"The Good Land" is what the Native Americans called this place on the shores of Lake Michigan. When the German immigrants began to arrive in the 1840s, they brought with them their passion for the art of beer brewing. And over the next 100 years this heritage made Milwaukee the world’s leading beer producer. While it's no longer the city's major industry, its legacy is everywhere. Reminders of the old beer barons can be seen at the Pabst Mansion, Blatz Building, and Miller Brewery, where over eight million barrels are still produced annually.
Now it's time for a new legacy to be born, for the stage to be shared: A new delicious consumable to stand up against the best Milwaukee has to offer. We found that this week with Milwaukee's favorite daughter and reigning Cupcake Queen, Sandy Ploy! Join us as we start this vision quest at local eatery, AJ Bomber's, the inspiration behind Sandy's Peanut Butter Bacon Cupcake!
Peanut Butter Bacon Cupcake
Also known as the Bomb-Cake, named after a local bar in Milwaukee, this cupcake combines the addictive taste of their Barrie Burger and the
fun of their signature Peanut Bomb. You won't be able to stop at just one, making one "bombing run" after another! Delicious!
Leave one of the holes in your cupcake tin open. It makes a great place for your oven mitt thumb when pulling the cupcakes out of the oven!
Allow the cupcakes to cool approximately 30 minutes before adding the frosting. This will prevent the frosting from "cooking" and melting
on the cupcakes.
Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Moist and rich peanut butter cupcakes make a great snack and dessert!
Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes
Dark Chocolate. Bacon. What's not to love?
Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies
The best of both worlds! Sweet, savory, and absolutely delicions!
Sandy Ploy, AKA Milwaukee Cupcake Queen, is one of the 100 coolest Milwaukeeans (that you've heard of). For real. In the August 31, 2010
edition of the Milwaukee Buzz, her name is right there.
If it's on the internet, it's gotta be true! Kidding aside, Sandy is definitely one of those public figures whose ideas, actions, and creations make
Milwaukee a cooler place to be. It says that on the internet as well!
Graphic Designer and Cupcake Maker Extraordinaire, as well as founder of the Iron Cupcake Challenge, Sandy fills every room with her presence and infectious enthusiasm. Known and recognized wherever she goes, this lady can bake! It is important to note that Sandy is no idle cupcake enthusiast. This is not a hobby. This is a passion. With a home filled with cupcake cookbooks and cupcake kitsch, steer clear of this queen's cupcake-shaped scepter. It flings sprinkles into the eyes of anyone who challenges her royal status!
I miss my cupcake,
where has it gone,
i wish it were here,
at the wave of my wand...
"When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile." ~ Anne Byrn
Wow. Where to start? Actually, it's quite easy. This trip, and Sandy's Peanut Butter Bacon Cupcakes, start at AJ Bombers, a great little restaurant / eatery in downtown Milwaukee. You can get decent to great burgers anywhere across the USA, but immediately upon walking in the door, you could sense something was different here. This was a restaurant and people were having fun! The wall was dominated by a unique PDS (Peanut Delivery System), with metal "bombers" rocketing down a rails to dump peanuts into chutes ending up in metal bowls on the tables. More peanuts actually followed their own trajectory upon reaching your table, but that was part of the fun!
After a round of hellos and cheers, Sandy and I sat down to pick from the streamlined menu. Sandy selected one of her favorites, the Barrie Burger, a peanut butter bacon creation, that was the inspiration for her Peanut Butter Bacon Cupcakes that we would be making later. I opted for the Quad Burger, a 4-patty tower of beef that once devoured, bestowed upon me the honor to sign my name on the huge sacred cow at the back of the restaurant. Of course, while signing my name under the cow's mustache, I was showered with peanuts which, as I found out, was yet another tradition here. I was now officially a part of AJ Bombers.
After saying our goodbyes (and getting even with a PDS of my own), we headed to Sandy's to make her famous cupcakes. Stepping across the doorstep into her home, I could see immediately that it was a shrine to all things cupcake. Cupcake cookbooks, cupcake trinkets, cupcake signs, and much more were everywhere. Additionally, Sandy had quite a collection of photos taken of her and a plethora of famous chefs. I knew this was going to be fun.
We immediately got to the business at hand of making her cupcakes. The smell and sound of bacon sizzling, a sensory landscape, was pure bliss! Substituting bacon grease for butter in the recipe had me wanting to stand up, howl, and thump my chest! This was true "Man-Cave" fare and I was loving it. After pulling these from the oven, letting them cool, and topping off with frosting, peanuts, and bacon, it was time to sample. Mmmmmm, these were good. I don't really know what else to say. They were wicked good!
Finally, we returned the next day to participate in the Iron Cupcake Tailgating Challenge, with a great crowd gathering to enjoy cupcakes inspired by everything from the Kentucky Derby to bicycle racing to vintage Lombardi era football to a multitude of college salutes. If you didn't already know, Sandy is a founder and creator of the Iron Cupcake Challenge franchise that now sees regular events across the country. Come back to Allrecipes.com "What's Cooking?" soon to watch another episode as we take part in this Tailgating Challenge!
Iron Cupcake Milwaukee
No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner. Read Sandy's Blog!
AJ Bombers
Peanuts, Burgers, and Beer! That's the best way to sum up this kitschy, fun restaurant and bar located in downtown Milwaukee.
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