I am Iron Anne \m/

Yesterday was my Iron Cupcake debut and I LOVED it. I was originally quite nervous (I get shy in crowds) but my cakes turned out quite well and looked rather pretty, if I do say so myself, and seemed to be gobbled up by the others at the event so all was good.

The theme for this month was fruit, and as I decided to enter quite late on in the month and didn't really have time to try out anything new (I had toyed with a bounty type cupcake with coconut - my favourite of all fruits) I opted for one of my favourite cupcakes I've ever made - the sticky toffee pudding cupcake with caramel frosting.

Iron Cupcake is held in a really nice little venue just near Moorgate/The Barbican called The Cuban. When we arrived we were greeted by a couple of lovely young men who gave us our stickers (Manny was rather chuffed with his "eater" one - I think he should wear it always!) and then we went off to register and have my cupcakes photographed professionally! I met Samantha, Iron Cupcake organiser (and boy is she organised as the event is HUGE and ran totally smoothly - even with loads of keen cupcakes!!). She was really lovely, remembering Manny's name from my blog and calling us cupcake celebs - this was also when my lovely cupcake cases from Eloise (Gourmet Cupcake) got their first compliment of many!

By the time my chums arrived and the eating commenced I'd given up trying to count how many people there were - lots! And loads of gorgeous entries both amateur and professional (I'd say approx 30 amateur and 8 or so professional but check out the official Iron Cupcake blog if you want to know more). I tried to get some pics of all the entries but as usual excitement and my crappy camera didn't really mix. The cupcake creations were amazing - a veritable greengrocers of fruity flavours - coconut, key lime, gooseberry, lemon, strawberry, St Clements, tayberry, strawberry, black forest gateaux, rhubarb, watermelon, blackberry...I could go on - there were loads and only one other sticky toffee pud. I'd thought about making a banoffee cupcake but assumed lots of people would, yet I don't think there were any - maybe everyone thought the same?

My entry in all its pretty glory - was v.proud to see them looking so pretty amongst so many other pretty cakes :)

Stunningly pretty strawberry dream vegan cupcakes from Ms Cupcake - she was one of my two votes for the professionals - gorgeous cake and I shall be visiting her stall in Greenwich v.soon! Btw the cakes were so yummy that I had to check with the baker that they were vegan - not that I think vegan cupcakes are bland but the frosting was so creamy I had to check! Delish and I urge everyone to try them!

This is who my other vote went to - winner of the professional category - Eloise from Gourmet Cupcake - typically I f**ked up the picture. Please forgive me - they were gorgeous - not only to look at but to eat as well. Moist flavoursome cake with tayberry filling and absolutely divine frosting. A well deserved win!
A really pretty key lime cupcake - this one caught my eye and was the first cake I made a grab for when the scrum that commenced when tasting began!

Another that caught my eye when I arrived - the black forest gateaux - there were two black forest cupcake - both yummy!

These were myself and my chum Dennis' favourite - coconut high hats. I wanted to find out who baked these as they were awesome! Great base with a marshmallow and chocolate topping covered in coconut - I could've eaten several of these! If anyone reading made these or knows who did please let me know! I may have to try my hand at baking them if not - they were lovely!

Another of my favourites - lemon meringue - lovely base with a really flavoursome lemon curd in the middle topped with sticky chewy yummy meringue!

This was the runner up in the professional category - St Clements - we didn't' get a chance to try it- the horror! But it was very pretty!

The winner in the amateur category, the beautiful and fabulously frosted watermelon. Again sorry about the pic! This was a lovely cake and the watermelon really came through in the cake - lovely moist base with gorgeous frosting. A well deserved win.

As you can see there were so many lovely cupcakes to choose from it was very difficult to choose which ones to vote for, and to eat. My friend Lucy went a bit mad and got loads - and turned a bit green towards the end of the night. I was quite sensible - tried as many as I could - either having a bite of one (or half if I really liked them) then passing it onto Manny. He was another whose eyes were bigger than his belly and kept eating well after he was full, with lots of encouragement from one of the organising guys!

After the eating, came the voting. Each baker got one set of votes (2 professionals and 3 amateurs), as did each table. Once we'd cast our votes we sat around having a good chat about which we preferred and some of us having another cake/finishing off what we started once we got a second wind.

After a short vote count the winners were announced and everyone seemed happy - except one girl who seemed perturbed to be second - which was odd - I was happy just to have taken part. I was chuffed that Gourmet Cupcake won with their tayberry.

So, the prizes were awarded and stuffed full of cupcakes and happy we headed into the night.

Next month is the first anniversary of Iron Cupcake and the theme is "celebration" - I'm already wondering what to bake! Hope to see you there.

Btw if you are interested in where the title for this blog post came from click here.