The Newly Opened Alexandria Cupcake

Has anyone made their way over to the recently opened Alexandria Cupcake? They opened their doors January 2nd, so they've been in business a little over a month now!

Located at 1022 King Street, you can find Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Coconut, Strawberry, and Red Velvet each day. Their special flavors include PB&J, Rosewater, Carrot, Vegan Chocolate, Gluten-Free Chocolate, Raspberry Vanilla, Lemon, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Mint Chocolate. You should call ahead to see if they have your special flavor. They are still working on their website gallery, but they did have a few pictures up:

Check 'em out!

Lavender Moon Facebook Fan Page

I just found out today that while Lavender Moon Cupcakery still does not have a website, they do have a Facebook Fan Page! (I dont know if that link will work since I was logged in when I hyperlinked it, so if it doesn't just search "Lavender Moon Cupcakery" in your FB search). And it looks like they update it pretty frequently too. Last update was on December 5th during Alexandria’s Scottish Parade – they had Cranberry Chocolate, Chestnut Ganache, and Buttered Rum! You can always count on LMC to be carrying unique flavors.

Occasionally Cake Holiday Cupcakes!

Check out these adorable cupcakes being offered by Occasionally Cake this holiday season!

They've got a wide variety of holiay flavored cupcakes that can have some cute Christmas Decorations on top. Flavors include but are not limited to Candy Cane, Eggnogg, Perfectly Pumpkin, Cranberry Orange, Peppermint Patty and more!

And while you're there picking up your cupcakes, they have plenty of other festive treats - take a look at these sugar cookies and cakeballs!

Make sure you remember that Occasionally Cake will be closed for normal business from December 24th until January 5th 2010. They'll be doing custom cakes during that time, just not the normal cupcakes!

More Alexandria Cupcakes, Coming Soon!

I got an email earlier this week from Melissa B, telling me about a new cupcake place she spotted in Alexandria! It's not open yet, and actually all it says in the window is "Coming Soon Alexandria Cupcakes," but with all the cupcake fans in Alexandria it's exciting to know there will be a new place to try out!

Photo by MarieMcC

Melissa was walking west on the south side of King Street (west of N Washington St.), and spotted it in an old multi-story townhouse-like building. Do anyone of you Alexandria natives know anything about it? I tried doing some research myself and couldn't find anything!

The Bacon Cupcake Buzz

I have been waiting and waiting to see who would be the first to bake the Bacon Cupcake in our area - it's been at bakeries in NYC and Chicago for months now - and it looks like we have a winner! Buzz Bakery is whipping up...er, frying up...well, both...the savory treats at their Alexandria shop. Julia Beizer of the Washington Post recently went to have a taste herself, and here is what she had to say:

(This bacon cupcake photo by Zandy Mangold is NOT from Buzz Bakery and was NOT used in the Post Article; it's via NYC's Kumquat Bakery's Blog!)

"You Have to Try This Bacon Cupcakes at Buzz. Open a box of these Buzz Bakery treats and you're greeted with the overwhelming aroma of crispy-fried bacon. The experience is as discordant as it sounds -- until you try one.

The cupcakes themselves, as it turns out, are actually quite tasty. Peanut butter frosting flecked with itty bits of bacon tops a simple moist chocolate cake. It's a marriage of salty and sweet that had all four of our testers wishing only for more bacon in the icing. Seriously.

Buzz pastry chef Josh Short is the mad scientist behind the dessert, which is offered at the Alexandria bakery through at least the end of August. For him, the earthy flavors in the dark chocolate, peanut butter and applewood-smoked bacon tie the cupcake together. For us, the peanut butter played a crucial role, bridging the chasm between breakfast meat and chocolate cake. The cupcake is a food dare -- an I-bet-you-won't-eat-this challenge. If you're a bacon fan, you should."

The cupcakes are $2.75 each, and Buzz Bakery is located at 901 Slaters Lane in Alexandria, Virginia. So if you want to try one, you better hurry! Only 13 days left!!

Occasionally Cake Opens in Alexandria!

Occasionally Cake has had customers hooked on their cupcakes, cookies, and amazing cakes for quite some time now, but the moment they’ve all been waiting for is finally here! OC opened the doors to their bakery late last month and has been luring in customers with the sweet smell of their cupcakes ever since!

OC has cupcakes every day; usually 6 different flavors from a rotating menu of over 50 flavor combinations!

The shop’s Grand Opening will be held on September 9th – so stay tuned to their website that month to watch out for the many specials they will be having. Speaking of specials, OC will be introducing a Cupcake Happy Hour after their Grand Opening which will feature half price cupcakes from 3pm to 4pm on Tuesdays and Wednesday. In addition, they will also have cake truffles for sale every day starting in September.

Aside from their website, you can check out Occasionally Cake on Facebook! Become a fan of their page and check back each day to see which flavors they have.

Speaking of their flavors, I’ve been really excited to check out the shop since they opened last month, so this past weekend I headed down to Alexandria and picked up some cupcakes! I snagged 4 – Peanut Butter Cup, Raspberry Lemonade, Carrot Cake, and Neapolitan.

I dug into the Raspberry Lemonade first. The Lemon Cake had a very light flavor which paired really well with the sweet Raspberry Buttercream. Usually my teeth are very sensitive to sweet buttercream, but this didn’t hurt them one bit! I really liked this one.

Next up was the Peanut Butter Cup (one of my favorite flavors to get anywhere I go). I love how the Chocolate Cake was dipped in Chocolate Ganache, it gave the cupcake a little something extra. The chocolate flavor was right on point – not too rich, which is good when you have such a strong frosting like Peanut Butter atop the cupcake. The cake was light and moist and the frosting was just the right texture – not too thick, and it didn’t taste like someone just gobbed peanut butter on top (I have come across that before!) This one was definitely my favorite of the bunch.

Next I tried the Carrot Cake Cupcake. I think the cake had too much going on for my taste buds – lots of carrots, raisins, and coconut mixed in – and it doesn’t help that I’m not a big coconut fan in general. I am a really big fan of spices – nutmeg, cinnamon, etc., and I definitely could have used a little more of that!

The last flavor which I was really excited to try was the Neopolitan. OC does their Neapolitan different than how you normally see it (with the split cake). This cake was a light, sweet Vanilla Truffle Cake, dipped in Ganache (again, good touch!) and a strong (but in a good way) Strawberry Buttercream on top. This is definitely one I would have again.

One thing I didn’t get to try that I’ll have to in the future (as if I needed any more calories after consuming 4 cupcakes!) was their sugar cookies. I’m a sucker for a good frosted sugar cookie, and I hear OC’s are very good.

Occasionally Cake is located at 8859 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA. Their phone number is 703-780-CAKE (2253). Store hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM until 7 PM; they’re closed Sunday and Monday. Now go check them out!!

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

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!

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.

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!!

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!

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??

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.

New Lavender Moon Flavors

If you were in town this past weekend hopefully you got outside and took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather. I myself headed down to one of my favorite spots, Alexandria, to enjoy the day by the water. And what would a beautiful autumn day be without some tasty fall flavored cupcakes?!?

I walked over to Lavender Moon Cupcakery and picked up a few flavors I've yet to try. My selection included Devil's Food Peanut Butter, Caramel Apple, Smores, and Pumpkin & Fennel.

The Devils Food Peanut Butter tastes like a buckeye. It's a Chocolate cake with a strong peanut butter frosting, but with a mousse like consistency, covered in ganache. To be honest the only thing you can really taste here is the peanut butter with a hint of chocolate. If you love peanut butter you will definitely be a fan of this flavor.


Devil's Food Peanut Butter Cupcake

Switching it up to one of the fall flavors, Caramel Apple has chunks of real fresh apple mixed with cinnamon sugar. The frosting is very buttery and sugary topped off with a caramel drizzle, and the cake itself is very moist. This is the first apple flavor I've tried from anyone yet this fall and I would definitely have it again.

The Smores cupcake on the other hand is the only cupcake from Lavender Moon that I wouldn't bother with again. It didn't taste a thing like smores. There was an extremely thin hardly-there layer of graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the cupcake which you couldn't taste at all. The chocolate cake was rather sticky, and the whole thing was finished off with a toasted marshmallow frosting. It was like biting into a piece of plain chocolate cake, and I didn't like it.

Last but certainly not least, the Pumpkin & Fennel was my favorite. The light fennel flavor was a nice touch to a light pumpkin taste. The cake was just the right amount of moist, and the sweet cream cheese frosting was the perfect finishing touch.

While I was there, one flavor that caught my eye was the Roasted Fig and Blood Orange. Sounds pretty adventurous, huh? The thing I like about Lavender Moon is that you can always find new and creative flavors like this!

Mindful Eating Workshop: Cupcakes!

Want to learn how to have your cake and eat it, too? Then check out this cool workshop taking place next week in Alexandria: Mindful Eating Workshop: Cupcakes!

Join Wellness Counselor Jennifer Howe for a workshop on Mindful Eating – the art of savoring and truly appreciating your food. Jennifer teaches that learning to eat mindfully will avail you more self awareness, fewer binges, more joy and less stress. She will teach you how to get in touch with your intuition around food: recognizing your natural hunger and satiety cues; knowing what your cravings really mean; choosing foods that are both pleasing and nourishing; reclaiming a healthy relationship with all food, all the time. Doesn’t that sound liberating?

The cupcakes will be provided by Occasionally Cake. You may remember that I did a posting on them a couple weeks back, click here to check it out and to see some of their delectable creations. The workship will be held in Old Town Alexandria, 22314 on Monday, October 27 from 7pm – 8pm. There is a charge of $15 per person. Click here to sign up!

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.

Cupcake Wars - Week III

Are we really halfway through the Cupcake Wars already??? When I opened the Food & Dining section of the Washington Post this morning, I was super excited because this week Yonan and his team broke down two of my favorites, Georgetown's Baked & Wired and Alexandria's Lavender Moon.


Photograph by James M. Thresher for the Washington Post
Baked & Wired's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake

Baked & Wired is a favorite spot because of all the flavors I've tried, there were only two I didn't like (Red Velvet - just because it didn't taste like Red Velvet - and Vanilla, because it was dry). The rest of the flavors more than make up for these two, like Carrot Cake and Strawberry, which are good enough to make you seriously consider eating two in a row. Their cupcakes are rich and moist and their staff is cheerful and nice. This is where our DC/Metro Cupcake Group had our first meetup!

Lavender Moon is one of the newest cupcake spots to hit the DC cupcake scene; I just visited for the first time about two weekends ago. I thought the flavors were really original and tasty, especially the Peach Meringue Pie which I proceeded to take down like Kobayashi in a Hot Dog eating contest. Yonan and his team didn't agree with my take on Lavender Moon, giving it a lower score than Buzz Bakery! Take a look at what Yonan had to say on Lavender Moon:

"These were too much, and not in a good way: too much (messy) frosting, too much going on generally (the peach has a bottom crust, cake, filling and frosting) and too many off-putting flavors. The suntan lotion we thought of when tasting the coconut and the perfumed sachet brought to mind by the chocolate-lavender caused us to break our silence-during-tasting rule by gasping and groaning uncontrollably."


Photograph by James M. Thresher for the Washington Post
The "Suntan Lotion" cupcake from Lavender Moon

It's interesting they were overwhelmed by the lavender in the Chocolate Lavender flavor, because when I tried this flavor a couple weeks ago, I commented in my posting that I didn't even taste the lavender! Yonan and his team thought the Triple Callebaut Chocolate "with its soft cake and airy, whipped frosting" was the "Best of the Bunch." You can see a picture of it below. In the end, they gave Lavender Moon a lowly 5.3 out of 10. Last week Buzz Bakery landed a 5.8! I have been in total agreement with Yonan's and his teams reviews thus far, but I don't agree in the least that Buzz is better than Lavender Moon.


Photograph by James M. Thresher for the Washington Post
Lavender Moon's Triple Callebaut Chocolate

On a more positive note, Baked and Wired finally pleased the team, scoring a whopping 8.6 out of 10. This I agree with. Delighted with finally finding some cupcakes worth eating, Yonan exclaims "Hallelujah, these are cupcakes! We love the folded parchment liners, which make these easier to unwrap. And then we love what's inside: buttery, mostly moist cakes with good, simple flavors and a nice, thick layer of not-too-sweet, fresh-tasting frosting. The vanilla cakes tended to be a tad dry, perhaps from overbaking, but all in all, it was a selection we'd be happy to tuck into again."


Photograph by James M. Thresher for the Washington Post
Baked & Wired's Vanilla Cupcake, which looks good but tastes dry

So it seems Yonan and I are on the same page with B&W's Vanilla. I would like to put it out there that Vanilla is a very hard flavor to get right. As a matter of fact, I have yet to try a Vanilla cake in all of DC that is not thick and a tad on the dry side. Anyway, the favorite for Yonan's team was the "nearly perfect chocolate peanut butter, which one taster described as "Snickers as a cupcake -- and what's wrong with that?" You can see the Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake pictured at the top of this posting.

Here's a look at the Cupcake Wars results after 3 weeks of taste testing:

Baked & Wired - 8.6
Buzz – 5.5
Lavender Moon Cupcakery - 5.3
Pastries by Randolph – 3.5
Cakelove – 2.8
Sticky Fingers – 2.1

What are your thoughts on Yonan's reviews of B&W and Lavender Moon?

NEW Cupcakery! Chateau Gateau

Photo - Picasa Web Albums, Jeremy DC

Northern Virginians are really getting spoiled with all these new cupcake places popping up left and right!

Cupcake lovers can now add Chateau Gateau to their list of local cupcakeries. Beginning on October 4, Sarina Luangkhot - lifetime baker and cupcake lover - will be selling her tasty treats every Saturday morning at the Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market. The Farmers Market, located at 301 King Street in Old Town (the Market Square at Alexandria City Hall) is open from 5:30-10:30am.

The flavors available the weekend of 10/4 are:
Ya Mon - Coconut cake with double cream frosting and a dusting of coconut.
Pucker Up - Lemon curd cake with lemon zest frosting.
Peter Peter - Pumpkin chocolate chip cake with chocolate ganache.
What's Up Doc? - Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
PMS Rx - Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

The Farmer's Market prices for Chateau Gateau cupcakes are $2.00 each, or 6 for $10.00. Chateau Gateau also caters, so check their website for more pricing and details!

If you're in the area or looking for something to do on a Saturday morning, give Chateau Gateau a try and let us know what you think! I plan on dropping by myself, so I'll keep you posted too!