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!
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.
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