Battle of the DC cupcakes

It’s been a bit of a famine for me lately.  After experiencing the bounty of New York’s culinary delights, I have been relegated to the “up and coming” foodie scene of Washington DC.  It’s been about 6 months now, and I have to say, I have yet to be impressed.

…Except, that is, on one front: cupcakes.

Cupcake shops have spawned across Manhattan, becoming nearly as ubiquitous as Starbucks (ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration), but I have to say, DC offers cupcakes that rival any bakery in the Big Apple.

Storefront of Georgetown Cupcake

The most famous of course, is Georgetown Cupcakes, brought to the masses via reality TV.  I’d heard a lot of hype about Georgetown Cupcakes, and I was HIGHLY skeptical.  The line that snakes around the block at 33^rd and M St. is ridiculous.  Cupcakes can’t possibly be THAT good.  Luckily, I live only a few blocks away and it wasn’t long before I passed the bakery during a downtime and was able to get some goodies without waiting.  Wow. Let me say that again. W. O. W.  The cupcakes are small for the $2.75 that they cost, but they’re amazing.  They have mastered the art of creamcheese and chocolate frostings.  Now, I’m not a frosting fan.  I generally find them too sweet and detracting from the flavor of the cake.  But the Callabut chocolate frosting on Georgetown Cucpake’s Chocolate Squared is almost bittersweet.  It’s creamy and luscious and wonderful.  They’re no slouch in the cake department either.  The strawberry cake and the chocolate cake bases are my favorites.  The vanilla cake is fine…though nothing special.  And their creativity in flavors is just creative enough to delight without going into the territory of the bizarre.  Chocolate and PB, mint oreo, key lime—you get the picture.

According to long time DC residents though, there is a Georgetown cupcake shop that puts Georgetown Cupcake to shame.  Its name? Baked and Wired.  I finally made it down there today and picked up three contenders for taste testing:  Vanilla cake with chocolate ganache frosting, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and strawberry cake with regular frosting.   First off, I have to say that Baked & Wired are larger than Georgetown Cupcakes, but also more expensive.  I paid over $11 for the three confections.  But down to the real test…the taste test…

Baked & Wired cupcakes

First, the frosting.  I gingerly took a nick of each one with a fork to savor them independently.  The chocolate ganache was too thick.  It was almost like a fudge, which sounds great, but isn’t what you really want on a cupcake. The creamcheese was sickly sweet, as was the regular buttercream.  Overall, VERY disappointing.

Next, the cake. Baked and Wired gets big points here.  Their vanilla cake is far superior, and the strawberry cake on par with Georgetown Cupcake’s.  But a cupcake is about two halves, equal partners, married in gustatory bliss. Cake without icing is just, well…cake.

So the gold medal goes to Georgetown Cupcake, by a wide margin.  I’m very disappointed in Baked and Wired, and probably won’t return unless it’s for coffee (their espresso bar looked great).

Georgetown Cupcake

3301 M St NW

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 333-8448

Baked & Wired

1052 Thomas Jefferson St NW

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 333-2500

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