo

Bad, Bad, Cupcake