Grandma of All Things Sweet

Frances Kuyper was born to John August William Schultz and Love "Lovie" DeVal Smith in Harvey, Illinois. She was one of ten children. Frances, a former vaudeville actress, began her career in show business from the early age of 15. She married Frank Kuyper in 1947 and raised her family in Compton, California where she stayed home and learned the art of cake decorating. Frances went on to decorate, demonstrate, lecture, and teach decorating skills to thousands of students throughout the U.S. and abroad. Before moving into Hollenbeck, she converted a Pasadena house into the first Cake Museum in the U.S. Frances came to be known as The Cake Lady. She developed instructional videos, books and more recently appeared on many television shows highlighting her love of cake decorating. Her beloved Mini Cake Museum was visited by many. Frances is survived by daughter Carol and two grandchildren She also had a great-great grandson, son of Frank Wilson. (via Legacy.com)

There Goes My Hero

#brewcityflood t-shirt drive at 8/16 IronCupcake

This past week, Milwaukee was hit with an EPIC rainstorm. Scenes of rising waters and destruction made it all the way to the national media. The town that I live in, Whitefish Bay, is a lakeside suburb of Milwaukee full of beautiful homes and tree-lined streets. Kids on big wheels and SUV's. I live in a beautiful area. Unfortunately, Whitefish Bay was also one of the hardest hit. The video above was shot by a neighbor a few blocks over.


Also living just a few blocks away, on the same street as the video, is one of my many new friends from the Twitterverse. Tim, Jess and their new daughter Clara were hit tragically. With no basement in their home, the water had no where to go...but EVERYWHERE. Not one room in their home was spared. Even Clara's, which has only been occupied for 12 weeks! I wanted to help, I am so lucky to NOT be experiencing any of this flooding aftermath first hand, but lets face it -- tearing up carpet and heavy labor are not my strong point.

But then I had an idea...a good idea. Tim & Jess are the founders of TEECYCLE.org. Some info from their site:

The goal has always been simple: Reclaim the best T-shirts available and make the best use of our resources. It's a simple and smart solution for being a friend to our environment.

Teecycle shirts are unqiue, one-of-a-kind "pre-loved" t-shirts hand-selected from rummage sales, thrift stores or donated by friends. When you own a Teecycle shirt, it says you care about the environment by re-using high-quality T-shirts with history, character and a unique story.

Your purchase also supports the River Revitalization Foundation. $1 of each sale is donated to restore urban river trails and waterways in the Milwaukee area. That's why our motto has always been Change your shirt. Change the world.

So here is how we can ALL make a difference...at the August 16th IronCupcake:Milwaukee TAILGATE challenge, we are holding a T-Shirt Drive for teecycle.org. For every gently worn, but no longer needed or wanted shirt you donate, you will earn an extra entry for our always awesome selection of doorprizes. Shirts for MEN, WOMEN or KIDS will work. So, start going through your drawers and closets now and find that classic shirt that you love but just don't wear anymore. They will go to a great cause!

Steal Magnolia

Because there just aren't enough cupcake shops in the L.A. area, the grandmother of the trend, Magnolia Bakery, has decided to jump into the pool. According to ZAGAT, the new location is attracting instant crowds of sugar-holics to the West Hollywood location for its signature treats – including banana pudding, devil’s food layer cakes, red velvet cheesecake and the like; the retro digs are decorated with antique tin signs and cake carriers, and though seating is limited, curbside pickup sweetens the temptation to place orders to-go.

Magnolia Bakery
8389 W. Third Street
West Hollywood, CA
323/951.0636
http://www.magnoliabakery.com/

BE the Cupcake...

Looks like your favorite treat will be hitting the scene at 2010 Halloween parties. OK, seriously, some of them...not so much. But...if you have your heart set to be smothered in polyester buttercream, order now!


Sweet Eats Cupcake Adult Costume, spicylegs.com, $52.99
Sexy Women's Chocolate Cupcake Costume, Buy.com, $53.99
Eat Me Funny Food Cupcake Costume, toynk.com, $32.99

Cupcake Costume Mascot, animalmascots.com, $1279.00

Cupcake Girl Costume, odgirl.com, $63.99

ICM - Taking it to the EXTREME!

From skydivers to Johnny Knoxville and his Jackass pals, the daredevils of history have traded great risk for fame and fortune. The grandfather of extreme sports, Evel Knievel, is being celebrated to mark the 35th anniversary of his Wembley Stadium jump. True Evel: The Amazing Story of Evel Knievel is currently on display at the Harley-Davidson museum and the inspiration for this month's IronCupcake:Extreme.

We were also joined by our friends at Guitars for Vets, the recipients of our July non-profit donation. "Guitars for Vets enhances the lives of ailing and injured Veterans by providing them with guitars and music instruction. Through self expression and the healing power of music, it is our intent to restore the feelings of joy and purpose that can be lost after suffering trauma."

From Russian Roulette to a visit to the Black Hole. Bakery by a creepy baby doll, extreme weather, parties and flavor combinations; this month's challenge lived up to its theme. The choices were incredible and our crowd was fantastic...devouring our sweet treats on a summer Sunday when there was so many other activities all over Milwaukee. THANK YOU to everyone who baked and attended, thank you for making IronCupcake a part of your fun.

The winners of the BEST DISPLAY took us on one of the worlds oldest extreme adventures. Barrel jumping down the Niagra Falls! Dressed complete with rain ponchos a la the Maid of the Mist, Kathy & Sarah (entry #14) gave us their Root Beer 'Floats' — Rootbeer cakes with vanilla buttercream and a gooey rootbeer glaze topped with classic rootbeer candies.

Our TASTE winner; and a mighty close race to take display as well, was the overly-caffeinated, incredibly creative Mainline Cupcake - The Extreme Caffeine Remedy. The win was well earned with their espresso and dark chocolate cupcake that had an espresso cream filling and topped off with espresso and mocha buttercream frosting. This crazy concoction was complements of the gang at Milwaukee's The National café.

It might have been the amazing display, it could have been the grafitti that featured many IronCupcake supports, or it just might have been the delicious Wicked Hummingbird cupcakes - blood orange hummingbird cake, kicked up with pink peppercorns soaked with rum and fresh mint. They were finished off with a cardamom and mandarin orange buttercream topped with pineapple orange "caviar." Can you blame me? I just could just not help but award Melissa and Erin the Queen's Choice award. Always amazing presentation, I am constantly amazed at what these women can come up with. But this time around I just could not pass it all up.

As always, we were graced with the incredible eye of James Conway Photography, you can see a slide show of the event below.

Jack & Jill Went Up a Hill...

Massive congratulations are in order for IronCupcaker Jill Drury and her little baking habit that has ballooned into a cupcake frenzy and giant jars of jam to match. She is featured, once again, in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — this time for her unexpected partnership with Mader's Restaurant owner Victor Mader. Her Hansel & Gretel cupcake, baked for the June Eat Local challenge, caught the eye of Mr. Mader and has somehow landed her a gig baking hundreds of cupcakes for a German Fest cupcake sampler with Mader's name on it. Read the entire article here and be sure to stop by their booth and wish her well! Congrats Jill!

ICM:TAILGATE Challenge

TAILGATE CHALLENGE!

with MilwaukeeSportsGeeks.com

Monday, August 16th - 6 p.m.

Take the two extremes...sports and geeks, put them together and you get our August partner, MilwaukeeSportsGeeks.com! The #1 Sports News site in Milwaukee; established for sports fans and sports news junkies through out Milwaukee area.

IronCupcake:Milwaukee CARES One dollar from every ticket will go to support a local sports-related non-profit organization. Stay tuned for more information! PLUS at the August 16th IronCupcake:Milwaukee TAILGATE challenge, we are holding a T-Shirt Drive for teecycle.org. For every gently worn, but no long needed or wanted shirt you donate, you will earn an extra entry for our always awesome selection of doorprizes. Shirts for MEN, WOMEN or KIDS will work. So, start going through your drawers and closets now and find that classic shirt that you love but just don't wear anymore. They will go to a great cause!

BAKERS: Everyone loves a great tailgate. Whether it is to support your favorite team, gear up for a great concert, or you just love hangin' out in a parking lots with your friends eating and drinking -- take all that fun and roll it into a cupcake already!
Please visit our new REGISTRATION LINK for all of the information!*

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 cupcake tasting, drink specials, and LOTS of giveaways! ONLINE tickets will will be available until midnight on Friday, August 13th. Tickets will be limited - based on the amount of bakers who register * Online tickets will guarantee entrance into the event.

COOLER BY THE LAKE!
This month's event will take place at DISCOVERY WORLD.

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, the new EGGS, FLOUR, SUGAR, IRON! IronCupcake t-shirts will be available!!

PHOTO AWESOMENESS
Complements of Jim Conway of JamesConwayPhotography.com


MEDIA PARTNERS!
IronCupcake:Milwaukee is THRILLED to announce that 99.1 WMYX will be joining us as our media partners. We will be joined by on-air personalities as well as promoted by their events and marketing departments! WOW!

The AUGUST challenge will take place on MONDAY, AUGUST 16th at 6:00 p.m. Bakers, sign up today!

IronCupcake:Milwaukee
TAILGATE challenge
Monday, August 16th at 6:00 p.m.
Discovery World
500 North Harbor Drive | Milwaukee, WI 53202-5601

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

*See an open letter to IronCupcakers

SOLD OUT

Today's IronCupcake is officially SOLD OUT.

There will be a VERY SMALL AMOUNT
of tickets available at the door.

If you ordered tickets online, you can pick them up at the event.
Tickets for the August 16th challenge will go on sale this Monday.

W@@T!!! Fancy Free!

Even cupcakes like that fancy free feeling of running around with their liner off! Thanks to twitter friend @nicolemadison for bringing this hysterical shirt to my attention. Just the sort of crazy cupcake I like to share with the world! Run over to WOOT now and get one for yourself, but hurry - it is only available TODAY as their One Day, One Deal!

More than Sweet Eats...

Tonight is the premiere of TLC's DC Cupcakes! 10 PM (ET/PT), the six-part series follows sisters and business partners Sophie and Katherine as they run Georgetown Cupcake, a small cupcakery that they’ve transformed into a sweeping success. When surfing their site, you find the not uncommon luscious cupcake photography, a selection of branded shirts and such...when you don't expect to find is gorgeous silver charms available in a dozen different "flavors". Oh you wicked women of this nations capital. I already know I would love your shop! I suspect these little cuties won't last long. Once their show debuts and the world knows about these little gems, I suspect they will sell like hot (cup)cakes.

That's a Wrap!

Feels like we might have seen these before, but Party Wraps have a twist... the newest and very affordable line of cupcake wrappers has two complimentary colors to make them reversible. Like getting two cupcake wrappers in one! Weddings, birthdays, showers, or even a backyard get-togethers, they have a reversible wrapper just for you. You can find Party Wraps at www.cheapcupcakewrappers.com.

We, the Cupcakes...

TLC's DC Cupcakes! premieres with back-to-back episodes this Friday, July 16 at 10 PM (ET/PT), the six-part series follows sisters and business partners Sophie and Katherine as they run Georgetown Cupcake, a small cupcakery that they’ve transformed into a sweeping success.

Katherine and Sophie's story is unique; they risked their life savings and traded high power careers in fashion and finance to pursue their passion for baking and their lifelong dream of opening a bakery. Armed with their grandmother’s recipes and strong family support, the sisters opened Georgetown Cupcake on Valentine's Day 2008. To their surprise, the shop became an overnight sensation and now sells more than 5,000 cupcakes a day.

DC Cupcakes shares the recipe to Sophie and Katherine's success, following their journey as they navigate the challenges and rewards of building a booming cupcake business. Each episode captures the behind-the-scenes drama in their fast paced, family-owned bakery. From baking and decorating thousands of gourmet cupcakes a day, to meeting tight deadlines for discerning clientele, to securing large projects such as fundraisers, festivals and weddings, there is never a dull moment with this sister duo. Mixing in their Mother (“Mommy”) -- who plays a big part in running the family business -- adds to the chaos and family drama.

To kick off the series, TLC is running a contest for bloggers! In honor of the special bond Katherine and Sophie share together, they would love to hear about your favorite memory you share with your sister. If you write a blog post about your favorite memory and tweet the link with the #DCcupcakes and #TLCsisters hashtags by July 23, 2010, you'll be entered into their contest! All entries will be judged by Katherine and Sophie, and the Grand Prize Winner receives a $500 VISA gift card. It might be good for a surprise present for your sister, or maybe even a trip to go visit her! The full rules can be found here. (source: TLC press release)

Cupcakes in Camelot? Nooo....

The Kennedy Cupcakes celebrate their passion for all things 1940s and 50s with a glamorous performance to a Elvis Presley, Little Richard medley. The group, made up of Lisa Kennedy, Emma Dunlop, Linzi Slamin, Lynne Haig, Julieann Crannie and Evette Sheehan, hope their promotion of the golden era will revive a demand for glam and swing nights in Scotland. Check out this article about how these cupcakes are taking Scotland by storm!

Really? Really!

Tonight's news, events, tweets, facebook comments, a la LeBron James was just plain ridiculous. That is all.

Cool It!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes, originally uploaded by seelensturm.

How EXTREME Can You Be??

CALLING ALL BAKERS!
Can you make your cupcakes extreme!?
BungeeCakes? Ultra Spicy? Punk Rock Cupcakes?
Extremely funny, weird, crazy?
What can YOU DO to make your cupcakes simply OVER THE TOP?!
IronCupcake:Milwaukee's EXTREME challenge is now
accepting bakers for the 7/18 challenge. Special treat for this month, for each baker team, we will be handing over a $10 gift card to Trader Joe's. (1 per team)

Please visit our new REGISTRATION LINK for registration information!

We All Scream for...

Kelly Ripa teamed up with Stephen Bruce, owner and founder of Serendipity 3 (only the dreamiest extreme icecream parlor - ever), this week, to build banana splits for a cause. Now through September, when people visit www.kelly-confidential.com and build a virtual banana split, Electrolux donates $1 to Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Plus, they’re entered to win the daily prize, $50 toward sweet summer treats, AND the grand prize – the ultimate kitchen "split" – the new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer from Electrolux.

Contain Yourself

In the south, they call these "sit-arounds" – something cute to sit around your house. I call them good enough to eat. Perfect little containers to store anything from sugar to diamonds and everything in between! Get 'em on Amazon, or anywhere Burton & Burton products are sold.

A Perfect Summer Night

The best part about having a blog, is that you can post WHATEVER YOU WANT once in a while. I was at Summerfest last night to see one of my all time favorite recording artists, John Hiatt. Before the show even started, I was surprised by one of my very favorite people, Dave, who joined us for the night. Not a cupcake to be shared, but I wanted to post anyway.