Cherry Blossoms and Cupcakes

This past weekend I made the pilgrimage to Washington, DC to see the lush cherry blossoms...and to sink my teeth into those celebrated Georgetown cupcakes!

My tasting team and I waited on line for 1.5 hours through rain, cold, wind and hail(!). It was worth it. Georgetown has an exhausting daily list of flavors, and we got a baker's dozen plus.



Georgetown uses premium ingredients like Valhrona chocolate and Madagascar vanilla, and the semi-precious provenance elevates the original flavors. The frostings were light, the cake was moist and they were NOT saccharine sweet. I'd eat Georgetown cupcakes over Magnolia, Crumbs(ugh, sugarbombs) and even Sugar Sweet Sunshine. A bite into Peannut Butter Fudge was rewarded with a fudge core that spilled like molten lava in our mouth. Hummingbird was sweetly flecked with pineapple and the Cherry Blossom cupcake actually tastes of cherries.

You can order online and saunter past the line to pick them up at a scheduled time. Apparently they give out free special cupcakes via Twitter daily, and fairly priced at $2.75 each. They have a few tables in the back where you can gawk and try not to lick the window where you can watch them bake the goods. The workers are mostly fresh-faced young things and suspiciously skinny.



A cache of cupcakes: Red Velvet, Cherry Blossom, Vanilla Birthday, Chocolate Birthday, Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie, Peanut Butter Fudge, Hummingbird, Key Lime,  Salted Caramel...



I think this kid licked the glass. I would too. 

Georgetown is a cupcake town. There's Sprinkles, a LA-based chain a couple of blocks away, where people probably settle for after scanning the long line outside Georgetown cupcakes. They have a chirpy staff and they have clean, minimalist packaging that I dug.  I prudently got a cherry blossom cupcake, which was garnished with a red fondant circle that reminded me of the Target bullseye but was probably a nod to the Japanese flag(duh). It was fragant and slightly sweeter than Georgetown's. They have a similarly rotating menu of niche flavors too, including dark chocolate, ginger lemon and chai. I'll be back!

You'd think I'd be cupcake'd out, but I decided to hit one more Georgetown bakery, Baked & Wired , which is apparently where Georgetown locals prefer to go to. Located on a side street, there was no line inside but there was a definite buzz. Twice the size of those at Sprinkles or Georgetown, making it good to share as little cakes and merits the $3.85 a pop. They also have the most novel flavors and winky names; including Smurfette, Elvis and Pretty Bitchin' Chocolate. I blindly picked a bunch out of the impressive array of cupcakes nestled under each belljar. You can nibble on them leisurely in the lounging area, which had cool blackboard walls and looked like a real neighborhood hangout. Georgetown cupcakes is a zoo!

Elvis Impersonator Banana, Red Velvet, Texas Sheetcake and Menage a Trois

I'm glad I came with a cupcake crew to help me split up the cupcake calories. Half the cupcake, half the calories! I did eat some more substantial food, albeit unhealthy. For dinner, I went to Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, Virginia, where I polished off a sizable burger and a heap of crisp onion rings.  Casual and completely unpretentious. Dirt cheap as you can pile on all the mostly free toppings and sauces you want, and make your own burger. I asked for medium rare, but it was slightly overcooked. It was still juicy, though and Obama approved!

I was also craving crab cakes, so for lunch I went to Market Lunch at the Eastern Market. It's a stall serving breakfast and lunch in the indoors Eastern Market which reminds me of Essex Market. I got the crabcake sandwich, a deal at $9 and snarfed it down at the cafeteria table. It was lovely and lumpy with crab meat and minimal breading, just the way I like it.

 I walked it off by visiting the gorgeous Japanese cherry blossoms rimming the Tidal Basin. It was worth elbowing the hordes of tourists for my own photo ops. The older trees fanned graceful low lying branches that extended to the water and dramatically framed the monuments. Delicate and papery, the cherry blossoms were more ivory than blush pink and they don't have any actual scent, contrary to what Bath & Bodyworks sells every season! You can find cherry blossoms and magnolia trees, which are equally showy, blooming throughout DC downtown.