I also announced that June is to be the last IronCupcake:Leeds after just under 4 years of hosting the competition in our wonderful city. There are a number of reasons why I have made this decision, there is no reflection on how brilliant everyone is who attends, all the regulars who are the backbone of the comp, and the many new faces every single month. Its been so great, and I’ve met loads of super people, however, all good things must end at some point, so after 3 great years, we’re bowing out in June.

Back to Freestyle, lots of different flavours and a few quite surprising matching flavours, which I found was so interesting to see!

1st Place – Kirsty’s Key Lime Cupcakes

Kirsty came 1st and won a £25 The Botanist voucher, a signed copy of The Clandestine Cake Club recipe book, and a baking journal all inside the IronCupcake:Leeds canvas bag.

Kirsty’s winning cakes were a lime sponge on a biscuit base, filled with home-made lime curd, topped with lime cream cheese icing and a slice of lime.

2nd Place – Helen’s Summer Rose cupcakes

Helen’s beautiful cupcakes were a vanilla piped rose on top of a strawberry and white chocolate sponge, finished with white chocolate shards. Helen won The Birthday Cake Book by Fiona Cairns.

3rd Place – Charlotte’s It’s Cupcake O’clock

Charlotte made these orange flavoured sponge filled with strawberry and Pimm’s jelly topped with Pimm’s buttercream topped with mint and cucumber syrup.

The remaining entries

Leanne’s Apple Crumble

Big thank you to Leanne and her eaters for being some of the competitions regulars, who unfortunately are going to miss the last comp! Always coming up with some lovely cupcakes. My favourite were the Halloween cupcakes inside their own black light box below.

Lisa’s Devil’s Food Cake with a Lime twist

Anna’s Caramel Caribou Cupcakes

Charlotte’s Chocolate and Lime Cupcakes

Katrina’s Summer Lovin’

Heather’s Profiterole Cupcakes

Becca’s Neopolitan Cupcakes

Amanda’s Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Kathryn’s Honey Cupcakes

Cori’s Bailey’s Cheesecake

Jennifer’s Pimm’s Cupcakes

Charlotte’s Jammy Dodgers

Kaz’s Cookie Dough Cupcakes

We had a whopping 18 cupcakes for the eaters to judge. Some brilliant ideas, this theme was certainly a popular one. As we had so many new bakers and eaters, I expect that the unexpected advertising of the competition on the Cadbury’s Creme Egg Facebook page helped out somewhat!

It just so happens that Susie, a superb baker who won a number of IronCupcake competitions, had previously entered her Creme Egg cupcakes into an Easter competition a number of years ago, and this year, Cadbury’s posted her delicious picture and blog onto their Facebook page.

40,000+ hits later on Susie’s blog, they were filtering through to here. Some wonderful free advertising for IronCupcake:Leeds! Big thank you to everyone new who took an interest, long may it continue.

And now, back to the Penny Sweet comp…!

1st Place – Rachel’s Oh My Sherbert Lemon!

Rachels’ entries were a worthy winner! They were a delicious lemon sponge with lemon curd & popping candy centre, topped with lemon icing. Delicious. Rachel won the IronCupcake:Leeds canvas bag which included a £30 Arts Cafe voucher + a SIGNED copy of the wonderful Clandestine Cake Club recipe book, + free entry to next months competition.

We also had a signed copy of the Clandestine Cake Club recipe book which we gave away to a lucky eater who was drawn out of the hat at random. Fear not,  we do have 2 more signed recipe books to win over the next 2 competitions, so enter as a baker if you would like to win one!

2nd place – Jemma’s Rhubarb & Custard

Jemma’s classic Rhubarb and Custard cupcakes were a custard flavoured sponge topped with rhubarb icing and rhubarb spears. Jemma won the Lily Vanilli Sweet Tooth recipe book. Wonderful!

3rd Place – Rosey’s Rainbow Dust

Claire entered these very brightly coloured rainbow cupcakes which were a rainbow sponge with sherbert buttercream topped with rainbow dust.

The remaining entries, in no particular order

John’s Fruit Salad Delight

Zoe’s Cherry Cola

Larraine’s Get your teeth into these

Charlotte’s Bananarama Cupcakes

Sally’s Sherbert Lemon Cupcakes

Lisa’s Boozy Flapjacks

Heather’s Penny Squeak

Katrina’s Fizzy Chery Cola Bottle Cupcakes

Cari’s Cherry Cola Bottles

Kathryn’s Banana & White choc cupcakes

Leanne’s Coca-cola Cupcakes

Rebecca’s Jazzle Cupcakes

Samantha’s Flying Saucer Cupcakes

Kirty’s White Chocolate Jazzles

Kathryn’s Cola Cupcakes

Hopefully we will see you for the next competition in May – Freestyle! Tickets available now!

Its quite simple if you would like to take part in the next competition, head to the FAQ page to find out what you’ll need to do. If you have anything further to ask, send me an email! Contact@ironcupcakeleeds.co.uk

1st Place – Konstantina’s A Key to My Heart Cupcakes

Konstantina’s cupcakes were chocolate sponge with almond extract, cherry and Morella Cherry Brandy, topped with vanilla buttercream. Well done, she won a £30 Brown’s Restaurant voucher, + recipe book, in the IronCupcake:Leeds winners canvas goodie bag.

2nd Place – Amy’s Pinkies Out

Ames came 2nd with her cupcakes made with pink bubbly, strawberries and vanilla.

3rd place – Leanne’s Raspberry Crush

Leanne’s cupcakes were vanilla cupcakes with crushed raspberry meringue, topped with white chocolate ganache.

The remaining entries, in no particular order

Charlotte’s Cheesy Cupcakes

Lizzy’s Sweet Sticky Love cupcakes

Jess’s Raspberry At Heart cupcakes

Wendy’s Berry Be Mine

Kirsty’s Say It With Flowers

Charlotte’s The Rose

Vicky’s Two Hearts Cupcakes

Ann’s Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes – with a nice surprise center, see below

Jennifer’s Coconut Kisses

Lisa’s Passion Cake

Helen’s Have My Last Rolo Cupcakes

Rachels Salted Caramel Cupcakes

See you all next month!

1st Place – Lauren’s Baren P von Drunkenmoose’s Fine Festive Cupcakes

Lauren won 1st place with these cute alcoholic moose cupcakes which had a Bailey’s and Dairy Milk sponge with Bailey’s buttercream topped with a Tootsie Roll made into the moose. In the goodie bag was a £25 Browns Restaurant voucher + more

2nd Place – Rachel’s Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Rachel got Santa drunk with her orange & Bailey’s cupcakes topped with white chocolate frosting and Santas legs

3rd Place – Ames Xmas Plum Pudding Cocktail

Amy came 3rd with these cinnamon sponge cupcake with a plum filling, topped with Amaretto frosting and a drizzle of Cognac

The remaining entries

Sharon’s Limoncello Cupcakes

Zoe’s Hazelnut Bailey’s Xmas Puds

Becky’s Christmas Kir Served Here

Louise’s A Visit From St Nicholas Cupcake

Helen’s Malibu Snowballs

Leanne’s Drunk Santa’s

Ronda’s Santa’s Cookie & Boozy Milk

Sarah’s Brandy Xmas Pudding

Have a very Merry Xmas and New Year, see you in 2013!!

Looking to win top prize were 16 tasty entries, which the eaters were eager to get stuck into. Another sell out, the dark winter nights are certainly drawing in the crowds! It seems you can’t beat a cosy Sunday night in at The Adelphi, with cake and beer for £5!

As always, prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were on offer. Next month, as its Christmas, I like to thank everyone who comes along to the competitions, so we have a meal for 2 for The Adelphi to give away to a lucky eater. All eaters will be entered into the prize draw on the night, so if you want to be there, you had better get a ticket sooner rather than later.

In the IronCupcake:Leeds 1st prize goodie bag was a £25 Blackhouse Voucher, The Birthday Cake Book by Fiona Cairns, free entry to next months competition. We also had the extra prize again this month – a goodie bag kindly donated from Lynn from The Clandestine Cake Club. If you have never heard of it, I am surprised, they are taking over the world! With clubs popping up everywhere, there is a cake club accessible to almost everyone. If you enjoy baking cakes, and socialising with like minded people, then check the website out here

1st Place – Lizzy’s Red Berry Remembrance

Well done Lizzy, she came first with the wonderful Remembrance cupcakes. The cupcakes were a red berry sponge topped with white chocolate buttercream, crumbled homemade poppyseed shortbread topped with handmade poppies. Very pretty. Congratulations.

2nd Place – Amy’s – The Chances of Anything Coming from Mars

Ames won a recipe book for coming 2nd place with her caramel cupcakes filled with salted caramel inside, topped with a chocolate ganache buttercream. A great twist on the theme.

3rd Place – Leanne’s Tickle Me Elmo

Leanne’s cupcakes were a raspberry and vanilla sponge topped with bright red raspberry buttercream with an added popping candy ‘tickle’

The remaining entries

Zoe’s Raspberry & Pomegranate cupcakes

Larraine’s Carrot Cake Poppies

Sharon’s Red Wine & Chocolate cupcakes

Charlotte’s Little Red Riding Hood

Michelle’s Red Cherry Lips

Naomi’s Red Poppies

Karen’s Nana’s Poppy Field

Becky’s Chica Cherry Cola

Helen’s Blinging Bakewell’s

Vicky’s Slippery Nipple Cupcakes

Susannah’s Red Skies

Fiona’s Winter Berries

Emma’s Red Berry Cupcakes

Its December for next months competition so the theme is Boozy Xmas! Please head here to get your tickets

One of the busiest ever competitions welcomed hoards of eaters who left the evening completely stuffed and satisfied after sampling the 18 superb entries. The bakers focus is turning towards making more of a cupcake story, a display showcasing the cakes to their full potential. If I could give prizes out for effort, everyone would have received one!

This month the goodie bag contained a £25 Carluccio’s voucher, The Boy Who Bakes recipe book and free entry to next months competition. We also had an extra prize this month – a goodie bag kindly donated from Lynn from The Clandestine Cake Club. If you have never heard of it, I am surprised, they are taking over the world! With clubs popping up everywhere, there is a cake club accessible to almost everyone. If you enjoy baking cakes, and socialising with like minded people, then check the website out here

1st Place – Brenda’s Brittle Bones

New baker Brenda covered pretzels in white chocolate and made skeletons to win top the scores and win the competition. She almost doesn’t have enough hands for all the prizes!

Brenda’s cupcakes were sticky toffee and lime sponge with a salted caramel topping topped with cinder toffee and skeleton. Superb.

2nd Place – Lizzy’s Red Venom

Lizzy entered these fangtastic Dracula cupcakes which were blood (jam) filled red velvet cupcakes with chocolate chunks and chocolate buttercream topped with Dracula. Scary, and tasty.

3rd Place – Charlotte’s Brownie Werewolves

Charlotte scooped 3rd place with these scary werewolf cupcakes which are a brownie base topped with chocolate werewolves

The other super entries

Leanne’s Gooey Ghouls

Larraine’s Terrifying Tarantulas

Jessica’s Graveyard cupcakes

Austin’s Fallen Comrades

Emma’s The Rainbow Cupcake Massacre

Sharon’s What Lies Beneath

Jess’s Pumpkin Cupcakes

Jess’s Devil’s Food Cupcakes

Francesca’s Midnight Orange

Liz’s It Will Pop Your Head Off

Suzannah’s Spooky Cupcakes

Kathryn’s Haunted House cupcakes

Sarah’s Death By Chocolate

Vicky’s Cupcakes with a Wicked Smile

Charlotte’s Fright Night Cupcakes

I hope to see you at the next competition, IronCupcake:Leeds RED 11th November 6pm at The Adelphi

This month, we had a £25 Las Iguanas voucher in the IronCupcake:Leeds goodie bag, along with The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book and free entry to next months competition and the winner was:

1st Place Helens Black Velvet Cupcakes

Congratulations to Helen who was the winner on the night, scooping the IronCupcake:Leeds goodie bag. Helen’s cupcakes were chocolate sponge topped with cream cheese frosting in a chequerboard effect. Well done!

2nd Place Sharons Vanilla and Blackberry Zebras

2nd Place were the delicious cupcakes baked by Sharon. They were a vanilla and blackberry sponge with vanilla and blackberry topping and a zebra to finish

3rd Place Beckys Cherry Did IT

Becky’s 3rd place cupcakes were vanilla sponge with a black cherry filling topped with white chocolate and buttercream

The remaining entries

Jess’s Chocolate and Cheesecake cupcakes

Zoe’s Black & White Pirate cupcakes

Larraine’s Black Treacle & White Chocolate cupcakes

Amy’s Everyday I’m Trufflin’ oreo cupcakes

Charlotte’s Black & White Ball Cupcakes

Sally’s Chocolate and Peppermint cupcakes

Jessica’s Cookies n Cream Surprise

Sharon’s Blackberry and White chocolate chip cupcakes

Adam’s White Chocolate and Black Pepper cupcakes

Vicky’s The Cupcake of Guinness cupcakes

I hope to see you all next month!

1st Place Becky’s Beehive Bumble Honey Crunch

Becky won 1st prize with her delicious Beehive Bumble Honey Crunch cakes. She won the IronCupcake:Leeds winners canvas bag, which included a £30 Bibis Italianissimo voucher, a baking diary, some oven gloves and free entry to next months competition

Her cupcakes were honey sponge with honey and vanilla buttercream topped with honeycomb, caramel twirls and a bee. Congratulations Becky.

If you would like to enter next months competition, please do not be afraid to join in. It is a really friendly evening, not at all competitive and you have every chance to be scored top prize. Not only can you win some goodies, but you also get to taste the other entries. What are you waiting for, register now!

2nd Place – Jess’s Honeycomb Hive

Jess came 2nd with her delightful honeycomb hive cupcakes, which had a chocolate and honeycomb sponge, huge marshmallow topping and cute little bee. Not the easiest cupcake to sample, we all got in a sticky mess but it was well worth it. Very tasty.

3rd Place – Sharon’s Honey Cupcakes

New baker Sharon wowed the eaters with her yummy honey cupcakes, topped with honey buttercream and smiley bee. Sharon won a cupcake recipe book, well done.

The other fab entries

Helen’s Good Morning Honeybun cupcakes – orange blossom, honey and oat granola cake with honey buttercream and a honey brandysnap

Vicky’s Honey Cake – Honey sponge with honey cream cheese frosting

Larraine’s Hive Made Honey Cupcakes – Honey sponge with honey buttercream and a marzipan bee

Zoe’s Honey Marshmallow – Honey sponge with marshmallow frosting and honey chocolate drizzle

Sharon’s Honeycomb cream cupcakes – Honey and oat sponge with honey icing and chocolate and honeycomb topping

Hannah’s Enchanted Garden cupcakes – Carrot cake with honey cream cheese frosting

Sarah’s Oooh Bee-Have cupcakes – honey sponge with honey buttercream and bees!

Leanne’s Mango & Honey Cupcakes – Mango and honey sponge with honey icing and bees.

Many thanks to everyone who came on the night, I hope to see you at our 3rd Birthday!

A big thank you to everyone who braved the rain to attend on the night. We had 14 wonderful entries and the usual gaggle of hungry judges just waiting to get stuck in. If you’ve never been to the competition before, please give it a go, it isn’t a hugely competitive event,  just a bunch of people who like to bake (or to eat) getting together on a Sunday evening.

1st Place – Amy’s Summer Berry Shortcake

Ames brought these cute ‘I don’t care what the weather man says’ Summer Berry Shortcake cupcakes along on the night which won her 1st prize which was the IronCupcake:Leeds goodie bag, £30 Thai Edge restaurant voucher, a cupcake recipe book and free entry to the next competition.

The cupcakes were a vanilla sponge with strawberry and white chocolate chunks filled with raspberry jam topped with cream cheese frosting with raspberry and cranberry sprinkles and finished with a homemade shortcake. Well done Ames!

2nd Place – Dee’s Maliberry’s

First time baker Dee created these lovely looking cupcakes to get herself 2nd place

You may wonder what Maliberry is, well, the cupcakes were vanilla and blueberry flavour with a Malibu frosting topped with fresh strawberries. Dee won a cupcake recipe book!

3rd Place – Rachel’s Blueberry & White Chocolate Cupcakes

Rachel won a recipe book by entering these vanilla and blueberry sponge cupcakes with a centre filled with blueberry sauce, topped with white chocolate buttercream and blueberries with a white chocolate shard.

The remaining Very Berry cupcakes

Kats Black Forest Gateau

Becky’s Kir Royal Cupcakes

Anthony’s Raspberry Lime Cupcakes

Rebekah’s Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Carmel’s Eton Mess

Lucy’s Berry Zesty Cupcakes

Jemma’s Raspberry Brownie Delight

Racheal’s Cupcake Pistache au Coeur Framboise

Susan’s Cranachan Cakes

Lauren’s Ribena & Beetroot cupcakes

It was great to be celebrating all things British on the night of the competition. We had Jubilee cupcakes galore ranging from the Queens favourite chocolate refrigerator cake, to Tea and Biscuits, and Paddingtons Marmalade Cupcakes.

The 1st place IronCupcake:Leeds goodie bag contained a £30 Bibi’s Restaurant voucher and the winner was:

1st Place – Jessica’s Royal Fudge Cupcakes

Jessica wowed the crowd with these delightful Royal Fudge Cupcakes which had a toffee fudge sponge with caramel icing decorated with crowns. Well done Jessica!

2nd Place – Rachel’s Tea & Biscuits

Rachel brought the tea to the competition and made Earl Grey Tea cupcakes topped with lemon buttercream and little lemon shortbread crowns.

3rd Place – Jess’s Paddingtons Marmalade Cupcakes

Jess’s cupcakes were marmalade sponge with vanilla buttercream topped with marzipan and sugarpaste decorations. Here are more of her cakes below

The remaining Jubilee entries

Maria’s Jubilee Carrot Cupcakes

Charlotte’s Choc Refrigerator Cakes

Zoe’s Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Larraine’s Jolly Chocolate Jubilee Cupcakes

Rebecca’s Raspberry Royale Jammy Cupcakes

Krystyna’s Cherry & Chocolate Cupcakes

Jemma’s Cherry Bakewell’s

There were some great displays at the competition, here are some of them

If you would like to take part, we need bakers and judges to attend IronCupcake:Leeds Very Berry, Sunday 8th July, 6pm, tickets available now