Sprinkles: Georgetown / Washington D.C.

Sprinkles
Regular: $3.75

Our first coast to coast tasting. We visited our first Sprinkles shop in Los Angeles last year (blog name: Sprinkles: Los Angeles, CA) and enjoyed our visit and this one was no different.

The Los Angeles location was a little harder to find and this one in Georgetown was so much easier to find with the bright bubble gum pink store front. I love the decor that Sprinkles has: it's clean, modern, clever, eco green and just cute as a button. 

The costumer service was top notch. Friendly and helpful not only to customers but to each fellow worker. The atmosphere was calm and inviting. I has surprised to see two booth areas to sit down and eat. Since the one in LA didn't have any. 

Maple Bacon is a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla cake with a cream cheese frosting and the Gluten Free Red Velvet cupcake with a cream cheese frosting two of the choices we made on this trip. 

Maple Bacon

The Maple Bacon….ok let's pause for a moment and reflect on bacon…the best bacon you ever had…the taste of maple, the crispiness of it, and the slow cooking that only a southern cook could achieve... do you have that memory…ok, let's continue. The bacon was ALL THAT! Not only on the frosting, but in the cupcake itself. Not only was there bacon (did I mean that there was bacon?), they put a cut out of a piggie right on top of the cupcake. Too cute (sorry vegan's). Now if you are thinking, bacon on a cupcake, rethink and only try this one from Sprinkles first before you try someone else's. Our brother would be all over this and the rest of them on display.

Gluten Free Red Velvet

I haven't had a gluten free Red Velvet before. I think. I could be wrong. Maybe because nothing ever tasted as good as this one and I forgot the others. When we wrote up our thought about the Red Velvet in LA this is what we said to recap: "We always have to comment about the red velvet. Tasting the cake part it has a vinegar/sweet taste to it. The cake itself is a true red velvet. The cake didn't fall apart or crumble, and was still moist and fluffy. I love it when you can push down on cake and it bounces back. It's a beautiful thing!" And I stand behind this still. It was so good. I get it now east coasters and your love for red velvet. It's a beautiful thing! What I really like about Sprinkles cream cheese frosting is its not over powering with the cream cheese sourness of taste. It's a good balance of sweet and cheesy.

Oh, forgot to mention the little cup you see in the G.F. Red Velvet picture. Its a cup of their drinking hot chocolate. It's like a shot of it because it will give a buzz. Starbucks use to sell something like this and I loved it. So, when I saw Sprinkles had one I had to try it. It's melted bittersweet Belgian Chocolate topped with a fluffy all-natural vanilla bean marshmallow. Ya, it's that good. But be willing to pay almost $4 to drink this little beauty. Or be like me and when the words say "drinking chocolate" my wallets out before I could process it.

Gluten Free: Available
Sugar Free: Available
Vegan: Available

Cupcake Atmosphere: 5 out of 6 (cute, clean, happy place to have a cupcake)
Flavor Selection: 5 out of 5 (a little for everyone, classic to beacon inspired)
Customer Service: 5 out of 10 (the ladies here were welcoming and friendly)

Overall Quality: 5 out of 5 (just a great time. Keep it up!)

Baked & Wired: Georgetown / Washington D.C.

Baked & Wired
Regular Flavors: $ 3.65 ($4.00 with tax)

Since posting this blog, we have received many request to visit Baked & Wired. This past weekend was a great time to walk around Georgetown. The weather was prefect after a long winter.

The setting is amazing and has a lot of character. The old charm of Georgetown and the riverfront; this is prime location. As much as the inside is hip and cool, sitting outside is as much of a treat as the one you are eating. The name of the shop comes from a husband and wife team. One is the baker (baked) and the other works the coffee (wired) shop. Makes sense to me.

As mentioned on their website, this place is whimsical, rustic, and delicious. I loved the look of the parchment paper hugging the cupcakes than seeing the normal cupcake wrappers. These cupcakes are big not "Crumbs" size big, but they are big.

I love the look of the place; as mentioned before. I loved the display just as much. The glass domes over each sample cupcake was beautiful and I LOVED the personally done art work of the name plates. So, clever and creative. I wanted to buy some of the name plates and collect them as cards. Just so cute!

The two cupcakes selected on this trip was the Elvis Impersonator "porked" and the Gluten Free Chocolate Strawberry.

Friendly greeter and server at Baked & Wired

The Elvis Impersonator is normally unporked but for the weekend you have the optioned to have them cover the cupcake with candied bacon. The cupcake is a banana cake topped with peanut butter frosting and drizzled with chocolate. I think "the King" would be all shooked up about it. Even the bacon part. My friend picked out this one and she loves this one and the chocolate one called the Chocolate Cupcake of Doom. I would be all over that one if only it was Gluten Free : )

The one I picked out was the only Gluten Free one they had, the Chocolate Strawberry. It's a chocolate cake that was suppose to have fresh strawberries in it, but didn't, and was frosted with a buttercream.  I didn't taste ANY strawberries in the whole cupcake and these cupcakes are large. All I could taste was chocolate. I even looked for them and no strawberries. I'm sure they are good with strawberries. The frosting in the picture looks a little neon green and it is. No camera tricks here. I kinda like that idea. It glowed but didn't glow. Know what I mean. LOL.

GF Chocolate Strawberry & Elvis Impersonator Porked 

The buttercream on both of the cupcakes taste like something your grandmother would whip up. Buttery and thicker than the lighter frosting some other shops have. I wouldn't mind at bowl of it.

The cake part on both is more bread like than cupcake like. What I mean is, their cupcake cake is heavier and not light and airy as cupcakes are normally.  I like the airer and fluffy kind of cake myself. Also, I could taste that they were kinda dry and had been in a cold refrigerator. Not  what we like to have when eating a cupcake. But, this is what makes trying out these cupcake shops so much fun.

Had to post this one. Loved the signage

Please try out Baked &Wired and let us know what you think. That's why this blog is here. To get the word out on good cupcake places and have a little more time to sit back and enjoy ourselves with a cupcake in hand.

Gluten Free: Available
Sugar Free: Not sure
Vegan: Not Available

Cupcake Atmosphere: 4 out of 5 (modern with a community vibe)
Flavor Selection: 4 out of 5 (If you think it, by sure it will be there)
Customer Service: 5 out of 5 (friendly servers and I love seeing that it looks like a fun place to work at)

Overall Quality: 3 out of 5 (cupcakes a little dry)

Occasionally Cake: Alexandra, VA

Occasionally Cake
Regular: $2.75
Speciality: $3.50

Tis the season for yummy sugary goodness! There are a lot of sweetness out there this time of year, but we here at Cupcake Correspondents are here to help you navigate through the sugary sweetness and find some really cheery treats that will help keep your energy up in order to take on the holiday's with all the merriness you can bring!

Nothing is more charming then old town Alexandria during the Holidays. There is something special about walking around the old brick front buildings all decorated with sparkling gold, silver, red, and green. We would suggest you take in the old town Holiday beauty from a window seat at one of Alexandria's many cupcakeries, and Occasionally Cakes is a great place to do just that. This charming shop has some unique and yummy cupcakes that will bring some merriness to your Holiday season.

The lady behind the counter was very helpful in explaining the flavors, and even made some really good suggestions. For this trip to Occasionally Cakes we tried the Cinnamon Spice, Ginger Lemon, Red Velvet, and the Gluten Free Vanilla Strawberry cupcakes.

The Cinnamon Spice cupcake was a cinnamon cake with a cinnamon vanilla buttercream frosting. The
cake was moist and had a good light texture, and the buttercream frosting was smooth and had a good cinnamon flavor. The frosting was just a little too sweet, and the flavor was a bit one dimensional. However, it was a festive cupcake and we enjoyed it.

The Ginger Lemon cupcake was a unique flavor combination, with a Ginger Vanilla buttercream frosting and a lemon flavored cake. This was a delicious pairing, and is definitely worth trying on every visit!

The Red Velvet cupcake was had a nice red color, but the cream cheese frosting was just a little too sweet.

The Gluten Free Vanilla Strawberry cupcake was a vanilla cupcake with a fresh tasting strawberry vanilla buttercream frosting. The fresh strawberry taste with a moist vanilla cake was yummy, and a good representation of what a gluten free cake can be.

Overall we enjoyed our visit to old town Alexandria, and also enjoyed our time at Occasionally Cakes!

Gluten Free: Available
Sugar Free: Not Available
Vegan: Not Available

Cupcake Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 (it was a charming cupcakery and was full of beautiful cupcake themed goodness)
Flavor Selection: 4 out of 5 (the Ginger Lemon was a great combination)
Customer Service: 5 out of 5 (the lady was friendly and welcoming)

Overall Quality: 4 out of 5 (the frosting was a bit too sweet for our taste but we loved Occasionally Cakes)