DC Metro Cupcake Group Meetup No. 6 - Red Velvet Cupcakery

Today was the DC Metro Cupcake Group's January Meetup. Everyone braved the cold and headed to the new Red Velvet Cupcakery in Penn Quarter, right by the Verizon Center. The Red Velvet Cupcakery is a cute little shop, with a big cupcake display and a small area for about 4 people to sit down.

Since there was about 20 of us, everyone grabbed their cupcakes and went next door to TangySweet - which is owned by Aaron Gordon, brother of Red Velvet Cupcakery owner Canada Gordon. TangySweet has plenty of space to sit down and encourages RVC go-ers to bring their cupcakes in. We got a chance to talk to Aaron, who manages both Red Velvet and TangySweet, who was really nice and fun to talk to! Aaron was sweet enough to give the group some free cupcakes fresh out of the oven - Vanilla, Peanut Butter, and Devil's Food. And when I say fresh out of the oven, I'm serious - they were still hot!

Since this is Red Velvet Cupcakery, let's first talk about the Red Velvet cupcake. Delicious! A lot of the group members tried this one, and everyone raved about not only the cake portion but the frosting. It was the perfect combition of sweet and cream cheese flavor; very light and fluffy. I would definitely recommend it.

My other favorite? The Vanilla! Finally, someone who does the Vanilla cupcake correctly! A lot of Vanilla cupcakes I've tried in this area are dry with a way too sweet buttercream that literally makes your teeth ache. Not this one. You can see the vanilla beans in the frosting, which is, like the cream cheese frosting, just the right amount of sweet but with a great vanilla flavor. The cake portion is moist, not at all heavy, and has more of the natural vanilla flavor. I loved this one too.

The other one I tried was the Peanut Butter Cup. There was a salted peanut atop a delicious mound of peanut butter frosting, above a warm chocolate cake. So good. Other flavors the group members tried and really enjoyed included Summertime (Lemon Cake w/ Coconut Frosting) , Key West (Key Lime Cake w/ White Chocolate Buttercream), and B-Day (Yellow Cake w/ Milk Chocolate Ganache).

In summary, if you haven't checked out Red Velvet Cupcakery already, get over there and get yourself a cupcake!

Art & Soul Baby Cakes

Have you heard of the relatively new Art & Soul restaurant that opened up shop this past September in DC? Apparently the much publicized new spot serves up “baby cakes” for dessert – how cute are they?

Photograph by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg

You may have heard of the owner – Art Smith – who was once Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef and was even rumored to be considered by fellow Chicagoan Obama to be taking over the head chef position at the White House. From what I understand, the chef that was there during the Bush Administration is there to stay, but pretty cool none-the-less!

Anywho, back to Art’s babycakes, Todd Klimen (writer for the Washingtonian) did a review of the restaurant and says of the desserts:

“Smith’s signature “baby cakes”—including coconut, lemon curd, and Lady Baltimore—hit the spot. Two bites at most, but they conjure an entire culture and tradition.”

Art and Soul
415 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-7777

Bakeshop DC to open in Clarendon

Justin's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes, from Bakeshop DC's site

Looks like Bakeshop DC, the online bakery who has been selling their cupcakes at Murky Coffee for quite some time, has finally found a storefront! Justin, owner of Bakeshop DC, just posted this week that he found the perfect spot in Clarendon and is set to open this spring. He plans to post some pictures soon, so I'll be sure to share!

A Red Velvet Cupcakery Review

Last posting on Red Velvet Cupcakery for the day, I promise! I’m just excited for our upcoming meetup! I took some parts of the ModernDomestic's (Jenna Huntsberger) review of her experience with Red Velvet Cupcakery and posted them below for you guys to see!:

Photo courtesy of the ModernDomestic

"I tried three cupcakes on my visit: the coffee-flavored Morning Call, the Red Velvet, and the Peanut Butter Cup. Each was $3.25/piece or $36 for a dozen.

The cupcakes were well made, with the exception of a small technical difficulty. All the cupcakes I sampled had a hard, slightly bitter, crust on their tops, as if they’d been left in the oven too long. But that problem is easily fixable, and may just have been opening day jitters.

Photo courtesy of the ModernDomestic

My favorite cupcake, by far, was the Peanut Butter Cup - a chocolate cake topped with a slightly salty, rich peanut butter frosting. The cake was tender and had a deep chocolate flavor, but the frosting really stole the show. It had a fluffy texture, with a rich salty-sweet peanut butter flavor. I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter together, and this cupcake was really to die for.

Photo courtesy of the ModernDomestic

The Red Velvet was also a strong contender - the cake was fluffy and tender, and had that deep red color of a proper red velvet cake. The cream cheese frosting was the right balance of tangy and sweet, with a smooth texture.

Photo courtesy of the ModernDomestic

The Morning Call, an espresso-chocolate cupcake with mocha buttercream, was my least favorite. I didn’t taste the espresso in the espresso-chocolate cake, although it had a rich chocolate flavor and tender crumb. The frosting tasted like a classic buttercream - it tasted strongly of butter, had an oily texture, and was overwhelmingly rich. To be fair, the mocha flavor was well balanced, and the richness and the texture are all things I’ve encountered in buttercreams before. But I’m not a huge fan of classic buttercreams, so my dislike of the Morning Call may be more a matter of personal taste than anything else.

Photo courtesy of the ModernDomestic

I was pretty happy with Red Velvet Cupcakery - just writing this makes me want to make a b-line for the store so I can get that Peanut Butter Cup cupcake again. But I also think that Red Velvet has some room to grow.

Red Velvet’s flavor combinations are classic, but seemed a little boring and expected - as though they took a gourmet dessert menu and adapted it for cupcakes. This isn’t a bad thing, but Red Velvet Cupcakery is competing with stores that are passionate about cupcakes, and which offer daily rotating menus in addition to seasonal offerings. Doing classic flavors well just isn’t enough to compete."

All around, great reviews so far for RVC! Have you meetup members have picked out which flavors you're going to chow down on?! I have!

More on Red Velvet Cupcakery

And here’s Red Velvet Cupcakery’s second mention of the week in the Washington Post Express. The great reviews continue!

Photo from Express Night Out Eating Around Article

The Velveteers

Canada Gordon has always had a crush on cupcakes, and Ceiba's original pastry chef, David Guas, shares a similar affinity for the dainty desserts. They've opened Red Velvet, a lovely little place to spend a date and grab a sugar high.

Try the Morning Call, a chocolate espresso cake with mocha butter cream. Devil's food-chocolate buttermilk cake with bittersweet chocolate ganache is sinfully satisfying; the Peanut Butter Cup, a chocolate chocolate-chip cake dolloped with salted peanut butter frosting is a textural marvel of sweet and salty. And the Southern Belle is the, well, belle of the ball: A red velvet cake with whipped cream cheese frosting; it's simple, elegant and too scrumptious for words.

Red Velvet Cupcakery 675 E St. NW; 202-347-7895.

Red Velvet Red Velvet Red Velvet!

Red Velvet Cupcakery is everywhere! The new cupcakery has had two mentions in the Washington Post Express this week - I’ve attached one below, and I’ll post the second one here in a minute.

Photo by Jonathan Ernst - Washington Post

DINE&DASH
The Trend Is Marching On: Red Velvet
SERIOUSLY, WHEN IS the cupcake trend going to end? Not that cupcakes are objectionable — how can anyone truly oppose tiny islands of delicious? — but there is a recession on, and those tiny islands often cost upwards of $3 each. And yet the cupcake juggernaut does not appear to be slowing, with last month's opening of Red Velvet, a new cupcake-only spot in Penn Quarter.

But don't hold your flagging enthusiasm for cupcakes against Red Velvet. The cake is moist, the frosting is intensely but not off-puttingly flavorful. Think vanilla cupcakes are boring? Try their vanilla bean cupcakes, whose frosting carries just a touch of bourbon. The red velvet flavor — avoiding the characteristically sanguine color in favor of a more appetizing burgundy — is light and tasty, with cream cheese frosting that won't leave you gasping for water, milk, anything to cut the sweetness.

Red Velvet's tiny counter top is only long enough for four or five people to gaze out on 7th St., but it's a lovely place to relax for a glass of milk — and yes, in an incredibly smart move, they do sell milk. Nothing else goes quite so well with cupcakes.

Even if the ubiquity of cupcakes irritates you, you won't be able to hold it against Red Velvet. The food is wonderful, the service is fast and chatty and if you're with a cupcake-hater you can send them to the adjacent TangySweet for their mid-day sugar fix.

Posted By Fiona Zublin at 12:00 AM on January 23, 2009

Although I’m not a fan of the cupcake hating (it’s times like these where people can truly appreciate the little things like a cupcake!), this is a pretty good review!

MallowDrama Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Don't be left out in the cold this Valentine's Day! Check out MallowDrama's special cupcake offerings, available February 8-15, to celebrate with your friends or loved ones.

MallowDrama has created four distinctive designs for Valentine’s Day, available in two delicious flavors: Red Velvet iced with Vanilla Buttercream; and Spicy Chocolate topped with Cinnamon Ganache.

Each collection includes 2 Red Velvet cupcakes and 2 Spicy Chocolate cupcakes and is available for $14. Order a dozen cupcakes for just $33! Vegan or gluten-free cupcakes (Spicy Chocolate only) are available for Valentine's Day by special order. Single cupcakes can be purchased for $3.50 each at Dinner Zen, February 12-14.

Small Talk

Each cupcake in the Small Talk collection is decorated with a conversation heart and made of fondant and hand-lettered by MallowDrama's chefs. They'll get the message with cupcakes that say: HI QT, UR SWEET, CALL ME, BE MINE.

I Love You More

Sentiments included in the I Love Your More collection include: MARRY ME, 4EVER YOURS, SAY YES, I DO.

Not at All in Love

Enjoy these with your friends - you can even share one with your ex if you'd like: I'M OVER U, UR 2 GOOD FOR HIM, U KNOW WHAT U DID, 2 HOT 2 HANDLE.

Sleep Tight

Each cupcake in this collection is topped with white chocolate lingerie that we have hand-piped and hand-painted. Colors and designs vary.