Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Lavender Moon Cupcakery

This past weekend I braved the freakish September heat and headed down to Alexandria for a cupcake outing. First on my list of must try places? The new Lavender Moon Cupcakery. And to say the least, I was very impressed.



Nestled in a row of stores right off King Street, you'll find Tammy and her husband Peter selling some of the area's most delicious and original cupcakes. When you walk into the store, it's like walking back into time. You can literally feel the history of Old Town Alexandria as you stand in the beautifully restored space, which is made even more gorgeous by the bold, rich colors splashed onto its walls.

When you make your way to the back room, you'll find that a tall glass piece is all that seperates you from some of the best cupcakes in all the DC/Metro area. Once you get a look at their menu, you may have a hard time choosing as everything sounds absolutely divine, but no worries - there is no such thing as a bad choice here. Take a look:

*Dark Chocolate, Mediterranean Sea Salt & Almonds
*Vanilla Lemon Curd
*Mexican Chocolate Pudding Stuffed Buttermilk Cupcake
*Passion Fruit Mousse Pistachio
*Peanut Butter Stuffed Devils Food Ganache
*Chocolate Lavender
*Carrot, Cashew & Cardoman
*Triple Callebaut Chocolate
*Peach Meringue Pie
*Toasted Coconut


Tell me that is not one of the most unique listing of cupcake flavors you've ever seen! They all looked and sounded so good that I wanted to get one of each, but refrained and instead went for the Dark Chocolate Mediterranean Sea Salt and Almonds, Peach Meringue Pie, and the Chocolate Lavender.



The Peach Meringue Pie was the first one I dug into. What a work of art. Underneath the toasted topping hides a slice of peach, all atop a cupcake so moist and rich it reminded me of a piece of cheesecake. There is even a graham-cracker like crust on the bottom! I tried to set it down seeing as to how I had two more to go, but I couldn't bring myself to do it...I ate the whole thing.

The Dark Chocolate Mediterranean Sea Salt and Almonds has all the flavor you'd expect to find in a dark, rich chocolate cupcake. The best part is the kick it had, as when you began chewing you could taste the hint of almond. Not often does a cupcake literally taste gourmet, but this cupcake is worth every penny of the $3 it costs.

The Chocolate Lavender, which I had to get because it's from LAVENDER Moon Cupcakery, was also a chocolate on chocolate cupcake. While I didn't really taste any hints of Lavender, the cupcake was moist and sweet with a great chocolate flavor. The frosting which was sprinkled with chocolate shavings, was rich, thick, and creamy, just as it was on the Dark Mediterranean Sea Salt.

Each flavor I tried was fantastic. I would recommend this cupcakery to anyone, any day of the week. If you have high expectations for your cupcakes, and want nothing but the best, you will surely not be disappointed with the sumptuous selections at Lavender Moon.

Lavender Moon Cupcakery is located at 116 South Royal Street in Alexandria, VA 22314. If you're on Washington Street coming from the GW Parkway, just turn left on King Street headed towards the water, and make a Right on South Royal. The shop is just a few stores down on your left. Be sure to have cash on you as they aren't set up to take credit cards yet. Also, although their store hours aren't posted, from what I understand they are closed on Mondays. And lastly, as mentioned in an old posting, Lavender Moon does not yet have a website or phone number!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went to this cakery last week. and I agree 110%! The cake is moist, the frosting is like air and melts on your tounge!! I love this place.!!!! Much better than Buzz if you ask me!

Danielle said...

Great to hear! I have read some reviews in other places that say they've had experiences with dry cake from LMC, but definitely not from what I've experienced. I think some of these people who said this also saved the cupcakes for the next day. So maybe cupcakes from LMC might be best consumed on the same day.

Anyway, glad to hear you like them just as much as I do! Hands down, the best cupcakes in Alexandria.

sugarlens said...

I have been following your very informative website!

Have you seen this in today's Post?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/cityguide/features/2008/cupcake-wars/chart.html

You probably have, but just in case. :)

Danielle said...

Thanks, sugarlens! I had seen the hard copy of the post in the morning but hadn't yet accessed the online version. I didn't have a chance to recap the Cupcake Wars yesterday on the blog, but finally got around to it this morning :) Check out today's post!

Anonymous said...

They have a phone number now:
703 683 0588