Iron Cupcake Toronto: Christmas

Last Sunday, Howard and I were judges at Iron Cupcake Toronto's Christmas challenge. Genevieve Griffin, from For the Love of Cake and the organizer of the event, asked us a week earlier and of course we said "yes!" How exciting, we never judged a cupcake contest before!

So we got there and Genevieve had us set up at the Judge's Table, complete with a Judge's badge, clipboard with pen, napkins, and a bottle of water.

She explained to us that we would be judging based on 1/3 presentation, 1/3 taste and 1/3 creativity (how well you incorporate the secret ingredient). Then, we were given a plate with mini cupcakes for the taste testing. I had #1-5, the third judge, Josh Rachlis, had plating #6-10, and Howard had cupcakes from participant's #11-15. We then pick our two favourite cupcakes to move onto Round 2 of the taste test. All in all, we wouldn't get to taste 6 of the competing cupcakes.

This wasn't easy at all! Howard and I didn't check the presentations yet, so we had no idea what to expect. I think it was fun that way, as we simply relied on our taste buds. I choose #4 to move on and was torn between #1 and #2. After much back and forth, I moved #2 to the final round. Howard picked #11 and #13.

Next up, judging the presentations. There wasn't a display for #1, so we'll start here:

Participant #2: Santa's Chocolate Candy Cane
I loved this display, it was a very cute concept, and you can tell that a lot of work went into this. You've got a conveyor belt of cupcakes along with a cooling and packing station!

Participant #3: Naughty or Nice?
Look at that, social media being incorporated into cupcake displays. While you may think the cupcakes look like coal, the inside is coloured!

Participant #4: Wild White-Tufted Cupcake (Cupcacheus Christmaseus)
It's a bird! It's a cupcake! It's a completely new species!

Participant #5: Gingerbread Cupcake with Eggnog Buttercream
This won't be the last gingerbread house we see!

Participant #6: Have you been naughty or nice?
I had to wonder if the sweet trees on the stands were handmade? Regardless, I liked them and thought they were really pretty.

Participant #7: Cupcake #1 and Cupcake #2
Hmm, never tried red and green candy corn before...

Participant #8: Gingerbread Cinnamon Apple
Wow! Great sugar work here, check out the Grinch coming out of the cupcake, also love the backdrop and scattered presents around it.

Participant #9: Black & White Forest
A forest I don't mind getting lost in...

Participant #10: Caramel Gingerbread Hot Chocolate
First thing that popped into my head was gingerbread men hot tubs!

Participant #11: Spiced Cranberry Pear
Oh warm, roaring fire! I hope Santa prefers cupcakes to cookies.

Participant #12: A Filipino Christmas Dream...
Sweet dreams indeed...

Participant #13: Oh, bring us a Figgy Cupcake
Is that sign handwritten?! Nice penmanship and illustration!

Participant #14: Chipy the Minty Cupcake
Aren't these two cute?

Participant #15: Gingerbread Lane (Gluten-Free)
Neato, check out those candycane trees!

The presentations were very fun to judge. We gave everyone a score from 1 to 10. Howard and I based on their overall concept and how well it showcased their cupcakes (this is a cupcake competition after all). So this meant we took into consideration the creativity, originality, props made/used, and the title of their entry.

When we were all done judging the presentations, Genevieve had Round Two of the taste testing ready for us. In this round, we gave each cupcake a score from 1 to 10 based on the taste. We also had to rate how well the contestants incorporated "Christmas" into their creation.

The Judges Table: Sylvia, Howard, and Josh Rachlis.
After we gave our scores, the three of us compared ratings. We found that we all had similar tastes and gave roughly the same scores.

While we were deliberating, a cupcake decorating contest for the attendees was held. Four attendees had to decorate six cupcakes in five minutes using the frosting and candy. Winner was determined by loudest applause.

After the contest, the judge's scores and the People's choice ballots were tallied. Genevieve introduced all the participants and announced the winners.

Congratulations to Alex and Beth, Iron Cupcake Toronto: Christmas winners!

For the Love of Cake and IronCupcake Toronto

Hi! I got an e-mail blast from Genevieve Griffin (the artist behind For the Love of Cake) last Tuesday. She was letting us know that they had bought the rights to IronCupcake Toronto - which starts next month! Whoohoo!!!

Being from the east side, we haven't explored Liberty Village before, but upon discovering a bakery there... I asked (begged) Howard to take me there on Friday. Yay!! After all, it was near the pho restaurant we went to for dinner, it made sense to me that we picked up cupcakes before dinner.

Here was our brief trip:

For the Love of Cake
171 East Liberty Street, Unit 117
Toronto, ON M6K 3P6
(416) 306-6446

Liberty Village, it is quite pretty!

The storefront of For the Love of Cake!

Display cakes and cupcakes!

Maple Bacon

The first cupcake I picked out. I had heard about bacon cupcakes in the news, and this was my first chance to try it. This cupcake is a part of their "Mancakes" collection (also includes Stout Spice, Guinness Chocolate, and Black Forest). The Maple Bacon is a maple and bacon flavoured cupcake filled with blueberries and topped with a maple frosting and bacon bits. I don't usually eat blueberries and thought "what an odd filling choice," but I learned something that day. Blueberries go very well with maple and bacon. What a great combination of flavours, Howard and I agreed that the pairing was delicious!

Salted Caramel

Remember how I was going to make a sweet and salty cake last weekend, but didn't get the chance to? Well, it was just my luck that they had a Salted Caramel cupcake! This was a chocolate cupcake filled with caramel and topped with chocolate buttercream. You can also taste the pinch of sea salt! Oh, I forgot to mention it above for the Maple Bacon, but the frosting for both of these cupcakes were so smooth and creamy!

Chocolate Hazelnut

This was Howard's pick from the bakery! He surprised me there, he'll make a fuss about my sweet tooth and orders a Chocolate Hazelnut last minute!

Overall, I enjoyed eating the 4D cupcakes from For the Love of Cake, keep it up!

Iron Cupcake: Earth - Winter Warm Up

I am back with another Iron Cupcake: Earth entry! This month's challenge is Winter Warm Up, meaning anything that warms you up during a cold winter. For me, that would be an oven baking something nostalgic like cupcakes and apple pies...

Hold on, what about apple cupcakes? I remembered seeing an apple cake on smitten kitchen that looked very "give-me-a-slice-right-now!"

This was a daring experiment for me, since Deb baked hers in a tube pan, so I learned that some things don't translate well in other formats... One more thing, I'm sorry for the poor photo quality! It was a gloomy winter day and without sunlight, my photos simply... well you can see for yourself:

Apple chunks and cinnamon!

Mmm, don't you love smooth batter?

I tried two different apple placements:
Left: Apple chunks on the bottom
Right: Apple chunks on the top

Top-half and bottom-half!

The winner! Apple chunks on the bottom make for a much neater cupcake. Plus, after cooling, the cupcakes with the apple chunks on top began to sank. But, if you like how the apple chunks look on top, I would try and put less batter in your cupcake liner?

Apple Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from smitten kitchen
(Makes about 28 regular cupcakes)

3 apples
1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
---
2 3/4 cups of sifted flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of brown sugar
1/4 cup of orange/passion fruit/peach juice (I didn't have plain orange juice)
2 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
4 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cupcake liners ready.
   
2. Core and chop the apples into chunks. I kept the skin on the apple, but you can peel yours if you prefer to. Add in the cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir to evenly distribute the cinnamon and sugar on the apple chunks.
   
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
   
4. Using an electric mixer, whisk the oil, juice, sugar, and vanilla extract together.
   
5. Add the dry ingredients in two parts.
6. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix until the batter is combined.
7. Evenly distribute the apple chunks, place them in the bottom of your cupcake liners.
8. Pour the batter over the apple chunks, filling the liners about 3/4 full.
9. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

I attempted a casual nutmeg buttercream. It did not turn out very well, therefore I won't be posting that bad recipe!

Iron Cupcake: Earth voting takes place HERE between January 28th to February 3rd. The winner will receive the awesome Prize-Pack:

• The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
• Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Bella Cupcake Couture
• Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
• The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrn
• Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
• Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

You can also join in on the fun yourself! Click here to learn more about Iron Cupcake: Earth.

Verdict? Sweet and delicious!

Iron Cupcake: Earth - Summer Berries

Happy Father's Day!
Happy first day of summer!

Here we fused the two celebrations for our Iron Cupcake: Earth entry! This month's ingredient is Summer Berries! Me thinks you know which berry we picked:
Delicious, fresh, sweet red strawberries. We had tried strawberry buttercream for a previous Iron Cupcake challenge, so this time we decided to bake the strawberry in the cupcake!

Pineapple-Strawberry Upside-Down Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from John Barricelli and Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
(Makes about 24 regular cupcakes)

1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of strawberry yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cupcake liners and pans ready.
2. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds from pineapple slices. Then use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut out a hole in the center of the pineapple.
   
3. Using the 1-inch cookie cutter again, cut out rounds from strawberry slices.
4. Place the cut fruits in a sieve to drain any juices.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat 2 tablespoons of butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Using a spoon, divide the mixture into your baking cups to create an even base. Set aside.
   
   
6. In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
   
   
7. Place the 2-inch pineapple round into your baking cup. Add the 1-inch strawberry round into the center.
   
   
8. Using an electric mixer, beat the remaining butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. Then on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture in two parts. Add in the strawberry yogurt between the two flour mixtures.
   
   
9. Pour the cake mixture into your baking cups, on top of the pineapple and strawberry slices.
10. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. There may be lovely caramel bubbling out, this was a good sign for us that it was ready!
    
    
11. Let the cupcakes cool for a tiny bit, invert, and serve with vanilla ice cream! The perfect summer and Father's day treat!
    The pineapple-strawberry upside-down cupcake was so good! Loved this easy way to make caramel with the melted brown sugar base! The pineapple and strawberry combination was delicious and the cupcake was nice and fluffy. This fruity treat was great with or without the ice cream topping!
    

You can vote for us HERE between June 28th to July 6th. The winner will receive the awesome June Prize-Pack:

• A cupcake ID bracelet from Etsy artist INSANEJELLYFISH
• A groovy linocut piece from Etsy artist BLOCKHEAD PRESS
• A sweet surprise from SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY
• Artwork from Etsy artist CAKESPY
  
• Head Chefs from FIESTA PRODUCTS
• HELLO, CUPCAKE, by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• An apron from JESSIE STEELE APRONS
• Books from TASTE OF HOME
• A T-shirt from UP WITH CUPCAKES

Iron Cupcake: Earth is sponsored by 1-800-Flowers. You can also join in on the fun yourself! Click here to learn more about Iron Cupcake: Earth.

Yummm! This was berry good!

Iron Cupcake: Earth - Coffee

Happy Family Day everyone!

Tomorrow will be a work day and you might need... Cocoa Coffee Cupcakes!

As you may already know, last December we joined Iron Cupcake: Earth (similar to Iron Chef, but with cupcakes) and this month's ingredient challenge is Coffee! Interestingly enough, we don't drink coffee on a regular basis (or wine, which is why we didn't do January's challenge). Maybe one or two times a year at the most! So we were planning on just buying coffee at Tim Horton's, but my mother said she could make us coffee. Sure enough, she had these lovely coffee beans that smelled great. She then grounded them up and filtered them for us. "Thanks mom!"

We've actually noticed a number of chocolate cake recipes that include coffee. So... why not right? Even if we're not huge fans of coffee, we love chocolate!

Perfect fit: Coffee filter and measuring cup!

Chocolate Butter Cupcakes
Recipe from Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse
(Makes about 20 regular cupcakes)

1/2 cup of hot coffee
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of cold water
1 1/2 cups of cake flour
1 teaspoons of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cupcake liners and pans ready.
2. In a bowl, mix the hot coffee and cocoa powder together - no lumps!
3. Whisk in the cold water.
4. In another bowl, sift the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
5. Using your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Slowly add in the eggs and the pure vanilla extract.
7. Alternate the two bowls (coffee mixture and flour mixture) into the batter.
8. Mix until smooth. Then using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into your cupcake liners.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

We finally found a wholesale place that sold these cups in bulk! Needless to say, we picked up quite a few (the drive is semi-far). We think they look good, they stand for themselves, and they cater to different eaters. For example, at the pleats they can be easily pulled and eaten like regular cupcakes. Or you can take advantage of their sturdy cup form and eat the cupcake with a fork, spoon, or spork. Here, we show a step-by-step pulling of the pleated sides:

Chocolate Coffee Buttercream
(Makes enough to frost a dozen cupcakes and a few more.)

1 tablespoon of coffee
1/2 cup of chopped chocolate
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 stick of butter
2 cups of confectioner's sugar

1. Heat the cream over a double boiler until it bubbles. Mix in coffee.
2. Remove from heat, pour heated coffee and cream over the chocolate.
3. Let the mixture sit for about a minute and then whisk until smooth.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioner's sugar until fluffy.
5. Slowly add in chocolate coffee mixture.
6. Mix until smooth and scoop into a piping bag.

This is what happens when we're low on frosting!


We haven't done a cross-section before, so here is our first photo of a cupcake half!


Yummy! I am bringing this to work!

You can vote for us HERE between March 1st to March 6th. The winner will receive these awesome prizes:

• Artwork from Etsy artist DIANAEVANS
• A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
• Original artwork from Etsy artist CAKESPY by Jessie Oleson
• A variety of cupcaking supplies from SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY
• Head Chefs from FIESTA PRODUCTS
• HELLO, CUPCAKE, by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• an apron from JESSIE STEELE APRONS
• a cookbook from TASTE OF HOME
• a T-shirt from UP WITH CUPCAKES

Iron Cupcake: Earth is sponsored by 1-800-Flowers.
You can also join in on the fun yourself! Click here to learn more about Iron Cupcake: Earth.