Baked and Wired

If you ever find yourself in Georgetown and see a pink bicycle on the street... halt, look up, and prepare yourself for utter deliciousness - you're at Baked and Wired:

This place is awesome.

My TP and I found ourselves in Georgetown one sunny Sunday evening and decided to try and satisfy our craving for bubble tea (or what TP affectionately calls "boba").

In our quest, however, we snagged a money (parking) spot that happened to be right next to the (in)famous Georgetown Cupcake location in D.C. TP asked me if I wanted to try it and I said "yes" - even though I only wanted to try it to hate it.

But then, we turned the corner and saw this:

There was no way that we were about to wait in a line that stretched nearly a city block for one measly little cuppy cake.

We continued our quest for bubble tea but on our way to this place called Snap, our eyes were diverted by this:

TP had the good sense to put our boba quest on hold and take a look inside this pink portal - and what treasures we did find.

The cupcakes at Baked and Wired are huge. Massive. Made for 2 - but can be eaten by 1, of course.

We got the Smurfette - a seasonal flavor: fresh blueberries based into vanilla cake with lemon buttercream frosting. (Sorry, I don't have a photo - I was completely lost in the amazing goodness of it all.)

TP also picked the nutella brownie and the apricot crunch bar with an oatmeal crust.

The Cake: pretty dense and full of flavor - the blueberries were whole and so fresh, the vanilla was warm, yet delicate
The Frosting: the buttercream itself was the perfect balance of air and substance, and the lemon was just tangy enough with it acidity to compliment its sweetness
Overall: A+

The Bar: the oatmeal crust was perfectly buttery, but mostly made up of oats (probably steel cut), it was a fairly thin layer on the bottom, and filled with what was undeniably Bonne Maman apricot preserves (aka. the best), with another helping of an oatmeal crumble on top, this was one of the best fruit bars I've ever tasted
Overall: A+

The Brownie: you could barely taste any Nutella in the brownie and it was frosted with chocolate (which you may or may not prefer), the size and density of the brownie itself was good and there weren't too many nuts in it, but in the end it was just a brownie
Overall: B-

Even the "wired" (coffee) part of the store was good eats - excuse me, drinks.

Next time, I want to try the Vanilla Latte cupcake and I know TP wants to try the Chai cupcake:

I may also have to try a big ass cookie and a slice of TWSS cake:

I will have to try Georgetown Cupcake eventually - but only to confirm that Baked and Wired is far superior.

Buzz

For the past few months, I have been trying tons of new places in the D.C.-metropolitan area thanks to my new tasting partner ("TP"). TP and I were waiting for a table at Rustico (post to come), and decided to cross the street for dessert at Buzz:

There are assigned seats where laptops are not allowed (very anti-Starbucks, ey?) and boardgames to play.

This photo is an accurate representation of the clientele: a set of hipster parents with a baby stroller, a middle-aged man reading a book, and a group of yuppies chillin':

I know that cupcakery has become a foodie phenomenon as of late, and some people hate it and can't wait for the so-called "fad" to die out, and others live for the stuff (even substituting cupcakes for a wedding cake...which is madness to me, personally).

I am not sure as to where I stand on the cupcake issue, but of these things I am sure:

1. I love eating dessert before dinner.
2. Cupcakes are desserts.
3. I was craving a cupcake like no other this day. 

As you can see from the pictures, the prices are fairly reasonable: from $2.25 to 2.75 for one cupcake (comparable to the $2.75 Georgetown Cupcakes).

I got a traditional vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting - decorated with little white round sprinkles, which gave it a nice texture.

The Frosting: light and airy (not for dense-butter-cream-lovers) could taste the butter, but not too sweet
The Cake: also light and airy, with a nicely browned top, just sweet enough
The Presentation: other cupcakes were very festive and cartoonish, but mine was very simple and elegant
Overall Taste: A, I very much appreciated the smaller size of the cupcake and the cake to frosting ratio (5:1) was just right for my mood that day because I wanted more cake and less frosting, but what I liked even more was how lightly sweetened both the cake and frosting were - and I was thrilled by the unique crunch and look of the white sprinkles.

TP got the blueberry tart with a white chocolate cigarette.

The Crust: light and butter, pretty moist, very thin - the tart to fruit ratio was 1:9 (not for thick-crust-lovers)
The Filling: heavy on the fruit - big, plump, whole blueberries in a sweet sugar sauce 
Overall Taste: A-, I enjoyed the thinner crust and the massive amount of berries, but I wouldn't call it a traditional blueberry tart, and the taste wasn't out of the ordinary, but good.

Overall, I give this place a solid A because the portion-size was excellent, they weren't heavy-handed on the sugar, and the ambiance was playful and fun.

They also had an interesting selection of Belgian and German beers, along with coffee, tea, wine, and cocktails. 

Although we always say this, and have yet to do it so far, we will go back again - and maybe we'll try the bacon cupcake:

. . . and I will most definitely be getting a slice of the Lemon Ice Box Pie.


Mottos:
"Eat, Pray, Love." -That lady played by Julia Roberts
"Eat, Drink, Play." -Buzz
"Drink, Play, F*ck." -Andrew Gottlieb, hilarious parody writer

D.C. Cupcake Contest

This past weekend, a few friends and I made Cookie Monster cupcakes for a birthday party:
(a couple very special people even handmade the white chocolate eyes!)


Today, I discovered that Washingtonians showed that they are what they bake with entries to Dupont Circle bakery Hello Cupcake's "Design Your D.C." cupcake challenge. The amateur cake decorators crafted D.C.-inspired cupcakes that reflected their love for the city, and the panel of judges chose winners for: most creative use of fondant; most likely to be eaten; best use of theme and best-designed political statement.


Winner for Most Creative Use of Fondant:
(Metro map)


Winner for Best-Designed Political Statement:
(D.C. Statehood)


For Obama lovers:
(Nom Obama)


For Obama haters:
(Washington Chopping Cherry Tree/Obama Chopping Money Tree)


Foggy Bottom:


Panda at the National Zoo:

Recycle DC:

Snowpocolypse:

Eat Cupcake, Be Happy -- A Tribute to Chinatown:


Grand Prize Winner for Best Overall Cupcake Design & Most Likely to be Eaten:
(Chinese take-out)


Yay, Maryland crabs!:


Of course, there were not 1 but 3 Ben's Chili Bowl cupcake entries:



(This one is my fave:)