Another DC cupcake war contender: Red Velvet cupcakery

I tried Red Velvet (the lime and red velvet flavors) when they first opened and remember being indifferent. They seem to have stepped up their game a bit since then. Pretty impressive presentation, right?

We liked the chocolate ganache better than the red velvet, but both were good. If chocolate ganache is your thing, I still recommend the Gianduja cupcake from Hello Cupcake over this though. Sorry, Red Velvet. That Italian hazelnut paste in the Gianduja edged you out.

However, Red Velvet recently did have a limited-time flavor that we thought was pretty amazing: honey fig. We bought the very last one of the day. I had to mentally will the woman in front of me not to buy it. The honey buttercream, paired with the cooked fig center and flavorful cake was heaven. Although not exactly ecofriendly, I appreciate how the individual box kept the cupcake intact on the journey home. (Some places give you individual cupcakes in a bag, so half the frosting winds up stuck to the bag).

I’m also really happy that they partner with Tangysweet. The Tangysweet in Penn Quarter is right next door to Red Velvet. Plus, the Dupont Circle Tangysweet location actually carries 4-5 flavors of Red Velvet’s cupcakes on any given day, so you can get your froyo and your cupcake on–at the same time!

Yocake (Montgomery Mall) is open

Frozen yogurt and cupcakes. In a mall, no less. Not a bad combination to bring to the masses. Also, it seems like a pretty sound business model. Since frozen yogurt sales suffer during the colder months, the cupcakes can pick up the slack, like at Red Velvet-TangySweet. (TangySweet rolled out a gourmet hot chocolate last winter before it began offering cupcakes). Meanwhile, Sweet Green’s Sweetflow Mobile is going to keep rolling this winter, but still figuring out how it’s going to diversify its products for the cold-weather months.

Anyway, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the opening of Yocake (see related post) and went this past weekend to try it out.

http://pievcake.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/yogurt-cake-yocake/

The storefront looked like a cross between a cupcakery, with its platters of cupcakes, and Iceberry, with its TV screens.

Yogurt: It reminded us of the frozen yogurt at Sweet Green (true to the flavor of vanilla yogurt that you’d pick up in the dairy case) minus the sour tang. We liked it but missed the tartness.

Hazelnut-praline-ganache cupcake: The ganache was everything you want a ganache to be. Rich, creamy and slightly bitter. The cake had a cinnamon-type swirl with pecan pieces throughout. I liked it; Mr X-sXe found it a little dry. We both wished there was more icing, but it’s probably hard to layer it with a ganache of that consistency.

Would we go back? We probably wouldn’t drive out of our way, but if we were at the mall and needed a snack, definitely.

newest economic indicator: the “cupcake bubble”

The cupcake boom is here, and the cupcake crash is coming, according to Slate.com. But with the opening of the Bethesda location of Georgetown Cupakes and new players to the DC area like Treet, the purported crash may be coming here more slowly than most.

http://www.slate.com/id/2227216/

treet online bakery @ clarendon farmers’ market

DailyCandy DC featured this place today, which takes online orders for their mini-cupcakes, brownies, cornbread and other goodies. This isn’t your ordinary bakery, though. Their ingredients are sourced from local farmers (check out the site for details) and they use not-terrible-for-you sweeteners like agave. 

Look for them at the Clarendon farmers’ market on Wednesdays from 2-7 PM (3100 Wilson Blvd., Arlington).

**Update 9/9/09: I tried three flavors of their minis (carrot, chocolate w/vanilla icing, vanilla w/chocolate icing) and can recommend the carrot and vanilla (the chocolate with vanilla icing was a bit bland). They were$11 for 12 minis and smaller than expected: about 1.5 inches across and 1″ high.**

http://www.treetshop.com/

frozen yogurt + cake = yocake

Strolling through the food court at Montgomery Mall today, I passed a sign for Yocake, a winning concept in dessert places: a froyo cupcakery. Yocake’s website is still under construction, but they’re scheduled to open this fall. It remains to be seen whether the goods will be any good. I’ll keep you posted.

www.yocake.com

***Update: They opened the weekend of September 26th. Here’s the post.***

http://pievcake.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/yocake-montgomery-mall-is-open/

NYC cupcake cagematch: bring your own insulin

My cousin Grace held the ultimate NYC cupcake cagematch a few weeks back, which she documented on her blog. Get a load of that spread! It’s a cake-lover’s Mecca. One day, I may have to make the holy pilgrimage.

Results here:

http://gracenotesnyc.com/2009/08/17/cupcake-cagematch-results-the-best-cupcakes-in-new-york/

BTW, I recommend checking out the “Grace’s picks” section of her blog if you ever need dining ideas/recommendations for NY:

http://gracenotesnyc.com/graces-picks/

another DC cupcake wars contender: buzz bakery, arlington

The rematch continues.

http://pievcake.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/washington-post-cupcake-wars-i-demand-a-recount/

Here’s the Buzz Bumble Bee cupcake, a vanilla cupcake with a chocolate center and vanilla buttercream frosting. (The bee isn’t edible, for anyone wondering). The cake and filling were tasty enough, but the slightly gritty buttercream was a buzzkill. It had the taste and consistency of something you’d expect from a Safeway cake. Bummer.

Rating: 5.2 out of 10

This chocolate cupcake was created for the 9:30 club. It’s a devil’s food cake with a vanilla center topped with chocolate icing dipped in ganache. I thought I tasted hints of coffee in the ganache or icing (Barefoot Contessa would be proud). This one’s a winner. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the best thing on the 9:30 club menu.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

http://www.buzzonslaters.com/

dc cupcake wars revisited: georgetown cupcake and hello cupcake face off

In response to the lameness of the Washington Post cupcake wars last year, we’ve been conducting our own rematch. So far, Hello Cupcake’s Gianduja (chocolate hazelnut) flavor is in the lead.

http://pievcake.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/washington-post-cupcake-wars-i-demand-a-recount/

Both Hello and Georgetown Cupcake offer a coconut flavor, so we pitted them against one another.

Icing: The coconut on Hello Cupcake’s icing was toasted (left and top in photos), which made Mr. X-sXe prefer theirs, but I didn’t think it added that much flavor. I missed the tartness of the cream cheese in Hello’s icing and preferred Georgetown’s (right, bottom).

Cake: Hello’s was dense and drier, but seemed to have coconut bits in it. Georgetown’s was moister and lighter. Again, I preferred Georgetown’s, while Mr. X-sXe voted for Hello’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Winner: It’s a draw. Honestly, the judges could not come to an agreement. A numerical evaluation proved fruitless. We didn’t think it would be so tough to decide, but there you go. These are the Venus and Serena of cupcakes. Either one could come out on top.

http://www.hellocupcakeonline.com/

http://georgetowncupcake.com/home.html

dc cupcake wars revisited: georgetown cupcake’s lava fudge

Note: this is a multi-part series in response to the Washington Post Cupcake Wars last fall, which was clearly a farce.

http://pievcake.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/washington-post-cupcake-wars-i-demand-a-recount/

The breakdown, cake: Same as the cake in the chocolate ganache cupcake, it had that box-mix flavor and texture.

The breakdown, icing: A cream cheese icing, decently proportioned. Flavor was very sweet, could’ve used a bit of tartness.

The breakdown, lava filling: The Achilles’ heel of this cupcake. I was all psyched for an ooey, gooey chocolate center. Instead, I get something that reminds me of the flavor, consistency and aftertaste of Hershey’s syrup. It just doesn’t make any sense, given all the high-quality ingredients Georgetown Cupcake touts on its website. To borrow a quote from In Living Color, “Hated it!”

Rating: 4.9 out of 10.

dc cupcake wars revisited: georgetown cupcake’s white chocolate raspberry

Note: this is a multi-part series in response to the Washington Post Cupcake Wars last fall, which was clearly a farce.

http://pievcake.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/washington-post-cupcake-wars-i-demand-a-recount/

The breakdown, cake: This was a seasonal flavor that’s already been replaced. Pity, because this cake was one of the better ones from Georgetown Cupcake that I’ve tried. It was dense and spongy, punctuated with bits of raspberry that added some tang. The texture reminded me of some vegan cupcakes I’ve tried. And no, that was not an insult.

The breakdown, icing: Couldn’t taste the white chocolate in this. It was a sweet cream cheese icing, good but pretty standard.

Rating: 6.8 out of 10.