Great Harvest Cupcakes

A former co-worker who knew of my obsession would occassionally surprise me with cupcakes from Great Harvest Bread Company. Haven't ever been? Either had I. If you're from Upstate, think Montana Mills. Everyday Great Harvest offers a rotating menu of delicious, baked from scratch breads and other treats. September breads included Apple Scrapple, Cheddar Garlic, and Raspberry Brown Sugar, but my favorite is the Football Bread-- think bread calzone with cheese & pepperoni!!

Anyway, I remembered the cupcakes being quite the treat, so I thought it was time to try them again. The varieties are simple chocolate & vanilla cake and chocolate & vanilla frosting in your favorite combination. I picked the ones with the dinosaur sprinkles. :-)

• Size: Decent. They've gotten a little smaller since the last time I had their cupcakes (maybe due to the economy?), but they are still a good size
• Cost: $2.00 -- definitely a steal
• Cake: Very very moist, maybe too moist (hold the cupcake sideways and the frosting will slide off). It's more of a white cake than a true vanilla.
• Frosting: Also moist, but very buttery, thick & creamy.

Overall, they didn't quite live up to the hype I'd created in my mind from going without them for almost a year-- but they are better than most grocery store cupcakes. They are homemade, well-priced, and have dinosaur sprinkles. The cupcakes might not be as delicious as the breads the store is famous for, but they are still good.

Make a trip for the bread, grab a cupcake for later!

The sprinkles remind me of birthday's from my childhood when Mom would let me help decorate!

Great Harvest has 7 locations in the DC area-- the closest is in Alexandria where this cupcake came from. Each location is independently owned and has their own hours and menu schedule so be sure to call ahead. Cupcakes are always on the menu!

Cupcakes on the Hill

Despite the large number of cupcake shops in DC, there's no good source for cupcakes on Capitol Hill and the surrounding residential areas. This hasn't bothered me too much since I live in NW and there are plenty of great cupcake options around me. However, a recent article tipped me off that the Capitol cafeteria was starting to serve my favorite treats. So I asked a friend who is a Hill staffer to grab me a few for an upcoming dinner party.

• Size: The photo doesn't portray the massive size-- think softballs. After dinner, we could each only eat one half.
• Cost: At $1.75 a piece they are also the cheapest cupcake in the district (that I know of)-- quite the deal.
• Cake: Most & fluffy, but tasted like a box cake
• Frosting: Tasted homemade-- very smooth & creamy
  

These definitely aren't the best cupcakes I've had, or even in my Top 10-- but they are tasty enough (and big enough, and cheap enough) to be a great value. The strawberry on top was a great treat.

Disclaimer: These cupcakes came from the Rayburn Office Building Cafeteria (House of Representatives)-- open to the public. But after re-reading the article, there may more cupcakes on the Hill at a cafeteria in the actual Capitol building. From the article it sounds like you should be able to "build your own cupcake" with a variety of toppings. Don't worry-- I am on the case and will report back.

Thanks Nathan (and Kristen)-- they were a perfect end to dinner!

If you're ever in Nashville...

If you're ever in Nashville you have to try a cupcake from Gigi's.

I was strolling through the OpryMills outlet mall, searching for Nashville-themed gifts for a business dinner that evening when I stumbled upon this adorable kiosk. It's always a nice surprise when cupcakes simply appear and you're not even looking for them!

They have more than 40 flavors that rotate everyday (lots for your chocolate lovers). I was lucky enough to come on a Monday when they had wedding cake-- white cake, with vanilla buttercream frosting.

This cupcake was DELICIOUS! and would definitely make my Top 5 list (probably Top 2) if it were in DC. The cake was moist and dense enough to support the enormous amount of frosting on top. The buttercream frosting was creamy and was about the same height as the cake below it. Sure its too much frosting, even for this sugar-lover. But have no fear, just knock some off and you will have entered cupcake bliss.

Gigi's Cupcakes has 6 locations throughout Tennessee-- the webpage doesn't list their OpryMills mall location, but I know its there! Gigi's also has plans to expand to 5 additional locations (GA, TX, KY, TN)-- I'd love a DC location please!

NY Birthday Cupcakes

So this is a little late in posting, but I wanted to share with you my recent weekend at home which was cupcake-filled.

There's something about birthdays that just make you want to be at home. For me, that's Tully, NY (Syracuse-ish), aka CNY, Upstate NY, the 315, Finger Lakes region, etc. Every Labor Day weekend I go home for my true birthday celebration. When I arrived at home around 9:30 pm, my Mom had flowers, balloons, and of course cupcakes!

Every year for my birthday my mom makes me funfetti cake (my favorite box cake-mix from when I was a kid) with delicious homemade buttercream frosting. This year she found these adorable candle letters on toothpicks to spell out Happy Birthday. Super cute, cheap, and reusable if you don't light them. Thanks Mom!!

As another birthday treat, Ted's parents made me their delicious homemade vanilla cupcake recipe. They even topped them with fresh raspberries from their garden. Yummmmm!

Kathleen's Homemade Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 and 3/4 cups of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 2 and 1/2 teaspooons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/4 cups milk

Cream the butter add sugar gradually, creaming till light. Add eggs and vanilla and beat till fluffy. Sift dry ingredients together; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition. Beat 1 minute. Spoon in cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Quick & Delicious Buttercream Frosting

Both family recipes for buttecream frosting are very similar. Here is my favorite icing recipe:

• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoons milk (or whipping cream)

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl until creamy. Add more milk/sugar as needed to acheive the perfect consistency.

Gross NYS Fair Cupcake

Another birthday tradition is going to the NYS Fair when I am home for my birthday. The fair, known for its Gianelli Sausage, Dino BBQ, salt potatoes, fried dough, and delicious ice cream is not known for its cupcakes... But I looked and looked and thought I might never find one. And when I finally found one, I immediately wished I hadn't.

The cupcake from Patrician's Bakery looked promising and at $2.00 was a great price. However, one bite into this was enough for me to throw it in the trash. The cake tasted like stale angelfood cake, and the frosting had the taste and consistency of Cool-Whip. Oh well, no one is going to the NYS Fair for cupcakes anyway.

DC Cupcake Shops Open 2nd Locations

Despite a number of critics saying that the cupcake craze is on its way out, a number of local cupcake shops are doing well enough to expand their businesses. This means more cupcakes in more locations, which can only be a good (wonderful) thing!

Red Velvet (on my Top 5 list coming soon) recently opened a 2nd location in Dupont Circle. The original is located in Penn Quarter/Gallery Place about a block from the Verizon Center.

New Location:
Dupont Circle
2029 P Street NW
202-822-2066

Georgetown Cupcake is set to open its 2nd location in Bethesda Row. Their treats were recently rated the "best cupcake" by Washingtonian Magazine, and I'm excited this location will be super close my new office. An upcoming post will reveal why this shop is popular, but doesn't make my Top 5 list.

New Location:

Bethesda Row
4834 Bethesda Ave
Bethesda, MD 20814

Finally, rumor has it that Hello Cupcake (on my Top 5 list) is looking to expand in the Clarendon area... a quick call to the shop confirmed that the rumor is true, but its still in the early exploratory stages. I hope they do!!

Doesn't anyone want to open a shop in the Woodley Park/Cleveland Park area?? You'd have at least one very loyal customer. I'd be happy to open one myself, but just need an investor!

Flower Cupcake

Checkout the adorable cupcake floral arrangement that my boyfriend sent to work for my birthday!


These cute arrangements are available through 1-800-Flowers for about $25 and can be delivered worldwide. Guys: send this to your sweetie and her co-workers will be ooohing and ahhhing at her desk!

It's currently offered in white (perfect for this vanilla lover) and also in orange & green "Cupcake in Bloom." They come in the cutest little box!!

Even though it isn't edible, it smells really great!

Crazy DC Cupcake Crawl

Someone thinks they like cupcakes as much as I do... and while this is simply not the case, Julie H. from Yelp has created a neat DC Cupcake Crawl on Saturday, September 19th.

The crawl is an all-day event in which participants will aim to visit more than 15 area cupcake shops. The event starts at 9am at the Alexandra Farmers Market and ends with dinner at Two Amy's (across the street from Something Sweet which I reviewed yesterday) at 7:30pm. Stops along the way include:

• Buzz Bakery
• Lavender Moon
• Best Buns
• Georgetown Cupcake
• Baked & Wired (#1 cupcakes in DC IMHO)
• Furin's
• Red Velvet
• Hello Cupcake
• Larry's
• Sicky Fingers.... and many more

The event seems overwhelming even for a cupcake-obsessed girl like me, but I think its definitely worth checking out. And if you're not up for a full 10 hours of cupcake-eating, you can always join the group for a few stops along the way. I am not sure if I will be partaking (I've been to almost every shop on the list), but if I do, you can be sure I'll let you know about it! Detailed event information can be found on Yelp.

Full version of DC Cupcake Crawl Map

Something Sweet

After a tip from a local blogger, I was excited to try a new cupcake shop in town: Something Sweet. The bakery is located not too far from my new office at Wisconsin & Macomb St in Glover Park (or North Georgetown as the kids are calling it these days). The cute shop has been open for about a month now and while there's not a lot of seating is quite spacious. The large long glass display case showcases a variety of desserts (brownies, cookies, biscotti) but the main attraction are their cupcakes.

The selection on Tuesday included Classic Vanilla, Vanilla with Chocolate Frosting, Chocolate with Chocolate Frosting, Strawberry, Red Velvet, and Lemon. I can appreciate the simplcity of the cupcake selection-- fancy flavors are nice but I am always drawn back to the basics. Strawberry is rotating flavor so I decided to try that as well as a classic vanilla. Here's my take:

• Size: The cupcakes are a very good size (bigger than Gtown cupake-- think Hello Cupcake but less frosting height.
• Cost: A very reasonable $2.75
• Cake: Perfect-- not too moist, not too dry
• Frosting: Light & Airy-- creamy texture, I like my frosting a little sweeter, but this was still very tasty.
• Cake to Frosting Ratio: Excellent

Vanilla: My favorite of the two (surprise, surprise).

Strawberry: Cake was divine with real strawberry puree, frosting was strawberry buttercream and was good but not spectacular.

Overall: I think Something Sweet is a great addition to the DC cupcake market. While there may not be all the crazy flavors of say Georgetown Cupcake or Hello Cupcake, these unpretentious cupcakes are delicious and reasonably priced. They also come in super cute to-go containers!

It was a very nice treat on my 25th Birthday. Definitey worth checking out!

Something Sweet

3706 Macomb St NW

Washington, DC 20007

202-364-2525

http://www.somethingsweetdc.com/www

11:00am-10:30pm Tuesday-Friday
9:00am-10:30pm Saturdays

9:00am-10:00pm Sundays

Closed Mondays

Clearly I enjoyed it!

Why Katie-Kakes?

Because it's about time! If you're reading this, you probably already know about my cupcake obsession. After following a number cupcake blogs, participating in a cupcake meet-up group, and baking dozens of cupcakes for my co-workers I decided that I could provide a unique (and hopefully better) cupcake service in the blogosphere (no offense other bloggers).

This blog will have lots of cupcake reviews (primarily DC area), but will also include cupcake events, recipes, and other cupcake-relevant topics.

Some important things to know:

• I don't like chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, or lime
• Vanilla + Buttercream frosting is my staple
• I don't have a car (but I promise to sample as many non-metro accessible cupcakes as possible)
• I promise to update at least once a week (hopefully more)-- I hate when I go weeks without hearing from my favorite bloggers!

While vanilla + vanilla cupcakes will be the most highlighted variety, I have plenty of friends/family whom will try the other flavors for me.

Please email me/comment with any suggestions or cupcake news I might not know about. Oh and add me to your RSS feeds/Google Reader so that you don't have to check all the time to get the latest news.