I had taken a little break from the Blog, Facebook, Twitter world after the Cupcake Clash. I had to return when I came across this photo on Facebook tonight. I messaged the gal, Joebeth a senior in high school in Florida, who posted the photo and got her permission to share it with all of you. It was taken this past weekend at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival's "Kohls Fun and Fit as a Family featuring Kelloggs Kidz Kitchen." Our buddy, Duff, and the whole Charm City Cakes gang were on hand for presentation and signings...but look, what's that shirt that Duff has on?!?! Yes! The Wisconsin Badgers jersey he told me he wanted so badly...(I sent it to him after he left as a little thank you for his support of the Cupcake Clash). Glad to see he got it and likes it!
NOTE: This post was written in February 2011, following the Cupcake Clash with Duff Goldman.
"Blogging about Cupcakes, Milwaukee
and the Quest to Bring the Two Together"
That is what is says along the top of my blog. In March of 2007, when I started blogging about cupcakes; the east and west coasts were beginning the cupcake boom. Chicago had 2 shops. Milwaukee, well, we had nothing. Nothing even CLOSE to the cute and edgy cupcake shops that served those awesome hand held treats.
It was less than 3 years ago that I walked into the now closed Fratello’s Waterfront Restaurant in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. Little did I know that a few afternoon cocktails and a heavy dose of smack talk would turn into what has now become IronCupcake. IC is going strong in 17 cities in 3 countries. One would have had to have lived under a rock for the last 6 weeks to not know that the first IronCupcake, here in Milwaukee, had the biggest event of its life this past weekend.
What a lot of you do not know is that all of the Iron Cupcake’s are run by cupcake lovers on a volunteer basis. We all have day jobs, responsibilities, a life. Iron Cupcake is organized in our free time. Milwaukee’s is no different. What started as less than a dozen folks in a bar has ballooned to nearly 500 per month and more than 2,000 people in attendance this past weekend. If you have ever planned a party, a wedding, any sort of event; you know what kind of work it takes to make an event even half the size a success. Now, imagine making that happen every month on a much larger scale with very little financial support. Additionally, do it all after 5 pm; when the regular work day ends.
There are blessings, as well as curses when something so grassroots grows so massively. The blessings are obvious. Amazing friends that are made; the fun of sharing the baking experience with others; having an event that is family friendly; and, of course, the many local non-profits that we have been able to donate to and support in the past three years.
But, like I said, there are curses as well. People complain when the price goes up. People complain when parking isn’t easy. People complain because of the night or day that the event is planned on. People complain about which non-profit is chosen. People, strangers, feel like they have the right to tell you how to do what you are doing...to support the community…in your free time. These comments often come as anonymous posts to the blog, that are conveniently missing any return address. Some will attack via email when they don’t get their way. I know that with success come these challenges, but this is not a full time business. This is not my job. These attacks are hard to not take personally; when you work so hard to make it so awesome, every month.
I love what IronCupcake has become in Milwaukee. But, sadly, with success comes greater challenges. Going forward, we will discontinue the monthly ICM challenges. It is just too hard to find space big enough for a cost low enough to keep the monthly events going. The general public does not want to pay more to attend the event and the baking public does not want to have to make even more cupcakes to participate on a monthly basis. It is safe to say that Milwaukee, that was on the back end of the cupcake trend has now climbed on board.
A lot of our competitors have now started their own businesses; partially as a result of the exposure and spark that IC has provided. Bake with your kids; wow your co-workers; go into business. Keep on baking.
IronCupcake:Milwaukee isn’t dead; it may perk up again, in a different format at a later date. It is just going to be different. I think we can all agree that last weekend's event was the best of the best; the top of the game, right down to having Duff and Vinny and Michelle attend. Thank you, Milwaukee, for being awesome. Always.
The aftermath of a weekend of this magnitude is very tiring. Here it is Thursday already, and all I can think of is a really solid nap...no time, yet...maybe in 48 hours or so. But...for now...I wanted to share a few of the moments that happened BEFORE the Cupcake Clash.
I should have known at AJ Bombers that it was going to be a wild weekend. We did not tell anyone; but a handful of staff, that we were heading there for lunch. Regardless, no sooner did we sit down did a couple come by asking for an autograph and photo. (A little foreshadowing of the crowds to come...) Once we finished eating, Duff was very sweet and posed for lots of photos and even stopped to sign the wall. A must-do while in Milwaukee.
After lunch we popped in on the gang over at 91.7 WMSE. The visit would have been incomplete if we didn't get Duff into the station. WMSE was, afterall, our partner and our non-profit for the CUPCAKE CLASH.
We had a great time, the staff presented Duff with a MSOE Hockey jersey and he even sat in for an interview that you can hear by CLICKING HERE. And then, of course, we had to pose for the gratuitous photos by the WMSE microphone. Given that Duff is in a band, ::::soihadto::::, as are many of his bakery buddies, this stop was a natural. PLUS! This is where, if you listen to the interview, Duff said that if we hit our sell-out mark of 2000 he would come back on 1/1/12 for Milwaukee's Polar Bear Plunge at Bradford Beach!
Now, lets just face it, my hardcore days are behind me...or were there ever any? Well, whatever...
Next we dropped Duff off at the Iron Horse Hotel - who, along with Frontier Airlines, were so kind to provide him with transportation and the hippest lodging in town. Pretty sure he got a kick out of the place, as this photo was spotted on his Facebook page with the following comment:
We then got to quick work of putting together our little private reception. Held in the Library of the Iron Horse, this was a special event just for the competing bakers, the awesome volunteers and a handful of local business people who have helped make Iron Cupcake awesome. It was a great time, because it gave the bakers a chance to break the ice with Duff before the big event. Many of them felt much more comfortable the next day because they had gotten even 5 minutes with him at the reception.
A special thanks to Paula from Miss Julia's Bakeshop in Brookfield for the amazing cupcakes. Unable to participate in the Cupcake Clash; Paula jumped at the chance to participate in her own special way by donating these luscious treats. Let me just tell you that I took home a couple and I could gladly die in a vat of that Banana's Foster frosting alone. Y to the UM!
After the reception, a very small group of us headed off to a quite dinner at Water Buffalo. (No cameras at this one.) We were treated to all sorts of incredible yummies, but I do think that the biggest hit was those incredible mussels! Thanks Joe! It was a very long day and we could not have been more thrilled to have Duff join us. You are true awesome, my friend!
I want to take a minute to send my love and gratitude to ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS that helped make this weekend so awesome; but most of all the Cupcake Queen Mum, my mom, who flew out from California just to see my super-sized IronCupcake come to life. You rock, mom!
A LOT of you are asking about the next challenge for Iron Cupcake, a post will go live at lunch time tomorrow with what the crystal ball might hold for ICM. See you then!
***Special thanks to Scott Baitinger and Olga Thomas
I should have known when I got to the Kern Center and there were already people in line long before 7 a.m. that we were going to have a big day. Indeed we did! With more than 2100 in attendance, this was by far and away the biggest and best IronCupcake in the history of IronCupcakes. Over 60,000 cupcakes were on hand for tasting, gorging and over-doing. Swan Lake, Fire & Ice, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Naughty & Nice; Adam & Eve; Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum...our theme, Perfect Pairs, were everywhere. In just over an hour we were totally sold out!. News crews from channels 12 and 58, reporters from TCDigest and MSOE. We raised nearly $10,000 dollars for the independent radio of 91.7 WMSE. It was truly an amazing day.
Unlike our usual challenges, we had 4 major categories: BEST PRO, BEST AMATEUR, BEST OVERALL (a pro or am can win this) and BEST ARTIST (the recipient of our Art challenge award)...plus a 5th prize for the winner of our celebrity judge's personal pick. Celebrity judge you say? Why yes...we were fortunate enough to have none other than the Charm City Cake's Duff Goldman from the Food Network program Ace of Cakes.
As if having Duff on hand wasn't enough, we ALSO got paid a visit by Michelle & Vinny Garcia (and their 3 cupcake-loving kids) from Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago...
and were graced with our comedic master of ceremonies, Milwaukee's own Dear Ruthie (shown with the super awesome Dori Zori from WMSE radio).
In addition to the baking challenge, we also invited local artists to develop a work of art that worked along the lines of our Perfect Pairs assignment for the bakers. The ARTIST CHALLENGE was to create a piece with the theme of OPPOSITES ATTRACT. Sheila Wordell, Stu Nami and Dwellephant all jumped at the challenge but it was Dwellephant's piece that took home the prize.
"Trust me, I'm a Baker." Twenty different bakers jumped into the amateur ring. Our BEST AMATEUR woke up the crowd with his Breakfast Pairs - Pancakes and Bacon Cupcakes along side Mimosa Cupcakes. The combination of citrus and champagne paired with maple and bacon wow'd the crowd and gave the CUPCAKE DOCTOR (Matthew Armfield) the elite prize.
There were ten different pros represented at the challenge but INDUSTRI CAFE came with their A game. A as in Alice in Wonderland. Their TweedleDee(rose tea scented white velvet cake filled with homemade strawberry orange preserves and topped with a strawberry orange and cardamom buttercream) and TweedleDum (red velvet cake with black tea caramel and hazelnut marscapone filling; topped with vanilla bean buttercream and sea salted caramel chocolate cookie) cupcakes blew the crowd and Duff away. Melissa and Erin were awarded with not only DUFF'S PICK but as BEST PRO, too!
The top prize for the day, BEST OVERALL CUPCAKE, was an upset for all the pros, as amateur baker Kelly Osterman and her Beer & Champagne pairs took home the top prize. While I did not get around to the bakers tables at this event, I will tell you that repeatedly I heard how amazing her Guinness cupcake was. Way to go Kelly!
To check out other winners from each category, pop over to the Too Much Metal site for a screen of the final results.
There is no way to truly verbalize all of the energy of the day, so be sure to visit James Conway's slide show at the end of this post to get a taste for yourself! As an added bonus, check out these awesome photos from competitor Scott Baitinger of Streetza Pizza (click on the link to the left).
As with all IronCupcakes, but especially this one...none of this would be possible without our tireless volunteers and the infinite generosity of our local Milwaukee businesses:
We had a lot of volunteers this weekend and we are still gathering photos and voting results. It was a record breaking day and we are so proud of what we have accomplished. We raised nearly 10K for 91.7 WMSE; and helping our community is what it is all about.
Can you believe the timing? The LAST EPISODE of Ace of Cakes airs tomorrow, 2/10 at 9 p.m. central. Info direct from the Ace of Cake facebook page reads:
Thursday Night is the FINAL episode of Ace of Cakes. Duff and CCC make a cake for Michael J. Fox and the cast members of Back to the Future for it's 25th anniversary."You don't need money, don't take fame. Don't need no credit card to ride this train... That's the power of love." Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for watching Ace of Cakes and all your support through out the years.
Catch the final episode and then join us at the CUPCAKE CLASH on Sunday to wish Duff well on his new adventures!
Fear not! We will have about 900 tickets available at the door...but we do foresee a sell-out, so show up early! All door tickets and tasting tickets are CASH ONLY, please have exact change for your door tix. There is no ATM on the premises.
Tickets at the door: $6 / cash only - everyone age 5 and older $5 / cash only - with MSOE Student ID
Tasting Tickets: $1 each / cash only (1 ticket per cupcake, tickets can also be used for beverages with various vendors at the event). All sales are final. Get one free tasting ticket if you bring your own egg carton for your cupcake tasting.
