ACKC VA Discontinues Couture Cupcakes

I found out via one of our blog readers that the ACKC in Alexandria no longer carrier Couture Cupcakes. When I called up ACKC to confirm this, the manager said that “people stopped buying them here, so we had to discontinue them." The DC store does still carry them.

Couture Cupcakes, by the way, has changed its name to The Blushing Bakeshop. Their website however, still uses the same internet address. Apparently the name was changed because Couture Cupcakes plans to offer a line of gifts and baking products.

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.

Couture Cupcake Locations

Couture Cupcakes, from the CC Gallery

As some of you cupcake lovers might know, Couture Cupcakes are now available at both ACKC locations - the one in Logan Circle, DC and the one in Alexandria, VA - but they're also now available at Cafe Tu-O-Tu in Georgetown! Cafe Tu-O-Tu is Mediterranean Cuisine with a Turkish twist. The Cafe serves breakfast specials, large lunch salads and panini style sandwiches, late evening snacks, and of course - Couture Cupcakes!

I gave them a ring to see what the deal is, and found out they have the cupcakes delivered every Tuesday and Thursday. The flavors change every week, so you can probably give them a call at 202.298.7777 to see what the flavors are that week.

Cafe Tu-O-Tu (named after DC's area code) is located at 2816 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007.

ACKC/Couture Cupcakes Tasting

Through one of my DC/Metro Cupcake Meetup members, Derek, I found out about a very fun and tasty event taking place at Artfully Chocolate/Kingsbury Confections (ACKC) Wednesday of next week. Artfully Chocolate and Kingsbury Confections were originally two seperate chocolatiers here in the DC/Metro area, but recently merged to create on local chocolate powerhouse. Here's what the email had to say -

"ACKC is teaming up with Couture Cupcakes, the premier cupcakerie in the Washington area, to offer a unique selection of the tasty gems at both our D.C. and Alexandria locations. We're going to premier these edible bits of heaven at a tasting at ACKC D.C. on Wednesday, September 17, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. There is no charge for the tasting, but please reply to this email (sales@thecocoagallery.com) with an RSVP if you plan to attend. (If you have already sent an RSVP, no need to do so again).

To make the evening completely complete, we'll be pairing the cupcakes with our newly accessorized Marilyn hot chocolate drink (along with other cocoa divas). Come sample more delish than a human can stand--almost."

If you remember back to my post from last month, I met up with Couture Cupcake owner Paola Domenge to taste some of her darling cupcakes. They were really good! I wasn't crazy about the frosting on a few of them, as she uses a very mild frosting and I like mine with a little more kick and sugar, like cream cheese or buttercream, but it's all a matter of taste. Overall, she has great cupcakes (the Pamela is heavenly)!

I started working on this post yesterday afternoon when I read about the event, but then in the Express this morning I saw an article on ACKC. Fiona Zublin, the same writer who did the "Cupcakes - Trendy but so Delicious" article which I blogged about a couple days ago, visited ACKC for one of their chocolate truffle making classes. In summary, she had a great time and says that "nothing is intimidating," and mentions the classes are even taught by Rob Kingsbury himself! So that's another thing for you to check out if you're interested in learning how to make truffles!


Picture from MB Palaver

ACKC's DC store is situated on 1529c 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. If you're free, you should definitely check this out. Gourmet chocolate and Couture Cupcakes? How could this be anything but delleicious!