Random Letters to the Public

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!)

And now it is time for the invasion of non-DC cupcake stores!  Crumbs Bake Shop comes from New York City and decided to plop themselves in hungry cupcake luvin' DC  with two locations in DC (Union Station and 11th and F Street) and 1 in Arlington, VA (in Clarendon).  As I was in the area in Arlington hanging with friends we ended up in the Clarendon location during their first week of being open.  There was a long, long line inside - and it was good to see as it was probably taking business from the crappy other bakery that my friend Deanna and I went to previously that sucked big time (I mean when do we NOT finish cupcakes?  That means it was REALLY bad!
The cool thing about Crumbs that these are some massive cupcakes!  They have 4 different sizes, from mini, to your average size cupcakes, to one that is the size of your fist, and then a colossal size which pretty much doubles as a regular cake.  Most of the cupcakes in the case were about the size of a clenched fist and pretty filling.  You basically can't go too crazy here or else you will be stuck with a lot of cupcakes, but if you want try a little something of a lot of flavors you can also get a mini cupcake pack, pictured below.  I like this concept as they look cute, fancy, flavors I wanted to sample, and I got to try a little bit of everything!

All in all, I was able to take this to work and have some Seangie cupcake nomming time, but I must say it took awhile to tread through them, since it was overwhelming to eat them all in one or two sittings.  (I know WTF is wrong with us)

So how do they rate on the OM NOM NOM ratings scale you ask?  They are pretty up there, my two cupcakes I chose were the Cotton Candy and the Elvis.  The Cotton Candy cupcake was a standout in Crumbs' display case as I think every 4 year old girl wanted the big pink cupcake.  This is probably why Deanna and I both got the Cotton Candy cupcake!

It can be spotted in kid eye level in the case, as you can see in the picture to the left of this text.  How can you NOT miss it?  So anyways, the cotton candy cupcake was a vanilla cake with a sweet cream filling and then topped with a sugary pink frosting and had itty bitty cotton candy bits on the side.  This is where I think cotton candy manufacturers hit the jackpot...I mean what the heck do you do with cotton candy bits?  All in all, the cupcake was awesome!  The cake was moist, frosting wasn't too sweet as I feared and the cotton candy bit were nommy! Overall, a 4 rating down two of my nomming rating categories of cake, frosting, and a 4.5 rating down two of my nomming rating categories based on Flavah Flav Creativity and TADA factor....and it is all because of the itty bitty Cotton Candy bits!  Take note other cupcakeries!

Next up was my Elvis cupcake, banana cake, with cream filling, a white butter cream with a smudgy of peanut butter on top and then a peanut butter chip rim.  OMG!  It was AMAZEBALLS! Granted that this cupcake has been replicated often in cupcakeries around town, but none have executed as well as Crumbs!  The cake was super moist and tasty and it just had the right ratio of peanut butter and sweetness that is didn't overwhelm my palette.  Over all I would give it a 4.5 rating in the cake, frosting, and TADA Factor in the nom nom rating chronicles.  And as for Flavah Flav creativity I would have to give it a 3.5, cause you know.....this was Elvis' flavor combo!

Overall, I am pretty happy with Crumbs, all they have to do is open one closer to me....or maybe I should just move closer to one!  =)

Crumbs, I'll be seeing you and one of your Colossal Cupcakes around soon!!!!!!