Georgetown Cupcake

Georgetown Cupcake is the pretty popular girl you’d love to hate if she wasn’t so darn lovable. The last thing Georgetown Cupcake needs is another adoring fan, but I have to be honest. Critics and foodies go mad over Georgetown Cupcake and up to fifty people stand in line outside their sweltering and cramped little storefront for 30-40 minutes for one very good reason. These cupcakes are phenomenal. The quality of the ingredients is extraordinary and the craftsmanship is exacting and consistent.

There are some problems in paradise, of course. Eating a cupcake from Georgetown is divine, purchasing one is not. Apart from the obvious problems with the size of the storefront, Georgetown has had a deserved reputation for snooty employees and a “we don’t need or care about you” attitude from the owners. In recent months, the owners have sought to address both problems with some success. One of the cashier girls even smiles now. Wow.

The cakes are extraordinarily tender--tender to a fault at times. I have had several cupcakes there that had a bit of a sink hole in the middle because they were either slightly undercooked or so light of crumb that they buckled a bit under the weight of the frosting. On the upside, the frosters always fill those divots with extra frosting.

And it is the frosting here that really sets this place apart from the crowd. The chocolate ganache frostings are made only from rich, dark, high-quality chocolate and cream yielding a product that is pure, decadent and perfectly creamy. The cream cheese frosting is equally creamy and a little fluffier. The buttercreams in their many flavor variations are even rather too creamy to my taste. Personally, I prefer a higher confectioner’s sugar content in my buttercreams, but I appreciate what the chefs are aiming for here. One word of warning: without any meringue powder or shortening, these frostings are not very heat-hearty and don’t travel particularly well. Another word of warning: these cupcakes are rather small. Just one will leave you longing.

The Red Velvet cupcakes here are very popular, though their dark color and lack of tang hint to me that they are actually regular chocolate cupcakes with food coloring rather than a true red velvet cake. I suspect Red Velvet fans are actually being seduced by the cream cheese frosting because those same fans generally go crazy over the Lava Fudge and Coconut cupcakes which are likewise topped with cream cheese.

The exotic flavors which rotate through the menu are more hit and miss than the standards. They do citrus cupcakes extremely well hitting just the right notes with Lemon Blossom, Key Lime and Lemonberry. The bland Carrot Cake, overly nutty Hazelnut, and candy-like Mint Chocolate are less successful.

Heather’s Pick: White Chocolate Raspberry. The bright, sweet-tart raspberries manage to flavor the tender cake without weighing it down, and the white chocolate ganache frosting almost makes a believer in white chocolate of me. Shockingly, in a tasting of 14 cupcakes from four D.C. bakeries, all 4 of my friends and I independently chose this as our favorite. Too bad it is so seldom on the menu.

Verdict: If you don’t like these cupcakes (and you're not just saying that), I cannot help you.

Forbidden Fruit is Tart

Tart, intense and exotic, passion fruit is one of my favorite flavors.

Recently in a fit of madness or genius, I plunked down $45 for a canister of frozen passion fruit puree from California and have since been looking for a recipe worthy of this product. I settled on a recipe that combines two of my great loves, chocolate and passion fruit. On Valentine’s Day I had passion fruit mousse served with chocolate custard at Inox, delightful! Those skeptical of how well chocolate pairs with the tart, citrus-y flavor of passion fruit should try dark chocolate passion fruit truffles from Wegman’s--or passion fruit creme brulee on a brownie base.

Although I generally, prefer a fudge brownie with a melted butter base, the fudge would be too stiff in a chilled dessert, so I creamed the butter and sugar. I didn't use a leavener to turn the brownie into cake, so what I got was something between cakey and fudgey. Brownie-y to be exact.

Since the brownie was going to be baked twice, I didn't actually use a lot of cream in the crème and kept the the portion of passion fruit crème fairly modest to keep the baking time minimal.

My husband went insane over this dessert and requested it for again for Father's Day. I thought it was great, loved the chocolate and passion fruit combo. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I found the passionfruit a little overpowering. It was fabulous fun to work a blow torch though. I love adding to my kitchen gadgetry collection.

Brownie
4oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 T cocoa powder
½ c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract
½ c flour sifted
¼ tsp salt

Passion Fruit Creme
½ c unsalted butter
¼ c heavy cream
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
½ c sugar
¾ c passion-fruit puree
Granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate in double boiler over simmering water. Whisk in the cocoa powder. When chocolate is melted, remove from double boiler and keep warm. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Continue mixing while adding eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Mix in flour and salt. With a spoon, fold the warm chocolate mixture into the batter and blend well. Pour batter into pan and smooth top. Batter should be no more than 1 inch deep. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and cool in the pan.

Heat butter and cream over double boiler and stir until blended. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, and yolks over hot water until slightly warm. Slowly whisk butter mixture into eggs, followed by the sugar and puree. Place the bowl in a water bath or transfer the custard to a double boiler over barely simmering water, and stir until the spoon leaves a trail when pulled through mixture. Remove form heat and strain.

Preheat oven to 250. Pour custard over crust and smooth top. Place pan on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes for individual servings or 20-30 for springform pan. Remove from oven and run a sharp knife around edge to keep custard from sticking to sides of pan or molds and to prevent cracks in the filling. Cool at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, run a knife around edges f molds or pan to remove desserts. Sprinkle custard evenly with granulated sugar and caramelize with small torch. Serve with crème anglaise and chocolate sauce, or simply with a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar.

Baked & Wired

When some friends and I decided to do a head to head tasting of cupcakes around the city, I was really routing for this place to win. I hate to be a trend-whore by siding with all the critics and masses of people in line outside Georgetown Cupcake, and I had heard some very good buzz about this place, so I went into this bakery ready and willing to be pleased. Pleased I was, but not blown away.

Baked & Wired does huge, home-style cupcakes that are more rustic than gourmet. If that’s your preference, Baked and Wired has your number. The cupcakes are served in really attractive parchment paper folds, with no fussiness in the frosting design. Except for the rust-orange “red velvet” cupcake that everyone in the group disliked the look of, the presentation was quite charming.

I had heard complaints that the goods here are overly sweet. I didn’t take issue with the sweetness so much as the texture and density. All three of the cakes I had were over-wet. When a cake has too much moisture in it, it doesn’t rise enough and ends up dense and heavy—and in the case of the white cake—a soggy mess. I don’t know if this was a bad batch or a general rule, but when you can squish the cake with your finger and have moisture run out, something has gone wrong.

The frosting was well-flavored and plentiful, but here too there were some execution problems hiding under the name of “homestyle.” I love a good confectioner’s sugar-heavy icing a la Magnolia, but here both the vanilla and the cream cheese frostings had the graininess of undissolved confectioner’s sugar. (Magnolia has its good and bad frosting days as well. Have you ever noticed the frosting both looks and tastes better on Sundays?) This means either the frosting wasn’t rested enough for the sugar to fully dissolve or there was simply too high a sugar to fat ratio. An even larger problem in my book was that the chocolate ganache frosting was so thick and dense that a knife couldn’t cut it without tearing apart the cake below.

Baked&Wired Bakery has been serving coffee and various baked goods since before the cupcake trend really hit the city and has built up a devoted following over the years. What their cupcakes lack in refinement, they certainly make up for in size.

Heather’s Pick: Coconut. If you really love coconut, this is a big fat wad of satisfaction!

Verdict: Not my thing, but I can see why it has devoted fans.

Hello Cupcake

Several friends claim this cupcakery is the finest in the city, so I absolutely had to give it a try (or several). The height of the frosting and the variety of flavors here are astounding. The menu changes daily offering up to 13 flavors each day including a very modern gluten-free option.

This is a top notch establishment with very well executed and imaginative cupcakes. A good portion of the flavors have nearly a 1:1 ratio of frosting to cake, so frosting lovers will be delighted, though only the largest mouths will have an easy time getting a bite with their signature huge onion domes of frosting.

The cakes tend to be flavorful, moderately dense, and a little dry on the unprotected top--if you show up 15 minutes before closing. Not surprisingly, the giant swirls of frosting are more stiff than creamy, and I would say that it isn’t just the HC Originals (their birthday cake flavor) that are sweet enough to give you a toothache. Both the chocolate and coconut frostings are just over the line into too-sweet territory. I have never had a bad cupcake experience here, though my sister and resident citrus cupcake aficionado called the lemon cupcake lackluster, said she would have preferred something a little more tart and a little less sweet, and even used the words “lemon box cake.”

Heather’s Pick: The Mayan Favorite Cupcake. This is their dark, rich devil’s food cake cupcake with a hint of cinnamon in the cake and a karate chop of cayenne in the frosting. This is not for your 4 year old son or your 84 year old Nana, but if you are as into the trend of chili and chocolate as I, you’ll absolutely love it. I made at least 4 trips into the city solely for a Mayan in April, and when it shows back up on the menu, I’ll go again at least that often.

Verdict: If you haven’t been there yet, you should go.

Cupcakes Actually

I was very excited to see a cupcakery opening up in my neck of the woods. The shop itself is a sleek and attractive study in glass and ice blue. One of the chefs and owners, Sue was behind the counter chatting and boxing cheerfully.

The website lists an intriguing menu of saucily named cupcakes, and six of those flavors greeted us on silver cakestands. A friend and I bought a beautiful baby blue sampler box of cupcakes and took them out to the street-side tables to enjoy.

I had to start with their signature Actually Dipped Black and White cupcake, a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting dipped in chocolate. My first and lasting impression was that the cake was quite dry. The vanilla flavor was just right, present but not too strong, and the cake was dense like a pound cake. My preference for a lighter crumb is a matter of personal taste, but I think anyone would agree that this cake is simply too dry. The vanilla frosting had both the flavor and texture of melted marshmallows which I quite liked, but the chocolate coating was both grainy and so diluted by oil for viscosity that it had not much chocolate flavor.

Next came the red velvet cupcake which was decidely pink. Although adorable with its blushing color and little pink heart, this cake had neither the fluffiness nor the tang of a red velvet cake made with buttermilk or vinegar. The cream cheese frosting was nice, if a bit stiff, but both of us agreed that the cake was so dry as to be inedible without a tall glass of milk. I actually ended up throwing it away. Don’t tell my husband.

Heather’s Pick: The real winner of the day was the lemon cupcake called Pucker Up. A very intense lemon curd filling gives this gem of a cupcake both moisture and bite. The cake and frosting are subtly lemon-flavored so that the curd can really shine.

Verdict: I would go back again for the Pucker Up—and take a big glass of milk.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Shortening is to the baking world what reality tv is to television: a secret shame. But I, for one, no longer want to keep the secret.

I love Survivor, the Amazing Race and So You Think You Can Dance.

And I love shortening too.

Shortening gives flakiness to pastries and lightness to cookies. In fact, I would argue that you can’t make a truly great chocolate chip cookie without it. Now, I know the all-butter, crispy, crumbly, could-be-used-as-a-frisbee-in-a-pinch cookies are all the rage right now (ahem, City Bakery). But I don’t like them. I want a cookie with texture, density, and chewiness. In short, I want shortening. And since it is now trans-fat free, I don't even have to feel guilty about it.

With that said, here is my never fail, could-eat-the-whole-batch-by-myself chocolate chip cookies – shortening included.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
½ c granulated sugar
½ c brown sugar
1/3 c butter, room temperature
1/3 c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¾ c semi-sweet chocolate chips
sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugars, and shortening. Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add dry ingredients to sugar mixture, mixing until combined. Add chocolate chips. Place baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Note: These are especially good if you allow the dough to rest for 24 hours.