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)

Lavender Moon Cupcakery: Old Town Alexandra, VA

Lavender Moon Cupcaker
Regular: $3.00 (full price that's including tax)

The gloomy fall weather in Virginia this weekend didn't stop us from exploring two cupcakeries. On this trip we brought a friend along and both CarrotCake and I loved the company. Friends and cupcakes are the best combination.

Our first stop, Lavender Moon who brightened our gloomy day with a flash of bright pink as we entered their cute shop in old town Alexandra. The cute cupcake art work and charm was all so cute. I fell in love with the little crochet cupcakes sitting on a shelf behind the "real" cupcakes. They were all too cute. We felt the space was charming and very lively. This one we thought the decorated cupcakes were by far the most beautifully done cupcakes we have seen. But, after writing about so many cupcakeries we expect a lot in the next ones. Even though the decorations of the cupcakes and the shop were beautiful; there wasn't that lighting that we expected to see as we made our way to the back to buy some cupcakes. We thought it was a little dark. Lighting would give these beauties all the more excitement as you entered. . Also, the cupcakes where on beautiful stands. We couldn't "see" the uniqueness of each one as they showcased the lovely cupcakes waiting to be tasted.



Now on to the cupcakes...we bought three beauties, Flour-less chocolate with almonds and sea salt, Devils food with peanut butter mousse, and Lemon Lavender Chiffon.

Left to right: Lemon Lavender Chiffon,
Peanut Butter Mousse, and Flour-less Chocolate

The flour-less chocolate with almonds and sea salt frosting was so good. The taste of the cake felt like a regular cupcake and a little dry. It didn't have the fluffy bounce that we talk about at Cupcake Correspondents. I loved the sea salt and almonds on it. Just the right touch.


Devils food with peanut butter mousse, this one's frosting was amazingly good. Our friend got this one and loved the frosting. She kept mentioning she wanted a bowl of it. If you don't like a lot of peanut butter taste this one is good. It still has that peanut butter taste but isn't over powering. Which I loved. You can still have this one on a date (wink!).

Lemon Lavender Chiffon, we heard online that this one is there most popular one. The lemon taste was good, but we couldn't taste the lavender in it at all. This one could be better in a yellow or white cake with hints of lavender and lemon rind in the cake. You can take this idea, Lavender Moon, make it yours. It will be great! We all felt we needed a bowl of each of our frostings to go. They were all good!

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

Cupcake Atmosphere: 4.5 out of 5 (the shop is clever and very fun. The bright colors were very cute, again the lighting around the selection of cupcakes was a little dark. We wanted to see sparkle.)
Flavor Selection: 5 out of 5 (best decorated cupcakes so far)
Customer Service: 2 out of 5 (quiet, but nice. they knew their cupcakes)

Overall Quality: 4 out of 5 (cute and fun)

Crumbs Bake Shop: Tysons' Corner Mall, VA

Crumbs
Taste (1"): $24.95 12 cupcake pack
Classic (2.5"): $4.50
Signature (4"): $5.50
Colossal (6.5"): $42 serves 6-8 people

There are few things in life that can't be remedied with a little retail therapy, and Tysons' Corner Mall has many choices to satisfy any shopalcoholic's inner most desires. Yet now Tysons' offers us another indulgent pleasure in the form of its' very own Crumbs Bake Shop. Now it is possible to give yourself a break from trying to find the most flattering pair of skinny jeans, and just eat a cupcake! Crumbs is famous for being the largest cupcake chain store in the nation, as well as, serving up some an assortment of cupcake sizes (from the colossal to little taste cupcakes).

Milkshake Cupcake

The store itself isn't the most appealing of cupcake shops. It is definitely designed for a mall where customers can easily walk up, see the cupcakes, pick one, and get on with shopping. Reminded us more of a Mrs Field's Cookie Vender than a cupcakery. However, we at Cupcake Correspondents were definitely impressed by the variety of cupcake flavors available, and they all looked absolutely yummy. So after a minute or two of deciding we settled on the classic sized Milkshake and Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes.


The Milkshake cupcake is a marble blend of chocolate and vanilla cake filled with a vanilla cream cheese frosting mixed with chocolate cookie crumbs, and finally topped with a swirl of chocolate and vanilla cream cheese frosting dusted with chocolate cookie crumbs. Wow! That is by far the longest description of a cupcake we have done so far! As good as it sounds it did not live up to our expectations. The cake was slightly dry and flavorless, and the cream cheese frosting was good but didn't save the cupcake.

Peanut Butter Cupcake

The Peanut Butter Cup cupcake was better than the Milkshake, and was a chocolate cake filled and topped with peanut butter buttercream frosting and decorated with peanut butter cup wedges and crushed peanuts and chocolate pieces. The chocolate cake still lacked a rich chocolate flavor and was dry like the Milkshake cake, but the peanut butter buttercream was yummy with a good balance of "peanutty taste" without being overpowering.

All in all we didn't much care of Crumbs, but we will give them a pass until we actually make it out to a shop were the baking is done in house. We figured that the cakes probably dried out during shipping to the shop location. Also this is probably the most expensive cupcakery we have been too.

We are looking forward to Crumbs opening up an all gluten free bake shop! We will let you know when one is expected in our area.


Gluten Free : Not Available at this location
Sugar Free: Not Available
Vegan: Not Available

Cupcake Atmosphere: 2 out of 5 (the shop is definitely designed for a quick visit while shopping, but it was a bit impersonally and poorly designed)
Flavor Selection: 5 out of 5 (anything you can think of or crave they have on hand, and in any size)
Customer Service: 2 out of 5 (we had very little interaction with the one person on staff, which is surprising since we were the only ones there)

Overall Quality: 2.5 out of 5 (we won't be going to this location again... there are other cupcakeries that will satisfy our craves better that are worth the drive)