Vanilla/Chocolate Cupcakes from Lola

What's available this weekend at the Leesburg Farmer's Market from Lola's Cookies & Treats? More delicious cupcakes, of course! This Saturday they will have their Coconut cupcakes along with their new Vanilla/Chocolate Cupcakes - Madagascar vanilla cake with chocolate ganache on top and a drizzle of white chocolate. They'll also have these gorgeous Vanilla/Chocolate Cupcakes now through the end of June at the bakery.

The other goodies from Lola's at the Leesburg Farmer's Market this weekend will be Scones: Cranberry Buttermilk; Apricot with White Chocolate and Walnuts; Date with Orange Zest; and Cheddar Chive. Breads: Almond Bread (pictured below) and Honey Wheat Bread. Plus: Great Big Blueberry Muffins and their usual line-up of award-winning cookies and bars.

The market runs from 8 a.m. to noon; arrive early for the best selection!

Cup-A-Cake Carriers at Hello Cupcake

Hello Cupcake's Cup-A-Cake Carriers made the paper yesterday. They're perfect for picnics this summer, so get yours at Hello Cupcake or at one of the many USA retailers, like Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, and Crate & Barrel!

Georgetown Cupcake Monthly Flavor: Toffee

Georgetown Cupcake's special flavor for the month of May is Toffee Crunch, and since my sister lives in Georgetown I'd been asking her to pop in and grab one! She actually bought two, along with a Lemon Blossom and Chocolate Hazelnut (two of their regular flavors).

Steph, not being much of a toffee fan, said it was sweet and had toffee bits not just on top but also baked into the cupcake itself, and that she had no intention of sharing with her roommates. She also added that the icing was very creamy and goes well with the toffee. SO, there's only 4 days left in May - so get on over to Georgetown Cupcake and pick one up while you can!

Next month Georgetown Cupcake will be featuring two new monthly flavors: Strawberry and White Chocolate Raspberry.

Farmer's Market Cupcakes Weekend Roundup

It’s Friday, so that means Farmer's Market info! If you're in the Leesburg area, be sure to drop by the Leesburg Farmer's Market this Saturday to pick up a couple of the goodies from Lola Cookies & Treats!

I mentioned last week that Lola doesn't normally have her cupcakes at the Farmer's Market (summer heat and frosting usually are not a good combination) but since it's not quite summer, this week they'll have their Chocolate with Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes and Coconut Cupcakes. In Lola’s bakery this week, they’re whipping up Carrot Cake, Milk Chocolate, Coconut, Chocolate with Vanilla Buttercream, Red Velvet & Madagascar Vanilla cupcakes.

Other treats they'll be bringing to tomorrow’s Farmer’s Market include Cherry-Chocolate Scones, Cranberry Buttermilk Scones, Apricot with White Chocolate & Walnut Scones, and Cheddar Chive Scones, as well as Almond Bread and Honey Wheat Bread.

The Leesburg Farmers Market takes place from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday in the parking lot at Virginia Village Shopping Center (which is at King Street and Catoctin Circle). Go early for the best selection!

If you're in the Alexandria, VA area, drop by the Alexandria Farmer's Market to scoop up some of Chateau Gateau's cupcakes. The Alexandria Farmer's Market Hours are 5:30am-11:00am every Saturday.

The Old Town Alexandria Farmers' Market is located in the Market Square at 301 King Street. The best parking is in the underground lot off Fairfax Street, directly under Market Square.

Donut Cupcakes!

For fun, I made some donut cupcakes for a friend who's been asking for them for months. It was really fun decorating them! Just buy some small glazed donuts from your grocery store, use a simple glaze made of confectionary sugar & milk to make them sticky for sprinkles, and then just place them on top of your frosted cupcakes!

Lavender Moon Cupcake Meetup

Not deterred by the weather, the DC/Metro Cupcake Group had their monthly cupcake meetup at Lavender Moon Cupcakery yesterday afternoon. Since the ground was wet from all the recent rain, we weren't able to go to the park with our cupcakes as planned. However LMC has recently set up some tables inside, so we just took them all over!

The menu looked very enticing - Flourless Dark Chocolate, Almonds & Sea Salt; Vanilla Bean Lemon Curd; Buttermilk Cupcake with Mexican Chocolate Pudding; Devil's Food Peanut Butter; Vanilla Vanilla; Triple Belgian Chocolate; Blood Orange Dreamsicle; Coconut; Coconut Macaroon; Lemon Thyme & Blackberry; and Mocha! All cupcakes are $3 or $30 for a dozen, and they only accept cash or checks (no credit cards yet folks - bring cash!!)

Some of the group members thought the Vanilla Vanilla and Flourless Dark Chocolate Almonds flavors were dry, but two flavors that really stood out were the Blood Orange Dreamsicle and Lemon Thyme & Blackberry - SO good. If you happen to swing by LMC and see them on the menu, we highly recommend them! Other flavors the group members enjoyed were Devil's Food Peanut Butter and Triple Belgian Chocolate.

We're not sure where the next meetup will be, but we're thinking about trying out Cupcakes Actually in Fairfax since it's the new spot around town. Stay tuned to the blog and to the group page on Facebook, as I'll be updating both with new meetup plans!

Lavender Moon Cupcakery

116 S. Royal Street

Alexandria, Virginia

703.683.0588

Cute Cupcake Making Kit

Looking for a cute cupcake-oriented gift? Take a look at this Cupcake Kit!

The colorful kit includes a 64 page book with 14 mouth-watering recipes, 250 decorate liners in two sizes, one pastry bag, and an assortment of fun piping tips. The kit sells for $19.95 and can be purchased by clicking here!

Mervis 60K Diamond Cupcakes!

In late April I received an email from from Jonathan Mervis (you know the radio commercials: Mervis Diamond Importers, deep in the diamond mines of Africa, her love, all that good stuff) sharing some pictures of “the world’s first diamond cupcake!” Jonathan and Ronnie Mervis made two of them – frosted with $60,000 worth of diamonds. – to showcase at the Wedding Rings and Diamond Cupcakes Trunkshow earlier this month. Take a look at the cupcakes!

Jonathan Mervis using a diamond loupe to inspect his cupcake! Photos all from Laboroflovephoto.com

Cupcakes (edible, non-diamond cupcakes!) for the event were provided by Classic Bakery of Gaithersburg, MD. I’ve heard of Classic Bakery before as I’ve had a couple friends get their wedding cakes from there, but never knew they had cupcakes. Classic sells their cupcakes for $1.75/each, though they might only be available by advance order – so call before going by! They didn’t have any pictures on their website, but look at these cute little Tiffany’s boxes they did! Adorable.

MallowDrama's Latest

Heads up everyone – MallowDrama is no longer selling cupcakes at Dinner Zen so I have removed them from the list to the left, but I did want to let you know that mini MallowDrama cupcakes will be for sale at at Play Cafe in Hunters Woods Village Center in Reston (including Secret Garden -- their vegan carrot cake -- and more).

Also, MallowDrama is currently offering a free delivery service within Reston for orders of 1 dozen or more cupcakes! Service available Monday-Friday, 10 AM-6 PM, and Saturday 10 AM-12 PM. They ask for 48 hours notice.

Lola's Cupcakes at Leesburg Farmer's Market

On the subject of Farmer's Markets - if you're in the Leesburg area, be sure to drop by the Leesburg Farmer's Market this Saturday to pick up a couple of the goodies from Lola Cookies & Treats!

Lola doesn't normally have her cupcakes at the Farmer's Market (summer heat and frosting usually are not a pleasant combination) but since it's not quite summer, they'll have their Coconut Cupcakes and Milk Chocolate Cupcakes - their two most popular cupcake flavors at the bakery.

Other treats they'll be bringing this weekend include their Strawberry Rhubarb Bars, a variety of Scone flavors: Cranberry Buttermilk, Blueberry, Cheddar Chive, and Date With Orange Zest, along with their most popular cookies and bars and two types of bread -- Almond Bread and their new Honey Wheat Bread with Cinnamon Swirl. MMMMmmm!!

The Leesburg Farmers Market takes place from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday in the parking lot at Virginia Village Shopping Center (which is at King Street and Catoctin Circle). Go early for the best selection!

Lavender Moon Cupcakery Meetup

If you’re looking for something to do this Sunday, head on over to Reston for the DC/Metro Cupcake Group’s monthly cupcake meetup!

The group members have been dying to hit up Lavender Moon Cupcakery, so I thought we could make another outdoor meetup out of it! I’ve posted about LMC many times in the past, but for those of you a little less familiar, Lavender Moon Cupcakery is located in Alexandria, Virginia, right in the heart of Old Town on S Royal Street. They made a name for themselves with exotic flavors like Passion Fruit Mousse Pistachio, Carrot Cashew & Cardoman, Peach Meringue Pie, and Pumpkin & Fennel, to name a few.

We will be taking our cupcakes and sitting in Founders Park overlooking the Potomac a few streets up from the Cupcakery. Founders Park is located on the water, between Queen and Oronoco Streets. If you go to Google Maps and type in “Founders Park, Alexandria, VA” it will show you exactly where it is.

We will be sitting somewhere on the side of Founders Park closest to Queen Street. I figure we’ll meet at 1pm at Lavender Moon, buy our cupcakes and walk over to Founders Park at 1:15. If you think you’re going to be later than 1:15, just grab your cupcakes and come meet us at Founders Park!

On another note – the DC/Metro Cupcake Group has migrated from Meetup.com to Facebook. Why you ask? Well, Meetup.com charges a $19 monthly fee to have a group, whereas Facebook is free. After shelling out $19 a month for the last year I decided to make the move! I know this is a pain for some and I do apologize for the inconvenience, but I hope you jump on over to Facebook and join us!

Hello Cupcake at Dupont Circle Farmer's Market

It’s Farmers Market Season again! Woohoo!

This Sunday, May 17th, drop by the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market and check out Hello Cupcake for the Freshfarm Markets Chef at the Market series! They will be there demonstrating the use of fresh, local, in-season ingredients to create complimentary treats for farmer’s market attendees!

The Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market runs from 9am to 1pm, so don’t go too crazy on Saturday night! It’s located In the 1500 block of 20th St., between Massachusetts Ave. and Q St., in the adjacent parking lot of PNC Bank. Click here for map. The nearest Metro stop is Dupont Circle on the Red Line.

If you’re a Farmer’s Market fiend like me, then you will appreciate this website. It’s a guide to all the Farmer’s Markets in the DC/Metro Area. You’re welcome!

Hello Cupcake Donates to Share Our Strength

Make sure you drop into Hello Cupcake this week. I’m a little late on getting this out, but from May 11th through May 16th, Hello Cupcake will give 100% of the proceeds from the sale of its “Original” flavor cupcakes to Share Our Strength to help end child hunger in America.

Original flavor cupcakes include Chocolate or Vanilla Cake Cupcakes with Chocolate or Vanilla Buttercream topped with colorful confetti sprinkles.

Best Buns At Tonight's National ZooFari!

Don’t miss ZooFari 2009, taking place tonight at the National Zoo from 6:30 to 10:30pm! Help celebrate elephantine appetites and the National Zoo’s commitment to Asian elephants. This enchanted evening will bring together an oasis of culinary delights, fabulous wine, live entertainment, a chance to meet celebrity chef Carla Hall and a spectacular auction.

Just a little background - ZooFari brings together 100 of the Washington, D.C., area's finest restaurants, and more than 20 vintners from around the world for an evening of gourmet foods, fine wines, fabulous entertainment, a great silent auction, and dancing under the stars. ZooFari began more than 20 years ago as a catered event drawing several hundred visitors, and has since become one of the premier events in Washington—hosting master chefs from 100 of the area's best restaurants and thousands of guests.

Best Buns is on the long list of fabulous bakeries and restaurants that will be serving up some fantastic food at the event. For the whole list, click here.

ZooFari tickets are no longer available online. You may purchase tickets at the Zoo's Visitor Center tonight at the event. FONZ Member Ticket prices are $125 each, and Nonmember prices are $175 each.

For more information on the wonderful cause, check out the event page by clicking here!

Cupcake Newcomer! Cupcakes Actually

A big welcome to the newest member of the metro area cupcake family – Cupcakes Actually in Fairfax, Virginia!

Cupcakes Actually counter, picture from CupcakesActually.com

To get the cupcake party started, Cupcakes Actually is having a block party this Saturday afternoon from 12:00 to 4:00pm. I haven’t heard anything about free cupcakes, but it should be a good time nonetheless!

The cute shop features fun flavors like Italian Stallion (Butter Cake with Cassata filling and Italian Buttercream), Mint Julip (Chocolate Cake with Mint Buttercream), Champagne Taste (Champagne Cake with pink Champagne Buttercream), and Caribbean Queen (Pina Colada Cake with Coconut Rum Frosting), to name a few! Take a look at pictures of them from CA's website below. You can take a look at all 19 flavors by checking out their menu. You won’t see it on there, but they have a weekly Gluten Free cupcake as well.

According to their website, most of CA’s cupcakes go for $3.05 with the exception of Cherries Jubilee ($3.50) and their signature dipped cupcakes: Dipped Chocolate, Dipped Caramel, and Dipped Peanut Butter, which are all $3.75.

So swing by Cupcakes Actually this Saturday and give them a try! They are located in Fairfax Corner at:

11944 Grand Commons AveFairfax, VA 22030
571.522.6315
Monday – Saturday, 10am – 9pm
Sunday, Noon – 6pm