Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Chateau Gateau Cupcakes - Alexandria Farmers Market

I've got to tell you about some fantastic cupcakes at the Old Town Farmers Market in Alexandria, Virginia. Chateau Gateau, a local online bakery run by owner Sarina Luangkhot, sells their cupcakes from 5:30am - 11:00am every Saturday at the King Street Court House location. And my oh my, based on the one I tried...boy are they delleicious!
Sarina's Carrot Cake Cupcake, "Whats Up Doc," I had from her stand at the Old Town Farmers Market

The Farmer's Market Prices for Chateau Gateau's Cupcakes are $2/each or 6 for $10...great prices considering what a cupcake in this area normally costs! While Sarina doesn't have every flavor available for purchase at the Market, you can take a look at her menu online and place an order for delivery. Her menu includes 9 different flavors, with the likes of "Pucker Up," a lemon curd cake with lemon zest frosting, "Calvin's Applecakes," butter cake filled with apple butter topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and "Peter Peter," Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cake with chocolate ganache, to name a few. The catering prices are $20/dozen with a minimum order of 2 dozen.

So instead of sleeping in next Saturday, wake up early and get yourself over to the Farmers Market to try some of these amazing little cupcakes!!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Baked & Wired Cupcake Art

This past weekend while shopping in Georgetown, I popped into Baked & Wired to pick up a couple Strawberry Cupcakes (SO good!) While getting my coffee I noticed this crazy picture on the wall, and had to snap a shot to share it with you guys!

It looks like a radioactive cupcake zombie!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Cupcake Christmas Presents!

Merry Belated Christmas everyone! I wanted to share a couple cupcake-related presents I received this year:
Check out these tasty lipglosses from Philosophy! They come in Coconut Frosting, Red Velvet, and Carrot Cake.

A new Cupcake Apron! Up until now I've only had the Sweetheart Apron from Jessie Steele, so this will be a nice addition!



And last but not least, you can never have enough cupcake books!


Cupcakes! By Elinor Klivans

A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes, by Dede Wilson

Did you get any fun cupcake-related presents this year?? If so, I'd love too hear about them!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Whole Foods Holiday Cupcakes

Check out these Whole Foods Cupcakes I saw when doing some shopping yesterday afternoon. Now I am a frosting lover, but the mound of green frosting on that Christmas Tree Cupcake would put even me into sugar-shock!!
The Christmas Tree cupcakes come in Chocolate and Vanilla are are $3.49 a piece, while the floral cupcakes come in Chocolate and Vanilla and are $1.99 a piece.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

CTTC 12 Days of Cupcakes Post

The girls over at Cupcakes Take The Cake recently asked me to do a Guest Blog for their Guest Blogger series for the month of December. I thought it would be fun to do a 12 Days of Cupcakes piece! I've reposted it here for you guys to see, or you can check it out on the CTTC Blog by clicking here. Happy Holidays!

I’m so excited to be doing a guest post for the ladies over at CTTC! These girls inspired me to start the Washington DC/Metro Cupcake Meetup, which in turn inspired me to start a blog on cupcakes in the DC/Metro area. Ever since then, my life pretty much revolves around cupcakes!

When the girls asked if I’d like to be one of the guest bloggers, I jumped at the chance! After much brainstorming, I thought it’d be fun to put a spin on the 12 Days of Christmas – how about the 12 Days of Cupcakes! I’ll cover different holiday flavors from 12 cities across the country. Hopefully I hit a city by you, or maybe even inspire you to grab the flour and eggs and get crackin! Happy Holidays everyone! And enjoy!

On The First Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, a Hot Buttered Rum Cupcake From Hello Cupcake in DC! Washington DC’s Hello Cupcake is serving up this original holiday treat for the month of December. It’s a rum cake with rum soaked raisins and rummy cream cheese frosting. RUM!!! Oops, I mean…YUM!!!

Hello Cupcake’s Hot Buttered Rum and Gingerbread Cupcakes. Credit: Penny Karas, Owner Hello Cupcake.

On The Second Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, Trophy Cupcake’s Snickerdoodle Cookie! (Cupcake, that is). That’s right, a Snickerdoodle Cupcake from Seattle’s very own Trophy Cupcakes. A butter cake baked full of cinnamon & sugar, topped off with a cinnamon buttercream, this one makes me want to grab a glass of milk and get down to business!

Credit: Chris Blakeley’s Flickr Photostream, Blakeley Photography.

On The Third Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, a Candy Cane Cupcake from Albuquerque! (Catching on to the rhyming yet??) Candy Cane isn’t the only charming holiday flavor on Cake Fetish’s menu this December. If you drop in to the store, you can get your fix with Eggnog, Pumpkin Pie, Biscochitto, Gingerbread, and Christmas Coconut.

Photograph - Caryn, Owner Cake Fetish

On The Fourth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, a rich Red Velvet Cupcake from the island of Hawaii! What do you get when you put together Hawaii and cupcakes? Honolulu’s Cake Couture Cupcakes, of course! Located in East Oahu, this cupcakery serves up their Red Velvet flavor Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Delish!

Picture from Blogger DebinHawaii of Kahakai Kitchen

On The Fifth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, an Eggnog delight from Cupcake Lane Bakery! This very merry creation, also known as “Bedford Falls,” comes straight from the streets of Las Vegas. Available only in December, it’s an eggnog cake covered with a light topping of whip cream, dusted with nutmeg and finished with a holly design.

On The Sixth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes from LA’s Sprinkles Cupcakery! This famous west coast (and beyond) cupcakery will be serving up Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes in celebration of the holiday. The flavor is composed of their traditional Madagascar-bourbon vanilla cake with vanilla-peppermint frosting and crushed peppermint. And what’s more, Sprinkles recently decided to share this recipe! Click here to check it out!


Photograph from Sprinkles/Andrea Lenardin

On The Seventh Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, a Chocolate Peppermint cupcake from Cakes & Tee! Okay okay, it’s actually called Tee & Cakes (sorry, needed it to rhyme!) and they’re located in Boulder, Colorado. Their other holiday flavors include Coconut Snowballs, Spicy Gingerbread, and Red Velvet!


Photograph from Tee & Cakes Gallery

On The Eighth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, a Pumpkin Spice Cupcake from the Windy City! Molly’s Cupcakes “Chief Egg Cracker” named this bakery after his third grade teacher, Molly! This holiday flavor is made up of spice cake with a sweet and creamy mascarpone center, topped with brown butter buttercream. I just spent a weekend in Chicago and was lucky enough to try some of these cupcakes, including Pumpkin Spice, and they were fantastic!


Molly’s Cupcakes, Pumpkin Spice is top right corner.

On The Ninth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, an Apple Cinnamon Cupcake from the Polkadots Cupcake Factory! This charming Austin bakery serves up 12 different flavors a day, and for every 11 cupcakes you buy, the 12th is free! To make Apple Cinnamon, Polkadots tops an Apple cupcake with Cinnamon buttercream and sprinkles it with Cinnamon Sugar.


Polkadots Cupcake Factory’s Apple Cinnamon Cupcake

On The Tenth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, a Crème de Menthe Cupcake with a Chocolate Ganache Pattie! Sweet Cupcakery of Boston, MA is serving up quite the selection of flavors now through December 31st, with options like Gingerbread, Candy Cane, and Crème de Menthe (Sweet’s dark Belgian chocolate cake with creamy mint filling, topped with peppermint buttercream and a chocolate ganache “pattie.”), how could you resist?!


Check out Sweet's gallery for Crème de Menthe and Candy Cane, but here’s a shot of their Reindeer topped Chocolate & Vanilla cupcakes!

On The Eleventh Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, an Apricot Almond Cupcake from Knoxville, Tennessee! I wish Tennessee weren’t 11 hours away; otherwise I’d hop in the car and head to Magpies so I could try this gem! “Dense almond cake shmeared with tangy apricot jam, topped with almond buttercream and an almond sliver” sounds divine! Magpies other holiday flavors include Gingerbread, Buttered Rum, Dark Chocolate Peppermint, and Caramel Apple.


Photograph from Magpies Gallery

On The Twelfth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, Spice Islands Carrot of Sweet Revenge in NYC! Carrot Cake, Pumpkin Spice, and Eggnog, are some of the traditional holiday flavors you can grab from NYC’s Sweet Revenge. While I’ve never had the opportunity to try these unique looking cupcakes (where else have you seen a frosting pattern like that?!) I’ve heard nothing but great reviews since their opening this past summer!


Photograph from Rachel’s Flickr album - Spice Islands Carrot Cupcakes

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Cupcake Travels - the Windy Cindy!

Happy Belated National Cupcake Day Everyone!!! I’ve been traveling the last few days and have been neglecting the blog. Where was I, you ask? The windy city! Yup, my first visit to Chicago and it was a really great time. And of course, you know I can’t go anywhere and not look for cupcakes!
As you might know, there is certainly no shortage of cupcakes in Chicago. The two bakeries Mike & I were able to navigate our way to were the charming Molly’s Cupcakes, and of course, Swirlz!

Molly’s Cupcakes
, who’s logo I love by the way (it reminds me of The Very Hungry Caterpillar book everyone reads when they’re a kid), uses a recipe the founder inherited from his third grade teacher. As a way to give back, a portion of their profits are donated to local schools. The bakery does make other treats, including ice cream, but they had a great selection of cupcakes…their center-filled flavors included the likes of Chocolate Mousse, Tiramisu, Chocolate Strawberry, Key Lime, and my personal favorite, Dirt & Worms (Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Ice Cream, Oreo Cookie Dirt, and Gummy Worms served in a flower pot!) to name a few. Chocolate, Vanilla, Carrot, and Red Velvet made up their classic flavors, and they even have a couple Vegan flavors.
Part of the Display Case at Molly's Cupcake

Mighty Mint Cupcakes at Molly's Cupcakes
Mint Velvet Cupcakes on display at Molly's Cupcakes
I picked up a Peanut Butter Cupcake with Nutella filling, which Mike and I were fighting over the last crumb for because it was SO good, along with a Mint Velvet, Carrot Cake, and Pumpkin Spice. The Pumpkin Spice and Red Velvet were really good, but I wasn’t crazy about the Carrot Cake. Next time in Chicago, I will definitely go back and pay this place a visit…I want the Dirt & Worms!! You can visit the site, which is still being built, by clicking here
My Molly's Cupcakes selections. Clockwise from the top right, Pumpkin Spice, Carrot Cake, Mint Velvet, and Peanut Butter with Nutella.
Display at Swirlz Cupcakes
We happened upon Swirlz by accident really…we had been looking for them, gave up, and when heading out of the city we got lost and stumbled upon their street. It was fate! The store was cute but very very tiny. I picked up a regular Vanilla cupcake and the “Surprise” flavor of the day, which was some sort of White Chocolate Nut flavor (the lady described it but I can’t remember!) She packed them up in two adorable little plastic containers and I was on my way. And you know what? Both of them were great! The Vanilla tasted moist and sweet, and the Surprise flavor was rich and unique, with some sort of crunchy nut layer between the cake and the frosting.
"Surprise" Cupcake from Swirlz
Vanilla Cupcake from Swirlz
All in all, it was a great trip with great cupcakes!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Georgetown Jingle 2008 Holiday Tastings

If you’re looking to support a great local cause this holiday season, you should check out DC’s Annual Georgetown Jingle taking place this Sunday, December 14th, at The Four Seasons Hotel from 4:00 to 8:00pm. The event raises funds for two programs at Georgetown University Hospital: the Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program and the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program.

The Georgetown Jingle showcases the talents of 15 interior designers through holiday tree displays. The event features a CVS children’s workshop, tastings from DC metro restaurants; and a fabulous silent auction.

Picture from blog.georgetownvoice.com

Why am I sharing this with you? Well not only is it a great cause, but Georgetown Cupcake will be in the mix of Holiday Tastings! For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.

Monday, December 8, 2008

DC/Metro Cupcake Meetup No. 5

The DC/Metro Cupcake Meetup Group had it's 5th Meetup this past Saturday at Buzz Bakery in Alexandria, Virginia. There were 10 of us chowing down on cupcakes and chatting up a storm for about 1 1/2 hours. It was a good time, with good cupcakes!!
There were a lot of cupcakes to choose from. We had our choice of flavors like Chocolate Chocolate, Peppermint, Gingerbread, Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Bumble Bee, Chocolate-Vanilla, Vanilla Vanilla, and the Buzz Cupcake (an espresso-flavored cupcake)...and I'm sure there's a couple more I'm missing!

Part of the Buzz Bakery display case.
Some of the DC/Metro Cupcake Meetup Group ladies!
My cupcakes...Red Velvet and Gingerbread. The Red Velvet cake I thought was good, but I wasn't crazy about the cream cheese frosting. It was whipped and a little too sweet. The Gingerbread cupcake was really good though. The great blend of spices and gingerbread flavor really hit the spot!
Aggie, her husband who's name I can't remember (sorry!) and Jennifer having a good time.
Meetup members Louise and Kathleen eating some cupcakes!
We were talking about how we'd love to have a meetup at Lavender Moon as soon as they get some seating!!! Either way, keep your eyes and ears peeled for next month's meetup!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Couture Cupcakes at ACKC DC

When I needed to pick up some chocolates yesterday for my mom's birthday, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and swing by ACKC's DC location to check out their selection of Couture Cupcakes! If you've never been, the store is really adorable with plenty of seating and sweet goodies.
Towards the back of the shop there is a dessert window, with a little display case on top for Couture Cupcakes' selections. I'm assuming their selections change every so often, but this week they had:
Savannah: Red Velvet Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Duracelle: Carrot, Walnut & Pineapple cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Betsy: Chocolate Cake with a Vanilla Buttercream
Bella Lucia: Vanilla Cake with Nutella center topped with Stracclatella Buttercream
Antoinette: Chocolate Cake topped with Raspberry Buttercream
Pamela: Chocolate Brownie Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and a Caramel swirl
Mrs. Kimery: Pumpkin Spice Cake with Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
Back in August Paula Domenge, owner of Couture Cupcakes, was kind enough to give me a sample of seven different flavors. Of those seven flavors, Pamela was the only one from the group above that was in the sample. The rich, moist and gooey mixture of chocolate and caramel made it not only my favorite flavor of all the samples, but it was one of the best cupcakes I'd ever had. So of course when the Washington Post's team of taste testers for the paper's recent Cupcake Wars gave the Pamela Cupcake a less than satisfactory rating, calling it "gummy and underdone," I was in total disagreement
All that being said, when I walked in the store yesterday afternoon and saw Pamela sitting there in the display case, I had to do another taste test. After one bite all I can say is...WHAT HAPPENED?!? This cupcake was both gummy and dry, nothing like the delicious chocolatey goodness I tasted almost 4 months ago. Was it because the Pamela I had was fresh, and maybe this one had been sitting for a while?? Whatever the case, this was not a cupcake I would eat again. I am so bummed out!!
I'm not ready to write off Couture Cupcakes compeltely though. Based on my taste test from this past summer I know that Paula has good cupcakes; if you read the results of the Washington Post's Cupcake Wars, you'll see they agree. I regret not picking up another flavor, like Savannah (which the Cupcake Wars taste test team gave a good review) or Mrs. Kimery. I'd like to know if the Pamela's poor taste was a just a fluke, or if that's what's to be expected of ACKC's selection of Couture Cupcakes.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

New Cupcakery Opening This Month

Santa Claus isn't the only one coming to town this December! Have those scarves and mittens handy because Washingtonian's will be coming out by the usual cupcake-crazed masses for this month's opening of Red Velvet Cupcakery.

Opening in the heart of Penn Quarter, cupcake lovers will be able to feast on flavors like Devil's Food, Summertime (Lemon Cake w/ Coconut Frosting), Key West (Key Lime w/ White Chocolate Buttercream), and of course, Red Velvet. The new cupcakery will have at least 8 different flavors at $3.25/each, or $36/dozen.
Owner Canada Gordon recently came back to her roots here in DC after living in LA to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. While on the west coast, Gordon developed a love for the cupcake scene, and despite what appears to be a rather successful career in film & television (Gordon has worked on projects like Vanilla Sky, Shopgirl, National Treasure, Lord's of Dogtown, and HBO's Entourage) she returned to the DC area to pursue the perfect cupcake.
In her pursuit of sugary sweet perfection, Gordon enlisted the help of David Guas, who is the creator and executive pastry chef behind Red Velvet Cupcakes. Guas is also no stranger to the entertainment industry, making regular appearances NBC’s Today Show and having his desserts recognized in such publications as Food & Wine, Cooking Light, and the National Culinary Review.
Will Red Velvet Cupcakery put at end to Washingtonian’s endless hunt for the best Red Velvet Cupcake in town? I’m looking forward to finding out!
While there is no firm opening date (just “December 2008"), Red Velvet Cupcakery will be opening on the corner of 7th Street and E Street, at 675 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20004

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Lavender Moon Cupcakery Store Hours

Even though Alexandria's Lavender Moon Cupcakery opened 3 months ago, they've yet to put up a website. So when I was walking by this past Saturday I snapped a shot of the store hours for those of you who'd like to make a trip out there some time. As you can see, LMC is closed Monday and Tuesday, but opened Weds-Fri from 11am to 7pm, Saturday from 10am to 7pm, and Sunday from 10am to 4pm (or until the cupcakes are gone!).

I also took a picture of one of the inside rooms (seen below). I love the paint job and the overall ambiance, but the use of the room you see here is a gargantuan waste of space. All that occupies the room is a decorative table. Wouldn't this room be of more use if LMC set up a couple tables for their customers to sit down and enjoy their cupcakes??

Monday, December 1, 2008

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, and other Holiday Flavors

Photo from BashDC.com

Can you believe it's December already?!? Crazy! One good thing about a new month though, new cupcake flavors! So for all you Georgetown Cupcake lovers out there (and from that constant line around the corner, I know there's a lot of you!) Georgetown Cupcake's new monthly flavors are Chocolate Peppermint, Gingerbread, and Snowball (Coconut), as well as Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years Eve-themed Cupcakes. Be sure to stay tuned later this month when Georgetown Cupcake will be releasing their 2009 Seasonal Flavor listing.

And speaking of Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, when I was in Alexandria this past weekend I stopped to have brunch at one of my favorite places: Bread & Chocolate on King Street in Old Town. If you've been here you know they have a large dessert case at the front of the restaurant, and sure enough they had cupcakes! I was way too stuffed from my Mediterranean Omelet to even fathom eating a cupcake, but I took a picture for you guys. They have Chocolate Peppermint as well as traditional Vanilla and Chocolate. They're $2.50 each or $9 for 4.

Chocolate Peppermint is on the left, Chocolate & Vanilla on the right.