Cupcake mania? I don't get it.
Aside from Ladurée in Paris which launched beautiful, crisp yet melting, highly-colored, scented macaroons as a patisserie to cross town for, the joy of indulging desire for a cake is to linger over a case full of éclairs, japonnaises, babas, fruit tartlettes, confections of chocolate, cream and custard, before pointing at the one gateau of the moment's desire.
A cupcake bakery offers - cupcakes. I don't get it. Okay, you can pick between flavors and toppings. But cupcake is cupcake. It's sponge + buttercream or creamcheese. How come there are more cupcake stores in town than patisseries? Why do we only want a bakery offering variations on a theme of one?
Besides, cupcakes are so last tea party. The next fad coming down the pike is the mini whoopie pie. You read it here first.
You could almost say the same for cakes. There's a limit to what you can have as your cake base. Whether it’s flavored with coconut, banana, carrot or strawberries, sponge is sponge - unless you’re going for the kind of cake that is more a dessert, mousse-like, almost flour free or risen with masses of egg whites. Where the new cakeshops differ in their offerings is in the skill of their decorating. You can buy cakes that look like handbags, shoes, pets, hats, buildings. Inside, though, it's hard to offer anything that amounts to more than a few different flavors in the same kind of crumb.
Still, I acknowledge that if there weren't a market out there for all these cakes and cupcakes, they wouldn't be found frosting the town. So if you're a cupcake fan - as opposed to a patisserie fanatic which is a whole other story, here's a round up of some the best makers, along with some of the new cake bakers around. Tell me if you know of others. (And if you want a fine French macaroon, head over to the Blue Duck Tavern on M and 23rd Sts NW for tea.)
Baked and Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St NW, 202 333 2500
Best Buns Bread Co, 4010 Campbelle Ave, Arlington, 703 578 1500
Bonafide Cupcakes, 202.642.CAKE to order
Cakelove, 1506 U St NW, 202 588 7100 and other locations
Couture Cupcakes, a delivery bakery, order at 301 926 7333 or couture-cupcakes.com
Cupcakes Actually, 11944 Grand Commons Ave, Fairfax, 571 522 6315
Delleicious Cupcakes, 19th St & N St NW, 240 620 3006
Georgetown Cupcakes, 3301 M St NW, 202 333 8448
Hello Cupcake, 1351 Connecticut Ave NW, 202 861 2253
Lavender Moon Cupcakery, 116 South Royal St, Alexandria, 703 683 0588
Nostalgia Cupcakes, 188 Main St, Annapolis, 410 280 0660, offers alcohol flavors
Red Velvet Cupcakery, 675 E St NW, 202 347 7895, and inside Tangy Sweet,
2029 P St NW
Something Sweet, 3708 Macomb St NW, 202 364 2525
Sticky Fingers Bakery, 1370 Park Rd NW, 202 299 9700 (vegan)
And look out for a Washington space coming for Sprinkles, the original cupcake bakery (no, it wasn't New York's Magnolia) from LA.
Relatively recent cake makers on the scene creating almost any shape you can imagine, are
Fancy Cakes by Leslie, 4939 Elm St, Bethesda, 301 652 9390
Fluffy Thoughts Cakes, 1320 Old Chain Bridge Rd, McLean,703 942 5538
Just Cakes, 4849 Rugby Ave, Bethesda, 301 718 5111
Mallow Drama, to order, 703 758 1474
If you want to bake your own, there are some great supply stores round town filled with edible colors, sugar flowers beads and sprinkles.
4 Comments
Mike Licht
NYC b
logger Jeremiah Moss blames the TV show "Sex and the City" for the fad. He says it killed a local landmark bakery before spreading.
See:
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-cupcake-crumbled.html
Mike Licht
NotionsCapital.com
Lisa McCormack
I've heard of a whoopie cushion, but what is a "whoopie pie"?
Julia
It's two mounds of sponge cake stuck together with a cream filling. They're believed to have been baked originally by Amish women for the men in the fields who, when they saw them in their lunch pails, cried "Whoopee!" Back then, though, they were called Hucklebucks.
Little Red
And those long lines outside Georgetown Cupcake! Really?
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