Pinkalicious

Two weeks ago, the girls and I attended September's Iron Cupcake challenge at Discovery World.  The Iron Cupcake competition takes place every month and is open for the public to enter as bakers or to participate as tasters (We were there to taste, of course).  Each month, bakers attempt to bake the cupcakes that will win the competition's "Best Taste" award.  Bakers also compete for the "Best Display" prize.  Bakers are guided by a monthly theme.  Past themes have included "Candy", "Bacon", and "Beer".  The theme for September's challenge was "Pink".

The girls and I had never attended an Iron Cupcake challenge before, and thus were new to how the event works.  When we arrived, we were each given a form that listed each baker on which we recorded our votes for the cupcake with the best taste and the best display.  We were each allowed to taste 10 mini-cupcakes.  When we took a cupcake from a display, our sheets were marked with that baker's entry number.  After we had tasted our share of cupcakes, we submitted our votes and waited for the winners to be announced.

It was clear to us that we were among others who had attended Iron Cupcake challenges in the past.  Others were equipped with egg cartons and other containers in which to carry their cupcakes, while we were stuck with the styrofoam plates that we picked up at the entrance.  Others immediately piled their plates with cupcakes, while we picked up just a few cupcakes each before stopping to taste them. 

We learned quickly, though.  After initially "shopping" for just a few cupcakes and pausing to eat them, we decided that we would share the cupcakes so that we could each try all of them.  While Jenny manned our table, the rest of us headed out to collect as many cupcakes as we could.  When we returned to the table, we cut the cupcakes into halves or quarters so that we could each sample them. 

We also quickly learned just how filling miniature cupcakes can be!  By the time we had tasted our full share of cupcakes, we had no desire to even look at another one!  We had a strong wish, however, to brush our teeth! 

Because the bakers were limited to "Pink" we felt that many of the cupcakes tasted alike.  Many of the bakers chose to make pink lemonade cupcakes or to top their cupcakes with fruit-flavored pink frosting.  The cupcakes that we chose as our favorites, which happened to be the ones that took the top two places, were cupcakes that stood out from the crowd.  I chose a pink lady apple cupcake that tasted more like a muffin and less like a cupcake as my winner, while at least one of the girls chose a chocolate cupcake as her favorite. 

Although we all went home with a sugar high and mild cases of gut rot, we enjoyed our first Iron Cupcake challenge, and agreed that we would like to attend other competitions in the future. October's challenge takes place at the Harley-Davidson Museum on Sunday, October 17th. The theme: BOOze. I'd love to go! Who's with me?

Iron Cupcake partnered with Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for September's challenge.  Many of the displays featured pink ribbons and pink bras as seen above!