2007/03/14
Baked and Wired, the coffee shop and bakery where I work as resident coffee expert, was mentioned in the Washington Post today in an article about local cupcakes. Four food writers took part in a tasting and chose B/W as their favorite:
As for what worked and didn't for our four tasters, well, they all knew which desserts had come from ShoeBox Oven. Our tasters thought the exaggerated presentation, the slightly crushed spun sugar topping and a "prepared" flavor gave ShoeBox Oven away. The group sampled cupcakes -- something everyone carried, which made comparing easier -- from Baked & Wired, CakeLove and ShoeBox and thought Baked & Wired was tops for its moist cakes and cream cheese frosting.
I'm biased, of course, but I agree with the critics. After more than half a year working here, the cupcakes are the one treat I can't get enough of. I've even been known to the have the occasional cupcake for breakfast. The butter cream icing is just too hard to resist.
CakeLove is more famous in DC, though I've never been as excited about their product. Part of the problem is the chill. Supposedly they've opened a fresh, room temperature cupcake bar there now, so I owe them another shot.
Buzz, which was mentioned in the article but wasn't in the taste test, has cupcakes that are pretty good, but also pretty basic. I haven't tried anything from ShoeBox Oven yet.
My cupcake knowledge pales in comparison to Yelp blogger and B/W customer Julie, so for more cupcake reviews from DC and elsewhere, her page is the place to go.
[Cross-posted at Smelling the Coffee.]
Posted by Jacob Grier on 2007/03/14 @ 16:59 | Comments (5) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts
Comments
I've only had one cupcake from Cakelove, and none from any of the other places mentioned, so I've hardly done extensive testing. But in my one try of a Cakelove cupcake, I was not at all impressed. I found the icing to be grainy and hard, as if it had paraffin in it--like if you've ever tried to melt white chocolate chips and then let the resulting mass harden, it doesn't turn out smooth and shiny like tempered dark chocolate, it turns out dry and crumbly. The cake part of it was passable, but was not nearly moist enough for my taste.
Posted by: Barzelay at March 14, 2007 11:11 PM
Hi. You might want to tell relevant powerful people to advertise B/W's address somewhere on the Web site other than the reviews and employment application!
Posted by: cupcake grinch at March 15, 2007 12:25 AM
I am a recovering Baked and Wired addict. I worked on Thomas Jefferson St. NW until about a month ago. Their baked goods are the best around. The coffee has improved over time. I now work in Farragut North/West chain store hell and only have Marvelous Market for my sweet tooth. This saves me money because their sweets are often stale and dry, which does not inspire me to eat them.
Posted by: Recovering B&W Addict at March 15, 2007 12:43 PM
Two words: Reeves Bakery. Theirs are amazing and just like the old school kind you used to get in kindergarten or something....
Posted by: Lindsay at March 15, 2007 10:35 PM
Yeah, I've mentioned the need to have an address on the site many times. Someday it will be fixed. The location is 1052 Thomas Jefferson St., NW. That's the corner with the Barnes and Noble on M. We're half a block closer to the water.
Posted by: Jacob at March 16, 2007 11:19 AM