Internet stalking

I was internet stalking some pages on Facebook that deal with cupcakes. (more like research of destinations!) When I cam upon a lady who makes a living out of what I have been doing. She's the cake-spy! She does own a bakery but travels far and wide to taste these cupcakes and people actually send her cupcakes to taste. What??!?!?! I'm not looking to make a living out of it but how much fun would that be to have people want you to taste their product for review. I know I'm only a small fry right now but I came up with a few ideas for promotion and maybe I will be on track for the mail order treatment too! I first want to come up with a cute Icon that I can replicate. Then when I enjoy a cupcake place I would give them a "trophy" to bring them promotion and leave my blog card to get me traffic. Of all the places I have been I would only need 3 trophy's as of now because I have only really liked 3 places. Ideas? Maybe I'm too big of a dreamer like my parents say but you only live once- have some fun while you can right?

Keep Away!!!!!

As I eat cupcakes I learn more and more about my dislikes. I have always hated NUTS!! Keep them out or I will spit them out. My Nana tried to trick me and well they ended up coming up! Cream cheese frosting! I try not to discriminate when I see a cupcake. If it looks good I will try it. But when I bite into it and get a string cream cheese taste gross! I have had a few that you can't tell are cream cheese and that is fine but I have yet to be able to enjoy a red velvet because of the icing! What do you dislike?

Cake love at the National Harbor

Today I used a new test group and brought home 3 cupcakes from  the national harbor. I picked out cherry blossom (were are famous for our cherry blossom trees here in DC), plain vanilla (my back up so if the others are gross I can at-least enjoy one!), and a hot tamale (not the pepper but the candy!). I chose 2 unbiased kids (ages 2 and 5 and very opinionated! That's whats best about tots- they tell it like it is!) I split the first cupcake in 3's so everyone could enjoy! Ben- the 5 year old quickly told me it was gross. The 2 year old ate his and the 5 year old. All he cared about was that it was cake and good. (Eli- how I love you bud!) I was confused by the taste. It had a soda-ish fizz taste. It was super sweet and not bad, but I won't get it again. Cupcake 2 was going to be the hot one but Ben freaked out when I told him what it was so we ate the vanilla. I split it into 2 (Eli was eating all of the cherry blossom "himself") Ben loved the vanilla- he's a very plain cupcake kind of guy. I respect that. He said it was his favorite. I personally have had better vanilla cupcakes. Eli quickly licked his fingers and wanted some of that too. I gave him my piece. I was curious about the hot cupcake and took a bit and save the rest for Ben's parents. It was not bad ( Matt and Dawn liked it too!) But a bit was all I needed. I was cupcaked out and just enjoyed the boys have their faces covered in cake. Cupcakes are $3.25 a pop and the place is small but cute. ( maybe 8 people can fit in there!) The staff was nice but overall I would say way over priced for the experience. The boys would have liked the cheap Safeway ones just as much!

Cupcake Pavillion take 2

So as I had said before I went to the cupcake pavilion and was very disappointed. Well they have opened a new shop in St. Charles Town center and since I was there I thought I would stop by and once again try to get a thin-mint cupcake. When I got there they have about 5 kinds of cupcakes and none of which were thin mint. The new staff was not that pleasant and I don't think I will be going to take trip 3! Feed back from anyone who has been there would be great!

Charles Street Bakery

Hello Guys! Sorry for the delay in blogs. I get so excited to tell you about the places I go and then forget to post. For whatever reason when I try to load pictures on here it shuts my internet down so for now I will just write the blog and add the picture later.

I was very excited to go to Charles Street Bakery because it was local and everyone said it was great. They have really hard hours (closing at 2pm) and parking is awful. I walk in super excited and there was only chocolate cupcakes. I was so upset but bought the last 2 because, I had my heart set on a cupcake. I ate/tasted the cupcake when I got home and sent one with my dad to work. Both of us were disappointed. It was dry and pretty much uneatable. I trashed it! The icing wasn't much better. I was so upset that I had got my hopes and hd such an awful cupcake. I do believe in second chances and maybe I will be bold enough to try again another day!

LACKING

Hello my cupcakes! I have been lacking in posting but not in taste testing. Oh, how I put the updates on my list of things to do but don't get around to it. I will be trying to update this weekend! xoxoxo

Getting a rep!

Hey~ I have had a whole week without cupcakes and man do I miss them! I'm also getting a reputation as a "cupcake crazy!" I don't mind the name, I mean what could be worse than people sending you information on places that sell;l cupcakes, bringing you free cupcakes, and sending you information on events! If that bad I wonder what is good? Summer may be lacking in cupcake trips because funds will be limited (trying to save for the Disney trip!) but I wouldn't say there won't be any cupcake adventures! I have acquired many new fun recipes and may have to try them out. ( maybe sell them!) Who knows what the weeks ahead will hold, but feel free to send me cupcakes!!!

May your week be filled with cupcakes!

Cupcake truck!

Last night I was reading my food network magazine and fell in love with my future! Maybe one day!!!

Cupcake Adventure June 16

I just wanted to sum up the great adventure! First thank you Deb- it was a great trip!! Despite it being hot out and stormy we had a blast. We ate corn dogs in a very confused restaurant! (it was called thunder but was goth/country/ ? ) We got recommendations from locals on where to go and people actually told us to have fun on our cupcake adventure! Like I said before I was the crazy cupcake lady- dodging people to protect the goods! We defiantly got looks from people once they noticed we had all cupcake bags. I bet they were jealous! Here is the official ranking 1. Baked and wired 2. Georgetown cupcakes and last 3. Sprinkles! I advise doing a cupcake adventure yourself but limit your number of cupcakes. We had far to many to try!

First time cream cheese-er

I have never had cream cheese icing and never wanted to. But you have to be open minded when doing something like this. So, I never read which was cream cheese and which were not. Lets just say I HATE CREAM CHEESE ICING! Why would anyone want cheese on cake! This also comes from someone who does not like cheese cake either. I still don't understand it guess I'm just a butter cream girl!

Baked and Wired

A stumble upon on the net was well worth it! Our favorite of the day. The staff was great, it's tucked away on a side street, very little crowd, very quiet, extra large cupcakes, plus they have other yummies and a coffee shop inside with pet friendly treats! They charge $3.50 but it's worth it! I got a chi tea infused cupcake, a vanilla with vanilla icing, and a vanilla with a chocolate icing ( I thought it had chocolate cake too but nope!) The chi was heavenly and every taster loved it!!!!! I would love to eat it daily. Besides that the icing here was  the best of the bunch! I wish that it was next to my house. I have never seen such huge cupcakes. I highly recommend it and give Baked and wired 5 stars all around!
(ps I can't get the pictures to stay up right!)

Sprinkles

While hunting down Georgetown and looking for a place for lunch I nearly had a heart attack! SPRINKLES!!! RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES! It's the cupcake store that started the craze! OMG! We decided we would stop here on the way back. The creator of Sprinkles is on a show called Cupcake Wars on food network. Anyways I was disappointed. There was a very small variety, you had 2 tables to sit at, it was extremely small, but not busy. They did have bottled coke! (so cool!) and the cupcakes were very large. The staff was very friendly and were glad to help us find whatever we were looking for. I bought 6 cupcakes here 3 red velvet, a lemon, a chocolate, and a Washington Nationals vanilla. These cupcakes were $3.50 each. The only cupcake we liked was the lemon.  The taste testers only liked the cake though! I personally had never had a red velvet before (oh, forgot to mention- Georgetown cupcake was out of red velvet- they do have an hour turn around time which is good but we didn't have the time to wait, that is why I got 3 red velvet here to fill the orders!) I'm not a red velvet fan!  In the end no one liked Sprinkles that much. We won't be back! Sorry Sprinkles! 1 out of 5 for taste. 5 out of 5 for service. But TO EACH IS OWN! Look to shell out $21 a half dozen! You've been warned!

Georgetown Cupcakes!

I waited forever to go to Georgetown cupcakes! I LOVE the show on TLC and couldn't wait to go there. We lucked out and did not have to stand in line very long (which is expected when you visit the small shop) What I liked about the store was they had the largest variety that I have yet seen. The inside, when not super crowded, is nice. I love that you can look at the cupcakes being decorated through a see through wall. Granted I did not see the Stars of the show that day. But I did come out upset at the experience. First off I ordered 19 cupcakes (not all for me but people placed orders!) and was jipped 1. I did not notice this until I got home because they seal the boxes. I should have checked but we had some walking to do and the metro to ride so we didn't want to open the big pink boxes  and mess up the goods. ( I walked around like a crazy person! If anyone got to close I would say "watch it! have you never seen a crazy lady with a ton of cupcakes before!) The second thing that upset me was the fact that my breast cancer cupcakes was violated in front of me. I was watching the guys pluck a fondant flower off a cupcake and slap on a cancer symbol on. Did he wash his hands? I don't know! It kinda grossed me out to be honest. Now to the part you really care about. Cupcakes are $3.00 a piece ( the cheapest of the day!)/ $15 a half dozen, and $29 a dozen! Here were the favorites : Key-lime, orange blossom, pumpkin spice, and one of the cupcakes had a fudge icing to it (we decided it was the vanilla and chocolate with  the callebaut). The testers liked the cake frequently but not the icing. There was a lot of cream cheese icing but they were very Cheesy. Out of the 3 locations it ranked 2nd in our adventure. I would give it a 3 out of 5 on cake tasting. 3 out of 5 on customer service, and 2 out of 5 on icing! It's worth the trip and experience but maybe just once. It's hyped up a lot, due to the show, but I was kinda disappointed myself. Will I go back- well, I already have plans to go back at Christmas to try all the fun holiday flavors!

Yippeee!

I'm so excited that I am going to Georgetown cupcake tomorrow. I have been trying to go for like 2 years! Thanks you Debbie Heil for taking me. This may be one of the last reviews for a while since I will be on limited income this summer. But I guess I can bake at home and try recipes to share! I will blog tomorrow afternoon about my Trip and as always make sure you know if it's worth the trip! Might get to sneak in another cupcake trip this weekend to Charles st. bakery in LaPlata. I will be running out to get my grandfather eclairs for father's day and may make a trip to the bakery~ Yum! what a weekend!

Searching

I am always looking for cupcake places. I have a list just trying to get there. Know of some good places let me know~ Plus I still need help with my CATCHY cards!

Little business card

So I was thinking today while I lay in bed with a horrible migraine that maybe I should make little business cards that said something catchy like: "You've been caked" or " You've been Blogged" so people can know that they are being rated on my site and to get my site out there! Any ideas!!! I know you guys are creative!!

Destinations!

While my mother thinks I'm crazy researching "Cupcake bakeries" on google, I have found a bunch of local places to start at. Here is my list!

Washington, DC
Cake love (also at the national harbor!)
Hello Cupcake
Red velvet Cupcakery
Curbside bakery ( must have a cell phone with internet because you chase the cupcake van down! Good times!)
Sprinkles
Sticky Fingers

Maryland

Charm city cupcakes (Baltimore)
Nostalgia Cupcakes
Cupcake pavilion
Walls Bakery (though there were no cupcakes when I visited so I think the net lied!)

Message me if you have more locations!!

The Deal/ judging

So I did not fully explain myself in my first blog about the plan. I have 3 unofficial taste tester and me! (after all, I wanna play too!) The plan was to get one vanilla, one chocolate and one free choice cupcake to make it fair to the locations. The first adventure didn't get off to that start but I will give them a second chance! I am fair if anything! I will rate the customer service, taste, and wither its worth going back. After all gourmet cupcakes are expensive, so I hope to help you make the best decisions for you and help you save money.

I am looking for people who want to go with me to these places. You will be able to sample each cupcake and be a "judge for the day". Your input will help me decide what to write about that trip!

Cupcake Pavillion!

Today I adventured out to the Cupcake pavillion. It's located in waldorf, Maryland with a new store to open in the St. Charles shopping center. It has the unfortunate task of being my first victum!

Knowing that the shop opened at 11am, I planned my morning activities around this trip. On my way I got lost. This is partially because I'm bad with directions and the other part because it's tucked away. When I entered it was a cute little shop. I was welcomed by a small child not to bigger than the counter, but she was the cutest darn thing! I noticed that there were not many choices and was told they were just baking. This threw off my blog because the cupcakes I wanted were not available. I was not leaving empty handed so I purchased birthday cake, lemon, chocolate mudslide, and coconut. After paying $11 something for the four I left to take the cupcakes to my testers. My testers and I each sampled the cupcakes and were disappointed. They were EXTREMELY dry. They crumbled into hard messes. One even spit out the lemon. Many said the lemon tasted like soap. The favorite was mudslide 5/5 enjoyed this one. (but to be clear it was not a cupcake but a brownie cake!) 5/5 did not like the lemon. I was super sad that I missed the thin mint- it's what I really wanted. So here is the final word. Will I go back? when it moves to the mall, I will give it a second chance. Was I happy? considering what I paid no! I was really disappointed and threw most of them away. Customer service? It was wonderful. The people were great! I just wish the cupcakes were as great!

But try for your self!

http://www.cupcakepavilion.com/

(picture: top coconut, mudslide: bottom: birthday cake and lemon!)

And so it starts!

I started my love of cupcakes a loong time ago. Now I can make them myself. I love that they are ting canvases and you can create giant works of art or small ones. I came up with the idea to have a blog where I share recipes that are good and cupcake shops. I have acquired a league of taste testers and have found places to go. Feel free to suggest places and share comments. And so the journey begins!