June 22nd, 2009
I heard from my little sister that there was a new cupcake place where my parent’s live (yes, I have been infecting my family with my cupcake war). The employees here are super helpful with directions and flavor suggestions–maybe because the place is empty. It’s located in Historic Haymarket, whatever that is.

To speak honestly, I think this place has a bit of an identity crisis. It sells cupcakes, but you wouldn’t know that right off the bat from walking in. They cater cakes, teach etiquitte classes, and also sell items you’d find at a local Hallmark.

The items on their “Daily Menu” aren’t accurate, so don’t use that to order, lest you be required to re-arrange your order all over! Since I was wearing a DVAM shirt, the cashier suggested the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Champagne cupcake (because all ribbons are the same I guess). The cake was similar to angel food cake and actually tasted like it came from a box mix. There was too much icing–in fact, my sister had a dollop of it on her nose! I scraped the icing off, and it worked well to balance the dryness of the cake, but it was too sweet. I couldn’t taste any champagne.

The other flavors I got were Red Velvet, Snickerdoodle, and Strawberry Shortcake. The Strawberry Shortcake completely slips my memory other than the fact that it was interesting and nice–I liked that there wasn’t too much frosting. My mom also had the Strawberry Shortcake and she said it was excellent. It’s a slightly dense vanilla cake with a later of strawberry preserves on top and a ring of icing around it. The Snickerdoodle was a cinnamon cake that resembled a muffin or bread more than anything. Again, the icing was too sweet and I scraped it off. Red Velvet also tasted like it came from a box and shockingly, did not have a cream cheese frosting!

It’s a nice place for stay-at-home moms to visit, but it would work much better in one of the up and coming shopping centers in Gainesville, rather than off the beaten path. I’m glad there is a place like this in the area, but I like the Washington, D.C. establishments much much better.

I wanted this to be good. What else could you ask for? A Penn Quarter cupcakery that stays open to 11? I already kind of had a bad feeling about this place once I heard that the images they use on their site were actually stolen from someone’s blog that I follow. Inside, the decor looks modern and simplistic from afar, but up-close and in person, it just looks cheap. Especially the shared wall with Tangysweet — the wall doesn’t even go all the way up to the ceiling, though you have to exit Red Velvet and go next door to Tangysweet for seating.

I had the Big Kahuna cupcake. Smallest and most expensive cupcake I’ve ever had, and the worst! Well, I could finish the cupcake (unlike Couture), but it wasn’t good — I can make better and it wouldn’t be $3.25! The cashier said “they were trying to cash in on Obama” so they made it Hawaii – themed. Pineapple cupcake with no pineapples in it, or pineapple flavoring? Coconut frosting that just tasted like salt? I wiped off most of the frosting and as I ate the cupcake I would get one regular bite and then a salty pocket. Overcooked, dry, and yucky!

I wish this place would go out of business and get replaced by something else.
And I was so excited too… A cupcake place that wouldn’t require a metro transfer or long trek….

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March 30th, 2009
I went to the newly opened cupcakery in Fairfax Corner before they eve had their official opening. I was hoping that this cupcakery would be good because it’s in a location that I regularly visit. Unfortunately, the quality is less than that of other cupcakeries and they’re actually more expensive! Even though they are open relatively late for a bakery, by the time I get there, they’re always cleaned out and they have only a few cupcakes left.

The red velvet cupcake was fine. The frosting had specks of vanilla in it, but had a slight sour taste to the cream cheese. I did not care for the candy on top at all, it tasted exactly like chocolate melts that come out of bags at the grocery store. Also, I felt that they were copying Georgetown Cupcake’s red velvet, which has the same design, but smaller, fondant heart. I was surprised at how red the cake was.

The strawberry cupcake (Strawberry Fields–vanilla cake with strawberry  purée) was way too hard and dense–it had the taste of a stale muffin. Unlike normal cake, I had to exert some effort into getting the fork to go into it! That was a bad sign.  The icing was strawberry buttercream, which had a slightly grey-ish, off-putting color to it. It could have benefited from a few drops of coloring to make it more appetizing. It had a nice flavor though, and not too sweet.

The method for transporting individual cupcakes is flawed. I tried to bring home a mocha one and it was smeared all over the inside of the box.

The store only has one lone table, and it’s high and slightly awkward to sit at. The decor other  than that rings slightly of CakeLove with the mosaic-bottomed display case, though I did like the back-lit flourescent menu.

I’m not sure if I would ever go back here ever again, especially since some cupcakes are almost $4 each! I always want to pop my head in and look, but I’d much rather get a cookie or shake at Potbelly, Starbucks, or some other tried-and-true local stop.

March 21st, 2009
Seems that the cupcake craze has made its way to Charlottesville. This small bakery is located in the historic downtown district of Charlottesville, and I had to try it. It’s small and quaint, as most everything is in this brick-lined town. The cupcakes reflected the country like atmosphere by only ringing in at $2 each. There weren’t many flavors to choose from in terms of cupcakes, and I was torn between thinking these cupcakes were cute and pretty or whether they looked like someone in middle-school accidentally spilled their body glitter on them.

The store is small, but sparse–not homey. I liked the chalkboard on the wall, but it was in a location where customers would line up and lean against, so the menu would smear. The service here is possibly the worst that I’ve ever encountered at a cupcakery. I asked the person behind the counter which flavor she would recommend since I like exotic and bold flavors, and she recommended something that had very “subtle” flavors. Then I proceeded to say that I don’t like “subtle” flavors and like bold, exotic flavors, and since I don’t live around here, that I would like to make sure I get the best one possible. At this point, she snapped at me and said “Well, I can’t help you then!”, and shouted “Who’s *ready*?!” to the people behind me (which were with me). This totally ruined the experience for me and I went off with my bruised ego, dwelling how she had treated me all day.

The flavors I got were Chocolate with Raspberry Cream, Brown Sugar with crystallized amber, and Lemon cake with lemon frosting. Others got the “Snoball” cupcakes, which were chocolate cupcakes with coconut on top.

These cupcakes were edible, but the frosting was too sweet and the cake too dry. The frosting was so sweet, I could taste each grain of sugar in the frosting, as if it hadn’t even been blended well. Even if I lived in Charlottesville (still), I wouldn’t go back here. I would rather go for a crepe or brownie somewhere else.

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