Random Letters to the Public

One weekend I did a impromptu cupcake tour over state lines in Virginia and had some major pleasant surprises and some major sad panda disappointments!  But that is expected in the cupcakery world, yes?  I sure think so.  Here are the Virignia Cupcaking Adventures of Deanna and Angie.  So is that Deangie?  Or Anganna?  You decide.

***First Stop ***   
SWEET BITES MOBILE CAFE

The Sweet Bites Truck = mobile cupcake nommy-ness

OMG!  As Samuel Jackson would scream "It's cupcakes on a truck!" (technically it is more than cupcakes but you know that is MY main focus)  To secure their foot in the latest food craze, mobile food truck-dom - Sweet Bites brings their heavenly treats to a street corner for you to come to.  So that is what my friend and I did, we went to an Arts & Crafts Fest and then saw it was a huge bonus with the announcement that the Sweet Bites truck was going to be there.  Let's just say we saw the big pink truck first and bought our cupcakes BEFORE going into the A&C Fest.  The lady in the truck was super friendly and we took about 5 minutes figuring out what we want from the dozen of yummy goodies and their 9 cupcake flavors to choose from.  We ended up settling for Red Velvet (natch, that is our control flavor) and Pina Colada.
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Sweet Bite's Red Velvet and Pina Colada

The Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles (on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the nommy-est!)
RED VELVET: Shame on you if you don't know what this is by now.
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 2.5
Cake: 3.5
NOTES: The frosting was really whipped and fluffy, something that you would not expect on you red velvet cupcake since we both were expecting a nice cream cheese punch.  The cake was super moist and tasty, but we have had better.  You know we compared it to Mecca, aka GTC.
PINA COLADA: Pineapple and coconut cake with Malibu rum cream cheese frosting
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.5
Frosting: 4.0
Cake: 4.5
Notes: AMAZEBALLS!  Now this is what I was looking for.  Team Deangie or Anganna were super psyched over this cupcake.  Not only did it deliver, it was good to see that someone was able to bake a fine cupcake with pineapple and coconut IN the cake rather than plopping it into their frosting.  We loved  this cupcake and was about to go buy another, but we were being good since we knew we were headed to more cupcake-ness in the next couple of hours.
OVERALL:  Color me impressed.  I would like to stalk this truck on a regular basis, I only wish it didn't stay downtown so much.  Show me and my friends some NW DC love please!  =)  Van Ness in particular!
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***Next Stop***
BAKE SHOP
This was our next stop, deeper into Arlington in Clarendon.  This nugget of a place I discovered when I was condo shopping, and this is the cupcakery across from the building I have been looking at.  Super excited and scared that there was a cupcakery across the street from the condo building, I didn't know what to think - excitement for cupcakes being so close?  or scared that I would probably hand over my home owners association fee on a monthly basis to a cupcake shop?  Ah, it is mos def like that time Jesse Spano took those caffiene pills, "I'm soooo excited, I'm soooo excited.....I'm...so...scared..."  Let's just say, after we went - I left really, really scared and then missed my performance as part of the Hot Sundaes singing group with Kelly and Lisa.  Buttscratchers!

A Sunny, Sunny Day for a Bake Shop adventure

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These Om Nom Nom Chronicles for the Bake Shop were pretty much the same for all three flavors we chose: Strawberry Shortcake, Toffee and Red Velvet.  Let's just say, my friend and I had one bite of each and decided to use our caloric intake at the chocolate shop next door.
TADA Factor: 2.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 2.5
Cake: 1.5
NOTES: How disappointing!  This is an all time low for cupcake rating in my Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles.  The cake crumbled all over our clothes right as we bit into the cupcakes or if we inhaled too hard it would go up your nose (you know that beignet demise.)  As we both hoped it was only the fate of the toffee cupcake that we sampled first (which I drooled over in the display) it was in fact the fate of all the cupcakes.  We did have hope for the frosting, but it didn't do anything for us. And in the end just a major disappointment for Deanna and I, good location - meh cupcakes.  We ended up just one biting each cupcake and throwing the rest away.  How sad, to waste cupcakes - that is mos def not a Deanna and Angie thing, but we had to - they sucked! So much for a cupcakery neighbor, but let's just say it would all go to the chocolate store next door!
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Cupcakes Actually Plate 'o Cupcakes

***Last Stop***
CUPCAKES ACTUALLY
Here is the far, far away.  Fairfax Corner.  Desperate to get the last cupcake fiasco behind us, it was time to find some more cupcakes and cross out fingers that they were nommy.  The advise of these cupcakes came from my friend Anna which she claimed were da bomb shiznit.  Alright, let's give it a whirl.  Let's just say, Cupcakes Actually did not disappoint and even on full tums-tums Deanna and I were able to make room and to scarf them down.  As we checked out the landscape of cupcakes Deanna and I settled on Simply Red (Red Velvet) and Cherries Jubilee.

Cupcake Actually Simply Red - NOMMY!

SIMPLY RED: luscious red velvet cake, iced with our signature cream cheese frosting.
TADA Factor: 3.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 4.0
Cake: 4.0
NOTES: Not your momma's Red Velvet cake!  It was so good to meet another red velvet cupcake with proper cream cheese frosting.  The frosting was still pretty whipped, but really smooth and tasted perfect with the nommy moist and properly color red velvet cake.  In addition, the cake had the touch of choco goodness that some of DMV cupcakeries have missed often.  Let's just say our eye widened at first bite of this cupcake. NOMMY! I also like to say that this cupcake is good contender in my world of red velvet cupcakes as it could be considered a close second to GTC's red velvet cupcake.  And best of all, the heart that adorn the top was chocolate!  No cheesey fondant or hard necco wafer candy and nice smooth piece of red choco!  Double rainbows!

JUBILEE in my mouth! (that's what SHE said!)

CHERRIES JUBILEE: vanilla cupcake with chunks of cherries, topped with a dab of whipped buttercream.
TADA Factor: 3.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 4.0
Frosting: 3.5
Cake: 4.5
NOTES: Um. NOMMY!  Cake was AMAZEBALLS!  It was the perfect amount of tart cherries that were countered by the subtle lightly sweetened and fluffy buttercream.  This cupcake brought smiles to our faces and was the perfect finale to our Virginia Cupcake Tour.

Cupcakes Actually we'll be back!!!!

It's Georgetown Cupcake Time! (What? again?)  So okay, I make new excuses to head to Bethesda, but really needed to make a BIG excuse to head to GTC on a MONDAY.  Why?  Cos, it is the only day of the week that I haven't been to GTC and there were flavors that were BEGGING for me to eat and enjoy them.  I mean really?  It is truly those specific cupcake's honor to be rated in the Seangie Om Nom Nom Cupcake review! (Left to right in the picture, Cherry Cheesecake, Toffee, Ginger Peach, Cinnamon and Honey Banana) NOM!

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The Seangie Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles (on a grade from 1 to 5, with 5 being the nommyest!)

HONEY BANANA: Fresh banana cupcake topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting and a fondant frosting.
TADA Factor: 3.0
    Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.75
    Frosting: 4.0
    Cake: 4.25
    NOTES: OMG!  The cake was AMAZEBALLS!  We can taste the   banana and honey goodness in the small little package.  Me being the lover of the bready bases with fruits and veg this rang a nice 5 alarm nommyest on my tastebuds.  Sean had to admit this cupcake was damn good!

CHERRY CHEESECAKE: Fresh cherry and mascarpone cheesecake topped with vanilla icing and a fondant flower.
TADA Factor: 3.75
Flavah Flav Creativity: 4.25
Frosting: 4.75
Cake: 5
NOTES: OMG, OMG, OMG.  I think I screamed "fuck yeah!" midbite out loud after tasting this cupcake.  It was cheesecake at it's finest.  This is what all the little cheescakes dream about when they are in cheesecake school.  Screw being a cheesecake doctor or a cheesecake famous movie actor.  They want to be put in this GTC monthly flavor! The only neg was that it was a bit messy, but in the end it doesn't matter cause Team Seangie were liking our own fingers anyways.  I mean really.  I'm so sad that August is ending soon.  I will miss you Cherry Cheesecake Cupcake!  WANH!

CINNAMON: Cinnamon cupcake topped with a cinnamon buttercream and a fondant heart.
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 4.0
Cake: 4.5
NOTES: Cinnamon on cinnamon lurve.  The cake was amazing, it reminded me of a bundt cake with a cinnamon swirl through the cake. How creative and classic!  The buttercream topped off the cupcake VERY NICE! (Borat style! But not nekkid running around the conference room kind of VERY NICE!)




TOFFEE CRUNCH: Toffee cupcake with a toffee infused vanilla frosting topped with crushed Heath Bar.
TADA Factor: 3.25
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.5
Frosting: 4.5
Cake: 5.0
NOTES: It is toffee on toffee on toffee manage a trois.  UM AMAZEBALLS!  Do you see in my picture there are toffee bits in the cake?  Yeah that's right, baked in toffee bits!!!!  And then more toffee in the frosting and then MORE toffee bits?  Today was a good day.  We mos def felt that feeling.  LA'CHAIM! (Okay will be my ONLY Black Eye Peas music reference on here....EVER!)









GINGER PEACH: Classic madagascar bourbon vanilla cupcake baked with fresh peaches and topped with a ginger-infused vanilla frosting and a fondant flower.
TADA Factor: 3.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.75
Frosting: 4.0
Cake: 3.5
NOTES: Another month of August specialty, but did not live up as high to it's other month counterpart, Cherry Cheesecake.  I mean this sound good, but I really felt like I tasted peaches in the frosting.  I know confusing right?  I didn't taste peach in the cake and really didn't taste and ginger in the frosting.  A fail?  Not really.  I mean the cake was still decent and the frosting was really good!  Whatever it was supposed to be.....

AND ON TO THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER CUPCAKES!!!! CHARGE!!!!!!!!!!

 

BABA'S BABY: carrot bottom with vanilla cream cheese buttercream top.

CUPCAKE CONGA LINE!  HOLLA!

So after trying to contact my Groupon vendor Bonafide Cupcakes on multiple occasions for some cupcakes (if you cannot tell I lurves cupcakes), I have decided to wave my cupcake white flag and ask for a refund from Groupon. I purchased my Groupons (2 dozen) in April and was hoping to use it rather quickly or even now, but to no success. I have been calling Bonafide Cupcakes on their phone number for the past 2 weeks straight and nobody picks up the phone. WTF!

So awhile back in the end of May, Groupon sent me this:
"Thank you for purchasing the BonaFide Cupcakes Groupon! Due to the great response, BonaFide Cupcakes will be remodeling their kitchen between May 24th and June 7th to accommodate the large number of incoming orders and will not be able to take new orders during this time. They will be able to take orders again after this time up until the expiration of April 23, 2011."

It is now July and their website is non-existent. The home page just has a list of cupcake flavors, THAT APPARENTLY I CANNOT GET. And a phone number, THAT APPARENTLY I CANNOT GET A HOLD OF. It is probably up to tease the poor Grouponers on their dissatisfaction that there are no cupcakes! I must say their flavors look nommy, but how can I confirm their nomminess, IF THERE ARE NO CUPCAKES? How disappointing! =(

What finally made me decide to request a refund was after reading the Groupon discussion board about Bonafide Cupcakes. And I found out that not only after their "remodeling of their kitchen and their upgrade of their website" Bonafide Cupcakes have been MIA, not answering phones and/or missing deliveries that were confirmed. (HOW DID THOSE PEOPLE GET A HOLD OF ANYONE ANYWAYS?) I understand that the demand was quite overwhelming for the company, but they should of at least put a cap on how many Groupons to give out or figured out a sustainable distribution and/or order system PRIOR to their Groupon release! What happened to making business plans? I'm a fan of them, use them!

When the Groupon closed there were about 2800 Groupons purchased. But when I return to the Bonafide Cupcake Groupon site now, it states 2100. So hey, 700 of us were smart enough to ask for refunds - I think the 2100 so do the same.

NO CUPCAKES = CUPCAKE FAIL!

So another Groupon cupcake ad came into my inbox. And no, it was not a delivery cupcake place that fell off the face of the earth after the Groupon buying time was over. (I STILL HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO ORDER MY CUPCKAKES FROM BONAFIDE CUPCAKES, BTW!) I was hesitant at first to purchase this Groupon since I haven't been able to redeem my last one, but since it was close to work I decided to take a leap of faith on Frosting A Cupcakery (A Boutique Bakeshop & Coffeehouse) located in Chevy Chase, MD. So my first impressions, was frustrating - the first time I went to redeem my cupcakes I went on July 4th, where their website stated that their hours were from 10 AM - 6 PM. So I drive to the bakeshop desperate for some cupcake goodness to share with my friends on July 4th. I drive up. BAD NEWS, they were closed. CRAP! How depressing! My next visit was more successful (since I got freaking cupcakes!), but the whole parking situation was quite odd, I had to choose to either enter the open parking lot area behind the cupcakery or go into the depths of a parking garage, I took a dare and went to the open parking behind the building, thinking there would be some convenient trail for people to go through to get to the other side. No such luck! So I walked around the building and then some to get to the cupcake place on the corner. I'm okay with walking for my cupcakes, as I could very use the exercise and circulation in my legs, but it was a bit aggravating on a day that was humid and rainy (and umbrella-less). =(
I walk into Frosting and it was a really cute shop. Not in a cute, GTC or Herrow (it is really Hello, but I'm adding my Asian spin) Cupcake baby pink all over the place way, but it was more masculine with their modern brown, blue and cream decor. It was like a MR. GTC or a MR. Herrow Cupcake store. It felt like more like what my living room would look like. I guess they took their cues from a Starbucks and GTC together, pretty savvy! (Sorry no photos of the store! I left my iPhone and camera at work!)

So I grabbed my eight cupcakes and headed back. And made my long humid and drizzly walk to my car, splashing gravel-ly water that pooled into the ridges of my flip flops and made it an even more interesting stroll. As I weaved in the parking lot I was being stalked by multiple luxury cars. (What no valet?) I get back to work, and it is TIME FOR SOME CUPCAKE BIS-NASTY! Or shall I say, cupcake BIS-NOMMY?
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The Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles (on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest!) Ratings are averaged between Team Seangie and Stevie the Wonder Intern (Yes, Team Seangie has hired an intern to eat cupcakes with us...FYI, we will be taking intern applications for next summer starting in Feb 2011)
FLUFFER NUTTER: vanilla bottom filled with marshmallow with peanut butter buttercream and topped with a honey drizzle.
TADA Factor: 4.5
Flavh Flav Creativity: 5.0
Frosting: 5.0
Cake: 3.5
NOTE: This was the reason for me getting to the store on this day. UM. FLUFFER NUTTER? Nuff said! First observations, was the cake was more crumbly than other cupcakeries, the frosting was piled high on top of the cake (you practically have to unhinge your mouth to eat from top to bottom) and the cupcake were a bit more petite than other cupcakeries (but as they were priced at $2.75 I didn't feel robbed like other cupcakeries around town). Anywho, the frosting was AMAZEBALLS, and being the non PB slut of Team Seangie, I was really impressed! And most of all it TASTED LIKE NUTTER BUTTER!

JOE 'n DOUGH: coffee cake doughut bottom with mocha fudge buttercream top with a choco covered coffee bean
TADA Factor: 4.5
Creativity: 4.75
Frosting: 4.0
Cake:4.75
NOTES: Okay, this cupcake had me at doughnut-tyness goodness. The cake was the texture of a beignet but still was a touch cake like and had a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar on top. AND the buttercream was awesome! Even Sean, the non-Mocha buttercream slut enjoyed this combo! The thing that both of us commented on, was the fact that the buttercream at Frosting was amazing, light, not grainy, not too sweet and tasted like what it was advertised. Hey Frosting -color us impressed.

CREMA DI CIOCCOLATO: Gluten-free, flourless choco bottom with cream cheese and fudge top
TADA Factor: 4.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.75
Frosting: 3.25
Cake: 4.0
NOTES: Sean lurved this cupcake. Me, not so much. It was flourless, gluten free, and "moistfull." (I know this a not a real word, but it really should be nominated next for Webster's dictionary) I mean the only thing I am allergic to is penicillin, so why am I to suffer? But I'm happy people that are allergic to OG cupcake ingredients can have a cupcake. Kudos to frosting.

CAMPFIRE: graham cracker bottom with milk choco ganache & marshmallow top (pictured above on the front left)
TADA Factor: 4.0
Flavah Flav Creativity:4.75
Frosting: 3.25
Cake: 3.75
NOTES: This would of got a higher rating if this cupcake was put together better. The choco dallop needed to be bigger and the marshmallow could of used a touch of a little blow torch action. I must say that this single cupcake it is the most appealing looking cupcake we have ever set our eyes on, so I think we were a bit disappointed in the taste. More choco please!!!! And some toasty blow torch action please! Then talk to us again!

FRENCHIE:(or what I want to call FREEDOMIE-yeah I'm taking a page out of the freedom fries book)  french toast bottom - oops I mean freedom toast bottom with maple buttercream top
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 4.0
Frosting: 3.75
Cake: 4.25
NOTES: It's mapley, it's frenchie, AND IT SURE TASTES LIKE FREEDOM! YUM!

SKINNIMINT: choco bottom with peppermint vanilla buttercream top with choco sprinkles
TADA Factor: 4.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.5
Frosting: 4.0
Cake: 4.0
NOTES: PALETTE CLEANSER FTW! So my question is, why is this called skinnimint? I get the mint part, but where does the skinni come from? Do they make these cupcakes when they are nekkid? Or do we get skinni when we eat them? Well, by the looks of what we have eaten so far, I think we could use a couple more of these cupcakes then, you know...for palette cleansing. I would like to say, that unlike my past experience with Herrow Cupcake's mint concoction this SURPASSED them by a landslide. (Insert Seangie happy yummy om nom nommy noises here)

DADDY'S JOY: choco bottom with almond coconut buttercream top (average scores come from Stevie the Wonder intern and I, since Sean left me)
TADA Factor: 3.25
Creativity: 3.75
Frosting: 4.0
Cake: 3.5
NOTES: VERY interesting! It's like they married marzipan and a coconut macaroon together and then plopped it on top of a choco cupcake. I did really like their almond buttercream that is prevalent in their cupcake menu. So I am quite excited to try another cupcake with it! Not bad!

Overall, our impressions of Frosting a cupcakery were very positive. We enjoyed their creative flavors and their execution that some of the other cupcakeries cannot touch. I will mos def be back! Especially, since in my excitement of being in the presence of cupcakes I forgot to use the two Groupons that got me to the cupcakery! I think this ranks second highest on Sean's list of stoopid things that Angie did that benefits Sean. (first was when I melted a Coldstone Choco PB ice cream birthday cake for a co-worker in the trunk of my car in February thinking it would hold up, guess who ate it?) So Frosting, I'll see you soon - I still have 2 Groupons to burn!

So being the cupcake princess that I am, I wanted to see what were the potential new cupcakes that all the local cupcakeries had to offer. And I ran across this magical sounding flavor on HERROW Cupcake (it is really called Hello, but I'm adding my cute Asian spin on things) called DREAMSICLE. Um, HERROW! After my experience with Herrow Cupcake's flavor du jour, Margarita in the month of May, I think I almost peed myself dreaming of this cupcake touching my lips. OM NOM NOMMY. So as Sean and I studied the cupcake flavors on Herrow Cupcake's menu, and we decided that we needed to go on a Thursday, well, to go get the PB (you know to give Sean his daily PB fix) and banana concoction called the Velvet Elvis!
So on the hot, hot Thursday I ventured to Dupont Circle and grabbed some cupcakes for Team Seangie and even for Stevie the Wonder Intern (because I felt guilty for teasing him my GTC cupcakes from last week) and decided to have a mini cupcake party! Okay a really big cupcake party, cause I bought 8 cupcakes. And THAT'S A PARTEEEEE! (really I swear!)

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Team Seangie (with guest Stevie the Wonder Intern, but we let he only partake in 2 of the cupcake reviews - you know he had real work to do...you know like take pictures of us eating nommy cupcakes) Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles (on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest)



VELVET ELVIS: Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich - peanut butter and banana - IN A CUPCAKE! Moist fluffy banana cake made with real bananas, topped with Herrow Cupcake's sweet peanut butter frosting (that's the velvet part!)
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 4.25
Frosting: 4.25
Cake: 4.25
NOTES: This was surprisingly tasty to me. As the non-PB slut (you know who that is of Team Seangie) I did not think I was ready for the deliciousness. I think I'm now in love with cupcake bottoms that are more of the "bread" variety, as I have approved of GTC and Baked and Wired "bread" cupcake bottoms! OM NOM NOM. Note that Team Seangie agreed that out of the three Elvis' that are pictured with his cupcake above, this was mos def the old fat Elvis' cupcake. (one in the middle MAMA!)

DREAMSICLE: A cool, creamy summer treat. Orange cake, vanilla bean cream filling, and orange buttercream with a sprinkling of orange sugar. This is Herrow Cupcake's July flavah of the month!
TADA Factor: 4.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 5.0
Frosting: 4.5
Cake: 5.0
NOTES: This cupcake was an extra 50 cents! Well I'm not chitty-chitty-bang-bang (well give me some red wine and well talk again), but when I was informed there would be an extra cost for the Dreamsicle cupcake, I then inquired why it was 50 cents extra and the guy behind the counter just said that 'it was the special flavor and they cost 50 cents extra.' Well gee, that sounds like a stoopid answer. So hypothetically if you were a prostitute, could you be like the hand job with my left hand is 50 cent extra? And when clients asked why a hand job with your left hand was an extra 50 cents it would be..well, it is just the other hand and it cost 50 cents extra. See? Doesn't make sense. Maybe it would of been better if he just justified it with the Chewbacca defense. So like he should of said, "This cupcake cost extra, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!" Then I think the answer would of sufficed. DONE. ANYWHO, after splitting the cupcake in half, Sean and I figured that the extra 50 cents was most likely for the little squirt of vanila bean cream filling in the middle of the cake. Okay mystery solved, thanks pesky kids. On a side note, this cupcake was AMAZEBALLS and I think that Sean and I would be able to clear a full dozen of these, that is as long as we also had the Velvet Elvis as a palette cleanser! OM NOM NOMMY!


PRINCESS: Hello Cupcake's vanilla cake with fresh strawberry buttercream frosting and a sprinkling of pink sugar.
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flava Flav Creativity: 2
Frosting: 1.75
Cake: 3
NOTE: Frosting was way TOOOO SWEET! I think it rotted my fillings out of my teeth. I didn't finish it. Sean being the trooper that he is, ate his and then ate my leftovers. And then something punched him in the face, (no not my fist) he then found out it was too sweet to. And that is where we had to end the cupcaking for the day, the Princess cupcake max'ed out our palette and it time to pass out on the floor from the sugar rush. (Also that is Peekles the Penguin checking on the Princess cupcake before it caused me to convulse on the floor!)
These Cupcakes are Frosting Heavy!!!!!!!!!
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Part Deux-Deux (aka Day 2)

So after we recovered and let Superman guard the cupcakes, it was time for the last three cupcakes on our list. I must say after eating the strawberry frosting on the Princess cupcake last, I was scared and skeptical of all the rest of the cupcakes. I was bracing myself, but as I like to tell myself a girl must do it for science. =) Let the Om Nom Nomming (or the not so Om Nom Nomming) begin!

RASPBERRY BERET: Choco cake with a sweet little cap of raspberry buttercream frosting and choco sprinkles.
TADA Factor: 3.25
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.25
Frosting: 3.75
Cake: 3.25
NOTES: To our surprise, it was actually pretty decent. The raspberry frosting tasted like raspberry sherbet! YUM! But I must say that the frosting was a little grainy to be called buttercream IMO. Let's just say I thought it was a Prince song in my mouth...not that one about Purple Rain or Doves Cry. it was more of a 1999 jam. You know, it happened and I have already forgotten about it.

PEPPERMINT PENNY: Rich choco cake with peppermint buttercream and choco sprinkles. (aka known as a Seangie Palette cleanser)
TADA Factor: 2.75
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.0
Frosting: 2.0
Cake: 3.5
NOTES: OH DISAPPOINTMENT. PALETTE CLEANSER FAIL. You know when something has an after-taste? Well this had a before-taste! WTF! It was a bitter creme de menthe taste that ruined the cupcake. Sean thought it was a good idea in theory, but the execution was poor. But let's just say Sean liked it better than I did! BLEHHHHH!

COOKIES-n-CREAM: moist vanilla cake studded with chunks of choco cream cookies topped with a cookies n cream frosting and adorable mini cookie.
TADA Factor: 4.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.0
Frosting: 2.5
Cake: 4.25
NOTES: We were at first skeptical of this cupcake, but were pleasantly surprised. I must say that this cookies and cream cupcake tastes waaaaay better than GTC. The cake was awesome but the frosting could use a little less of Oreo stuff. More cookies, less stuff please!
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Life as a cupcake Om Nom Nommer

So after I went to Dim Sum, my friends and I went to the Red Velvet Cupcakery located downtown in Penn Quarter. This was my second visit to Red Velvet, but first to this specific location (the first was to their Dupont Circle locay.) So we wandered through the FTs (stands for f*&king tourists) covered street and found my cupcake mecca of FroYo and cupcakes. We entered and I discovered that this specific locay separated their FroYo and Cupcakery businesses unlike its Dupont Circle counterpart. When you first enter, all you see is the cupcakes behind a huge glass wall, and employees staring at you. No hello, nothing, they just stare at you and not even in a friendly way. They just stare. While we were checking out the flavors and examining the cupcakes, I want to say about 6 people walked IN and then OUT. I have no idea why. Could it be that they thought it was the famous Gtown cupcake place and realized it wasn't? Or was it the sign on the wall that said that each freaking cupcake was $3.25+ DC tax price tag? Or was it they were just stared at and not acknowledged? It was just odd, they would walk in and walk out as fast as they entered. I have no idea and do not blame them, in fact we probably should have before I spent $14.75 on 4 freaking cupcakes that were just okay. But then again, this is all for research. =D

So after mulling over the case of cupcakes, I sauntered over to the counter where the blank stare fell as I made my order and paid. All my friends and I got cupcakes and were all discussing the cost when we left the store. WTF did we just spend our money on? These better be good. By the time we got to the car to leave DC and go back to the suburbia of MD, I did a major boo-boo. I sat in the car and dropped my cupcakes. My initial reaction was to cry, but it was so hot, it was replaced by tears of sweat. Crap. Not only did I over pay for 4 freaking cupcakes, but they are all over the place, but still edible. (Your know some scraping here and there required and some reassembling of cupcakes.) My friends were nice and tried to convince me that things were going to be okay. But really, I just dropped my cupcakes! WANH!

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The Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles (on a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest)
NOTE: The following pictures of intact cupcakes are from the cupcake boxes of my 2 friends (WANH!)

KEY WEST: Key lime cake with a Swiss white choco butter cream and garnished with white choco shavings.
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 3.0
Cake: 3.0
NOTES: The frosting was really light and tasted more like" cool hwip" (pronounced ala Stewie Griffin) and I didn't taste much white choco. MEH.
CARROT CAKE: A spiced cake with shredded carrot and whole pecans topped with whipped cream cheese topping.
TADA Factor: 2.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 2.5
Cake: 3.5
NOTES: The spiced cake was decent, not as good as other cupcakeries, but I could live with eating a lot of these cupcakes - that is, until I went to another cupcake shop.

SUMMERTIME: Lemon cake with whipped cream cheese topping, smothered in coconut. (aka dubbed LeCoCo by my previous review with Sean)
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.5
Frosting: 3.0
Cake: 2.5
NOTES: MEH. A comment, the same freaking frosting. UH-GAIN. And when you think about it, the majority of the cupcakes I saw in the case was covered in this same frosting. How about some variety? Didn't score as well as it did in my last review, maybe Saturday is an off day for cupcakes. I have no idea what happened!

CAMPFIRE: Choco cake with graham cracker topping with a schmear of fudge underneath a whipped marshmallow topping that was torched for the marshmallowy torched taste.
TADA Factor: 3.5
Flavh Flav Creativity: 3.5
Frosting: 3.5
Cake: 3.0
NOTES: The frosting was great! It was airy like a marshmallow and then blow torched on top for added campy effect. Overall the fun part of dismantling it AFTER I dropped it on it's side. But it was a good solid effort.

Overall, not that great of a cupcake experience. Or maybe I should just stick to the Dupont Circle locay. Maybe it was an off day, but then again my cupcaking style rarely changes. Off to the next cupcakery! Hopefully, a much better one and cupcakes that don't scare people away...

CUPCAKE FAIL!