Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Guest post: DC Cupcakes

Today's post is by the one and only fabulous Georgetown-loving Julie.  Thanks, Julie!  Enjoy!

I love Georgetown.  It’s a great place to walk around for the day, have a lovely lunch, and do a little shopping.  (If you ever want to buy me a present, look no further than here, especially if your name begins with a B, cough cough.)  But when I saw a commercial for TLC’s new show, DC Cupcakes, I knew that upon my next visit to Georgetown I (1) had to get a cupcake or several and (2) write a guest post for this blog.  And so I did.  Off to Georgetown for the day with my mom (aka this blog’s #1 groupie), with a plan to do a little shopping and a little cupcaking.

Like any good cupcakers, we looked at the menu the night before, and had settled on splitting the red velvet and the coconut cupcake.  From what we could tell, Georgetown Cupcake is known for their red velvet, complete with signature swirl frosting, and well, we love coconut.  So off we went to stand in line in 90 plus degree heat.  We were lucky – from the time we got in line to the time we got back to our car in the nearby garage, it was only 40 minutes, although we were willing to wait much longer.  I know what you’re thinking – for a cupcake?!  When the cameras aren’t even on?!  Is that really worth the hype?!

But believe me, it was worth it.  Of course, our plan to get only two cupcakes changed as soon as we got in the store.  The smell (oh my goodness the smell!!), which I think was more flour-based and my mom thought was more frosting-based, was enough to make my mom go, “So, we’re getting a half dozen, right?”  Add to the smell the fact that the cupcakes do not look as big as they do on TV.  (The camera adds 10 pounds, right?)  And so we sprung for a half dozen cupcakes.  Starting from the top left, going clockwise:  red velvet, coconut, key lime, vanilla birthday, chocolate birthday, and vanilla with chocolate.

We split the red velvet and the coconut when we got home.  As my mom noted, the red velvet was regal, but not as “taste-bud playful” as the coconut.  The coconut had actual coconut in the batter, and not just as part of the topping.  It.  Was.  Delicious.  But this is also in the opinion two women who looooooove coconut.  And the red velvet.  All I can say is holy cream cheese icing.  Overall, they were moist and delicious and the frosting wasn’t too sweet.

The key lime was similar to the coconut, i.e., there was key lime in the batter as well as the frosting.  Even if it was a lot of key lime, it was just the right amount of tart flavor, not overpowering at all.  I really liked the cake part of the vanilla birthday.  If you can imagine, it tasted how the store smelled.  That delicious cake batter smell that resonates when a cake is cooling, straight out of the oven.  I mean I don’t cook or bake or anything so my kitchen never smells this way, but I’ve been in Katy’s kitchen enough to know what freshly baked goods smell like.  My mom thought the frosting was a bit too sweet, but compared to some ultra-thick, sugary frostings that fill you up on their own, I thought it was just right.

We (graciously) allowed my dad to have the vanilla with chocolate and the chocolate birthday.  He was a big fan of the chocolate frosting on the vanilla with chocolate cupcake, but didn’t say much else about either, being the man of few words that he is.  While cleaning up the plates, my mom got a taste of a crumb of the chocolate birthday (Let $15 worth of cupcakes go to waste?  Ha!) and she was quite a fan.

Overall, our favorites were the coconut and key lime, which means we will be in line at Georgetown Cupcake every Thursday (when they’re on the menu) from now until forever.  Ok, maybe not, but it was certainly worth the hype.  TLC show or not, these were some mighty good cupcakes, and I’m glad we got the whole experience.  Right down to some girl cutting in line behind us because “she had to get back to work and needed cupcakes” and blah, blah, blah.  All I’m saying is, good thing she didn’t ask me.  I certainly wasn’t letting anyone get in the way of my cupcakery.

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Today is both National Banana Split Day and National S'mores Day!  Another fun fact -- the banana split originated in my hometown of Latrobe.

1 comment:

  1. Just to give you an idea of how small these cupcakes really are, most people would have to refrain from the one bite, two stuff method, i.e., take a bite, swallow and then stuff what's left in your mouth. However, the restraint required to take teeny tiny little bites enhances the experience.

    May I now brag about how proud I am of today's guest poster, fabulous manicure and all!!

    Love,
    Resident Blog Groupie

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