Saturday, February 14, 2015
As I had gone on a quest to get in better shape the past year or so - 3 things happened: I lost weight, my cupcake nomming activities had dipped significantly and the cupcake industry went a bit South - we aren't in "Cupcake Oz" anymore, Toto! (The dog, not the 80's band)
For someone with such a major sweet tooth, this was hard and I can only think the downfall of some of the better DMV cupcake joints suffered in business due to my lack cupcake nomming. (I'm so sorrrrrrrrry!) One of fave old standbys, Frosting the Cupcakery, closed and a bunch of sub par looking cupcake joints tried to jump on the cupcake bandwagon in the already crowded the industry. Thankfully, Georgetown Cupcakes and Spinkles are still up and running. And Crumbs went bankrupt, closed and resurrected from the ashes again. So some cupcake harmony remains in this world.
My cupcake diet was re-ignited away from home (what happens in *insert city here * stays in *inserted city here*) when I went to visit my Gay Bacon Bud (GBB) Amanda in LA and I was able to go to Spinkles Ice Cream Beverly Hills shop and have a come to Baby Jebus moment. I strolled around posh Beverly Hills, where I walked past couture clothing boutiques, gluten free yuppie cafes, designer eyebrow waxing studios, and uber posh restaurants.
But I scurried past it all, I entered, studied the vast menu and decided to spew my order in in 6 simple words: Red Velvet Cupcake Ice Cream Sundae! Check it out: a regular Spinkles Red Velvet cupcake gets sliced in half and then you choose your ice cream du jour a la mode. Hm, a free boat ride for three! I'll take you, T-pain and the red velvet cupcake ice cream with my Red Velvet Ice cream sundae...sounds redundant? Well, duh. But I wanna roll O.G. cause I'm cool like that and red velvet like that. (A direct line from the Digable Planets song, me thinks?) So my O.G. self went red velvet old skool to sandwich in my red velvet cupcake cheeks around red velvet ice cream made of "sweet cream ice cream layered with bites of sprinklescupcake iconic red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting." What red velvet in red velvet? I think my brain will explode? Ermahgerd! It was a amazeballs. I even shared my sundae with my GBB.
I wanna pray for them to send over a Sprinkles ice cream store to DC. Paaaaaaaaareeeese, Spinkles lady Candace! I've been a fan since Day 1 in DC! I swear, you can check out my old post! But can you like make diet cupcakes and diet cupcake sundaes? Ok, love you, and thanks! Xoxo.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Well news has come fast that the fluffy and sprinkled filled world of cupcakes are in a tailspin. With the sudden closing of Crumbs Bakeshop and the downfall of one of my old local haunts, Frosting in Washington, DC - it seems that people are moving on or maybe just tired of cupcakes?
Seeing that my last serious post of cupcake-ness was in 2011, perhaps my sugar rush to my head had waned. Long gone is the excitement leading up to going into a cupcake shop and smelling the delicious scent of baked goodness and creamy frosting (or as my good friend and former cupcake reviewer Sean would say, "the smell of farts made the Pillsbury Dough Boy") and then smudging your face against the sneeze-guard glass wall admiring all the different concoctions and flavors of the day - all this while waiting in a long line about 20 people deep AND that was on a non-busy day/time!
Coincidentally, the closing of the Crumbs Bakeshop is the reason why I came back to my blog (aside from the sheer laziness, the loss of my nommer in crime at the workplace, the change in my fancy career, and the lack of cupcake nomming). And it was in much sad panda sadness that my last blog was about cupcakes from Crumbs, highlights which include dubbing the Cosmo cupcake "The tastiest cupcake, gay looking category." *tear*
Coincidentally, the closing of the Crumbs Bakeshop is the reason why I came back to my blog (aside from the sheer laziness, the loss of my nommer in crime at the workplace, the change in my fancy career, and the lack of cupcake nomming). And it was in much sad panda sadness that my last blog was about cupcakes from Crumbs, highlights which include dubbing the Cosmo cupcake "The tastiest cupcake, gay looking category." *tear*
For me, I think it was the flavors and my love of cake - but the cupcake market got saturated fast - unfortunately not of all them had delicious cupcakes (HEY, HAVE YOU READ ANY OF MY OLD POSTS?) and even places that weren't supposed to have cupcakes for sale were selling them. I mean I was at a place that sold pieces of soaps and lotions AND THEY were even selling cupcakes! It's sad to see all of these places go, but it is economics my friends - all about supply and demand. If you want you can add a couple of econ graphs here - that equilibrium point goes waaaaaay down and I'll stop there because I had to re-take econ a number of times - PRO TIP: this kids is where you should learn that attending class in college is a good idea in order to pass most of your courses!
So what is the next craze? It must be the macaron. It might have a bit more staying power (just a tad), cause those things are hard as shit to make yourself! What ever it is, I'm ready to om nom nom, that is in moderation of course - making good food choices here!
Until next time......I guess this is where I should introduce my new food of choice to review. You will find out when I tell you. (Secretly I have no idea what it will be!) Stay tuned!
NOTORIOUS P.I.G.
NOTORIOUS P.I.G.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Alrighty, and we're back to Crumbs! This return to Crumbs was after a debate at a party with a couple of friends which included my friend Davy that told me that my choice of lurving Georgetown Cupcake was whack and that Crumbs was better IHO.
In the past, my experience with Crumbs was pretty neutral but leaning towards the good rating, since to me personally - these cupcakes are bigger than the others and does not allow me to further "sample" other flavors in the same sitting....I know, I know. But as a person that is really interested in cupcakes and enjoys having the opps to try others, it is hard with this mammoth of a cupcake. And this takes a toll on my optimal freshness non-biased nommings!
Since Davy was in a super hurry and let the lady behind the counter choose, I ended up getting gifted the Cosmo Cupcake and some unknown choco, vanilla, caramel concoction that is not currently listed on their website. Buttscratchers.
So let's start with the Choco-vanilla-caramel cupcake. Pretty decent, although this cupcake is rather pedestrian as in I can totally make this with box mix (hmm...good idea there!) The cake was a marble choco-yellow cake, similar to one that you would find in sliced loaf form at Starbucks, the cake was topped with a Duncan Hines-esque rich choco frosting and topped with somethat that looked like a slice of a candy bar that had caramel in it. My brain is having a hard time to figure out which candy bar it really was! Overall as the elements together were really good, IMO I think it was just average since I feel like it is something that could be easily duped from my local grocery aisle and some Better Crocker mixing and baking. |
The other cupcake is a mos def different story. So the Cosmo is green and pink "FAHHHHHBEWLISSSS." Taking a cue from my fave show 30 Rock, Intern Kenneth's 'everyone is my best friend in the whole world' theory combined with categorization similar to award shows. I would like to officially dub, that this cupcake is "The tastiest cupcake, gay looking cupcake category." As the cupcake colors are what adds the excitement to this cupcake, my problem with it was whether I did or did not know that this is a "Cosmo" flavor - personally I wouldn't know what the heck it was supposed to be taste wise on a blind sitting. Although I hafta say that this is a pretty good cupcake as I did enjoy the cake texture and the frosting, the sanding sugar cupcake rim, and the surprise frosting squirt of whatever frosting in the middle of the cupcake.But as I research the real undertones of the cupcake - on the website the Cosmo is really vanilla cake tinted pink filled with strawberry buttercream frosting and topped with a lime cream cheese frosting edged in pink sugar. Okay so from what I can taste - vanilla cake tinted pink(check), pink sanding sugar(check), but that is it. For all I knew that the strawberry buttercream and lime cream cheese frosting were just colored frostings, and I came away disappointed that it was not more Cosmo-y, as if I know what a Cosmo cupcake should taste like! Anyways, again a tasty cupcake- cake was a good texture and presentation was fun, but I would give a thumbs down on overall execution since this was not the flavor as presented. Don't get me wrong this won't deter me from returning, this will be my go to when I just want a good regular cupcake.
Anyways, thanks to Davy for his donation to my nomming philanthropy!!! I owe you some cupcakes the next time I see you yo! (Insert Cupcake Salute!)
The flavors offered were a bit limited but were plenty different than most. Aside from the regular choco and vanilla varieties, it seemed that Lavender Moon incorporated some different flavors that incorporated fruit. And thinking back most of the cupcakes that did have fruit were cream cheese based, which make me wonder if all of their frostings are cream cheese. (boring) Since we ate this last month and they don't have a website (WTH, I can't website stalk their flavors! How odd). I'm going to guess-remember what we had.
Deanna's clear choice was the Peanut Butter Choco - Choco cake, peanut butter cream cheese frosting and a magic shell like choco topping, as not a PB whore like Sean I was sorta out of my element. I ended up really liking it! (WHAAA?) The PB mixed with the cream cheese really kept the pb to the side, but gave it a tang that was complemented by the likes of the choco magic shell! It wasn't overly choco and PB, it was a good balance!
My clear choice after the presentation from the sales girl was the Blackberry Lemon - a lemon bottom with a blackberry cream cheese buttercream. I really enjoyed the natural blackberry taste in the frosting and the lemon cake wasn't dry or crumbly! Although, I remember thinking the blackberry frosting overtook the lemon cake. After ordering our two, we sorta though we needed to have a cupcake trifecta and also ordered a blood orange dreamsicle cupcake as our palette cleanser- which I can't remember if it had orange cake, but I do remember that the cream cheese frosting was hella awesome! =)
Overall, cupcakes were pretty tasty and if I am ever back in the area, I would go again and order more to take home! =) And obvi order my Red Velvet control, which I totally neglected!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Eager to get my hands on one, I found (like a couple months ago and since I have a lazy b.. b=blogger....WTH what were you thinking? I'm super behind) bacon cupcakes as the monthly special at Hello Cupcake in Dupont Circle. Seeing that I have had a pretty good track record of enjoying Hello Cupcake's Cupcake du jour, I jumped at the chance to try it. Was it as good as it sounded or looked on the Food Network? Let me do some 'splainin. (These are based in my handy dandy cupcake ratings diary..yes I have one! Don't you?)
First, Hello Cupcake's bacon cupcake was paired with maple and pecan, so formally it was a Maple Bacon Pecan cupcake and further described as "moist maple cake made with pure, real maple syrup topped with browned butter frosting, candied pecans and bacon."
Second, wording problemo: "moist" - my cake was not very moist as the description inferred, in fact my cupcake was a bit crusty the clown on the outside, which I think suited the cupcake better since you can pretend it was wafflely (that's totally a word...Imma going to try it on my next opp on Words with Friends...watch out for that Sean...WAFFLELY...right in the dangeah zonage) or even french toasty - something needed to be crispy in the cupcake...since the bacon was not crispy (refer my fif point below).
Turd, toppings problemo: "canded pecans and bacon". HEY! I thought this was the bacon show, not the pecan and bacon show! While I do enjoy my candied pecans, the mixture sorta felt like filler.
Fourth, missing in action problemo: while I think maple syrup pairs well with bacon and the brown butter frosting was quite tasty, I feel like the bb frosting should have been choco. I mean choco bacon is yerms!
Fif, type of bacon problemo: The texture was really odd, and not yo momma's breakfast bacon (or shall I say my dad since my mom would never fry us up some bacon...EVAR) It was neither hearty or crunchy, it was just loose and stringy and had a weird bacon dust and film on it. I want to say that the bacon used was one from a jar...you know like the ones that you could buy on the salad aisle. And no not uber red Bacos, but like the more "natty" bacon in a jar. EEP! I get it, bacon is a pain in the culo to fry up and crumble in the ktichen, BUT if you are gonna do a bacon cupcake justice you have to fry some oinky for reals!
Overall a bit of disappointment. I'm super bummed. But the light at the end of the tunnel was that I can now say, I Kissed Bacon Cupcake and I didn't like it.
Monday, August 22, 2011
So yes, I have been slacking on my cupcake reviews and yes, my blog is super behind. And this particular one post is REALLY behind!!! So to make like I'm not behind, please ignore the posting date (doo-dee-doo). So in this review I am now om nom nomming another famous cupcakery has come to DC! And what is often quoted as the "first" cupcake shop on infamous Cupcake Wars show I have to obviously pay homage to the grand puba of cupcaking, Sprinkles Cupcakes! (*bows and screams I'm NOT worthy! I'm NOT worthy*)
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| Sprinkles-mobile! YEAH! |
So after hearing that Sprinkles Cupcakes was opening up shop on the other end of Georgetown from GTC, I was excited to try Sprinkles without have to move coasts. (I have no budgeted for airfare for this blog yet) So in my usual fashion, I basically stalked the crap out of the opening of Sprinkles on their facebook page and signed up to attend the opening "sneak peek" of the DC store. So on a chilly day in February, my guests and I attended the opening, the line was short but still overlapping on the sidewalk to the dismay of the neighbors, but we all were able to go go inside in an orderly fashion since we were the Sprinkles DC cupcake chosen ones (nah nanny nah nah!)
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| He looks ready to take my cupcake order!!! |
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| Asian bowl haircut frosted cupcakes |
Another characteristics of Sprinkles is that the frosting has sharp edges of frosting. It sorta has the same esthetic where my brother's hair was cut from under a bowl on top of his head - you know the nice Asian kid bowl haircut. Aside from that I want to say that Sprinkles is big on cake with their more sugary frosting-nage than the other places IMHO since most seem to lean towards using more whipped and fluffy cream cheesey frostings. Kudos to Sprinkles!
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| Behind the sneezeguard and droolguard |
After ordering, we turned around to see why this lady was talking in a really high pitched voice and noiced that she was gushing over the owner Candace Nelson, which I know from watching Cupcake Wars religiously. She greeted us and was super nice (insert gratuitous picture here...Deanna took it for me and I guess this would be my cue to ask her for the picture). But then again if you made millions of dollars on cupcakes I would be super happy too!!! So as this was a sneak peek opening, Sprinkles limited us to two cupcakes - bummer! But they were free! And after studying my list I ended up getting my control usual - Red Velvet and my palette cleanser - Lemon. And as Deanna was my guest we made sure to be able to share the love and she ended up getting Peanut Butter Chip and Cinnamon Sugar! Overall, a very traditional selection of flavors, but still very exciting! =)
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| Menu with their Teethbreaking fondant Flavor Legend |
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| Sticker on the side - rockin' like a rad "side-pony" |
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| Insert Gratuitous Food Styling Photo Here |
So time for some cupcake nomming! Of course everyone's favorite part.....I hope...well obviously AT LEAST my fave part!
Upon inspection of the cupcakes I think your first instinct is to pick up the fondant flavor indicator disc and eat that...word of advice friends...DON'T DO IT! If you are confident in the strength or your teeth, have dentures and use polygrip every night, or have a dentist on call - you have my permission to TRY it. As pretty as the decorations are on these cupcakes, it is dry fondant which seems to be just for looks. It doesn't taste like anything and you could risk your molar or k-9, so eat at your own risk (insert I'm not responsible for your broken tooth sublanguage here).
Overall, upon opening our cupcakes we were pretty stoked! And upon cutting them to split them up, the cake seems pretty dense and soft without too many spongy holes inside (spongey holes are only appropriate with SpongeBob thank you very much! Overall, the cake held up to the slicing, but it was a bit top heavy by the frosting as they just tumbled to their respective sides of the napkin just like when Tony and Angela split the room in half in Who's the Boss - did you feel the sexual tension during that epi too?
Anyways, the red velvet was a bit different than what I am used to, the red velvet was more of a chocolatey red velvet...still good, but I think I miss getting in that bright red in, the cream cheese frosting was pretty good too, but more stiff than what I was anticipating. I would probably say the same about the lemon (fragrant lemon cupcake with lemon-vanilla frosting flecked with zest) and the peanut butter chip (as well. The fun touch to the peanut butter chip (chocolate chip-studded peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter frosting) was the choco chips that was in the cake and I really appreciate the extra touch more punch more choco into my palette!
What I think was the best of our quad sampler was the Cinnamon Sugar Cupcake (lightly spiced buttermilk cupcake dusted with cinnamon sugar). I guess you could say it was a churro cupcake. Basically the cake part was the simple and right texture as the exterior could be considered a bit touch crispy, but it is complemented by just a dusting of cinnamon and sugar. Could it be? I actually like a cupcake that doesn't have frosting? UNPOSSIBLE - the Great Ralphie Wiggum would scream. But yes, it is so.
Anyways off to the good stuff the ratings....
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| All done and I have all my teeth since I didn't eat the fondant deco |
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The Seangie (MINUS/SANS the Sean) Om Nom Nom Rating Chronicles (one a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the nommy-est!)
RED VELVET: southern style light chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting
TADA Factor: 2.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.0
Frosting: 3.0
Cake: 3.0
NOTES: I think since I'm used to eating red velvets that have more of a whipped consistency frostings, I think the whipped cream cheesey frosting seem to add a complementary textural element to the cupcakes. With the frosting feeling more crystalized and the redness more subdued I was not as enthused. Still a pretty solid cupcake.
LEMON: fragrant lemon cupcake with lemon-vanilla frosting flecked with zest
LEMON: fragrant lemon cupcake with lemon-vanilla frosting flecked with zest
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.0
Frosting: 3.75
Cake: 3.5
NOTES: The designated palette cleanser cupcake was surprisingly refreshing. I think the added zest in the frosting adds a great punch and was super stoked that it actually tasted like lemon as advertised.
PEANUT BUTTER CHIP: chocolate chip-studded peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter frosting
TADA Factor: 3.0
Flavah Flav Creativity: 2.0
Frosting: 3.0
Cake: 3.75
NOTES: Awesome cake! I'm a sucker for any choco chipped cake! And since there was no Sean to judge I think the score is much lower than it prob would have been. Oh well!
CINNAMON SUGAR: lightly spiced buttermilk cupcake dusted with cinnamon sugar AKA CHURRO CUPCAKE!
TADA Factor: 3.5
Flavah Flav Creativity: 3.5
Frosting: N/A no frosting? Whaaaaaaaa?
Cake: 4.25
NOTES: Surprisingly amazeballs! Texture and taste = nommy!
OVERALL, a good experience with Sprinkles. I think I can go here often, but since the locay is not convenient I'm afraid Sprinkles will be a go to in Georgetown if I am walking distance to it!
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AND NOW FOR A PHOTO MONTAGE OF DEANNA AND I WITH SPRINKLE CUPAKES as OMG ROGER RABBIT EYES! (Okay I know lame, only two pics, but still a montage bitches!)
AND NOW FOR A PHOTO MONTAGE OF DEANNA AND I WITH SPRINKLE CUPAKES as OMG ROGER RABBIT EYES! (Okay I know lame, only two pics, but still a montage bitches!)
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| Deanna has a lazy eye! |
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| Photo of me by Deanna in her cool iPhone App that keeps crashing my iPhone |
Sunday, March 6, 2011
For the record, I have no idea who or what is a Lilly Magilly. First it sounds like a cartoon or book character, but I'm just guessing it is a name that has meaning and then it was punctuated with a catchy last name to sound cute. Upon doing any research, I cannot find any information on the name, but I just I'll just have to not wonder and move on to eating some cupcakes!
Aside from the really girly interior and their very fun pink, black and white theme inside it is quite the cheery place to be. My traveling cupcake companion, Deanna and I decided to partake in sharing two cupcakes AND THEN complimenting them with some awesome Shirley Temples! Super fun! =) We decided on a Snickerdoodle (the one with the Hershey Kiss on top pictured above) and the Strawberry (the cupcake with the Strawberry on top pictured below...and DUH). Overall, they were both pretty tasty. The flavors that they offer are quite ordinary, but they were executed well. The cake was very fluffy and moist and the frosting was just a touch sweet for my palette, but I think what just made me happy was the fact that we both got to sip on Shirley Temples as we ate....it's just hard not to be happy when you are sipping on a Shirley Temple!!! Overall the, Om Nom Nom ratings chronicle would put Lilly Magilly's at an overall ranking of 3.5 down the board for cake and frosting, a 2.5 for Flavah Flav Creativity, but get a 4.0 on TADA Factor based on letting me have a Shirley Temple with our cupcake nomming!
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