Cupcake Tour of DC

When you’re a foodie, the best part of visiting a new city isn’t the historical monuments or the shopping centers. It’s the food—more specifically, the cupcakes.

March 27th 144

My partners in crime, Holly and Madeline share this same sentiment. After over a year of stalking reading there blogs I was ecstatic to finally meet both of them. On Friday after finding each other at the race expo we down to Georgetown to Georgetown Cupcakes.

March 26th 009

If you aren’t aware of the gem of a reality show that is DC Cupcakes you really should be. The TLC show focuses on two sisters who opened up a cupcake bakery and… well, that’s the entire premise. But I promise it’s funny. The storefront offered some amazing sounding flavors. I was most surprised when I saw they had a gluten-free lava fudge cupcake for me!

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This might have been the best cupcake I have ever eaten: a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and a fudge sauce filling. The filling was delicious and entirely unexpected. And the cupcake part didn’t taste starchy at all which can be a problem with gluten-free baked goods. But the best part was the frosting; Madeline and I both agreed that we would have bought a tub of the frosting if they sold that.

March 27th 133

On Sunday the three of us headed to Sticky Fingers Bakery for breakfast. The owner of the bakery won season 1 of Cupcake Wars on Food Network(another show that I admit is awful and yet 100% addicting). Sticky Fingers is an all vegan café with plenty of gluten-free options, too.

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I ordered the gluten-free pancake plate which came with maple syrup, tofu scramble, and vegan grits.

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Simply put, the pancakes were amazing. They were thin but the taste and texture were dead on. They even soaked up the maple syrup perfectly. I have no idea how they made these without eggs or gluten but I want the recipe.

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The vegan grits came with Daiya cheese. I’m still not even sure what grits are or how these were made. They were filling and tasted OK but could have used a pinch more of salt.

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Sticky Fingers was definitely a winner in my book.

On the way out we all grabbed some cupcakes. I meant to save it for the bus ride to the airport but ended up eating it at 11am. Hey, I did run a marathon the day before.

March 27th 145

I got the gluten-free chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. The cupcake itself was excellent and reminded me a lot of Georgetown Cupcake’s gluten-free cupcake. The frosting, however, was a little boring and just tasted generically sweet. I enjoyed Georgetown Cupcake’s cupcake more but if I were vegan I would not at all mind settling for Sticky Fingers. My only wish would be that cupcake stores make more interesting gluten-free flavors than chocolate(I swear I ordered it both times not because I’m a chocoholic but because that’s all there was).

I have to say thanks to my hungry companions, Holly and Madeline, for the awesome time! The only question left is what city should we hit up next?

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33 Responses to Cupcake Tour of DC
  1. chicfille
    March 28, 2011 | 9:04 am

    i went to Georgetown cupcakes 5 times when I was home over xmas break. They are frickin delicious!!! I’ve tried most of the places in Chicago, yet G-town crushes them all.

  2. Jen
    March 28, 2011 | 9:29 am

    Beautiful photos! That cupcake from the last pic looks delicious yumm 🙂

  3. VeggieGirl
    March 28, 2011 | 9:31 am

    I want those pancakes! And I’m loving that you saw Holly – you guys rock 🙂

    • Wannabe Chef
      March 28, 2011 | 10:23 am

      She literally jumped on me when she saw me. It was magic from the start.

  4. Brian
    March 28, 2011 | 9:35 am

    I tried to watch DC Cupcakes once, but the show was so awful and the acting (yes, acting) so poor I couldn’t make it 15 minutes in.

    If you ever come to DC during the week, you’ll have to go through the Food Trucks. We’ve got some great ones, including Curbside Cupcakes, which has gluten free chocolate and vanilla!

    • Wannabe Chef
      March 28, 2011 | 10:24 am

      They should have set up shop at the finish line. They would have cleaned house.

  5. Christine @ Merf In Progress
    March 28, 2011 | 10:10 am

    I can’t believe I live here and haven’t been to Georgetown Cupcake. I am going to have to head over to see what the fuss is all about!

  6. Erin @ Big Girl Feats
    March 28, 2011 | 10:16 am

    I am jealous of those cupcakes but even more jealous that you got to hang out with Madeline and Holly! So fun! PVD bloggers meeting – asap! Going to read your marathon recap stat.

    • Wannabe Chef
      March 28, 2011 | 10:25 am

      We talked about you over breakfast. PS. It’s pronounced “Mad-eh-lin”

  7. Elizabeth
    March 28, 2011 | 10:22 am

    Totally addicted to those shows last year when I had temporary access to more than basic cable. Haha. You should hit up Seattle! They have some great vegan/vegetarian restaurants and you can’t beat the wonderful summer weather! 🙂

  8. Jordan (Ciao Cow)
    March 28, 2011 | 10:29 am

    I used to live in DC, and I loved both Georgetown Cupcakes and Sticky Fingers. This post is making me want to visit DC just to eat cupcakes.

    Congrats on the marathon!

  9. Valerie @ City|Life|Eats
    March 28, 2011 | 10:41 am

    I love love love Sticky Fingers because they have gluten-free vegan options 🙂 Sadly they generally always have chocolate cupcakes and only rotate the frosting flavors. The raspberry frosting on top of the chocolate gluten free cupcakes is pretty amazing though I like the vanilla one as well 🙂

  10. Corey @ the runner's cookie
    March 28, 2011 | 11:20 am

    You are making me so hungry with these pictures and your descriptions! When I visit a new city I am all about the food too. I would say your next city should be Boston, but that’s familiar territory to you!

  11. Lauren @ Hungry Child in the City
    March 28, 2011 | 11:43 am

    Have you ever tried BabyCakes in NYC? They have REALLY AWESOME gluten free baked goods, I don’t have a gluten allergy, but I would eat there over and over again anyway. So tasty!

  12. Madeline - Greens and Jeans
    March 28, 2011 | 11:54 am

    You were the best cupcake eating/backstreet boy singing companion ever. We will definitely need to do it again soon.

  13. Melissa @ TryingToHeal
    March 28, 2011 | 1:06 pm

    oh man, that is one awesome foodie tour you took of dc. certainly jealous!

  14. Abby
    March 28, 2011 | 1:18 pm

    Don’t worry about being addicted–lol. I watch every cupcake show too! 🙂

  15. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)
    March 28, 2011 | 3:10 pm

    “a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and a fudge sauce filling”–

    That sounds…amazing!!

    I want it!

    No, what I really want is to meetup with you, Madeline, and Holly!

    Madeline and I were weekly coffee date buddies in Phoenix for 9 mos and she’s one of my BFFs. And I met Holly at Foodbuzz.

    I want to meet you next!

  16. Emma (Namaste Everyday)
    March 28, 2011 | 4:19 pm

    Hi! I’m new to your blog. Does Georgetown Cupcakes have any vegan ones? Cause there’s no way in hell I’m waiting in that line if I can’t even have one! 😉

    • Wannabe Chef
      March 28, 2011 | 4:22 pm

      They don’t according to their website.

  17. Leah @ Why Deprive?
    March 28, 2011 | 4:35 pm

    I want a Georgetown Cupcake SOOO bad!! 🙂

    I love when places like that live up to your expections.

  18. Ela
    March 28, 2011 | 6:07 pm

    Grits–such an offputting name, isn’t it? Basically, it’s fluffed corn: it’s kinda like polenta but made from very coarse cornmeal, iirc…

  19. Hannah
    March 28, 2011 | 6:20 pm

    I have never seen anythign like that cupcake offered here in Canberra! I was born in teh wrong country!

  20. Kate (What Kate is Cooking)
    March 28, 2011 | 9:07 pm

    Cupcakes in my favorite city- you are making me very jealous!

  21. Gena
    March 28, 2011 | 11:20 pm

    Big Sticky Fingers fan! The sweet & salty cookie is the true winner, if you ask me. I’ll have to try the cupcakes next.

  22. Mandy - The Complete Cook Book
    March 29, 2011 | 5:29 am

    What a fabulous trip – I absolutely love cupcakes.
    🙂 Mandy

  23. Kathleen @ Kat's Health Corner
    March 29, 2011 | 1:50 pm

    YAY for cupcakes and pancakes! 😀

  24. Victoria (District Chocoholic)
    March 29, 2011 | 8:54 pm

    You should hit up DC *again* and go to Baked and Wired.

    Or check out LA/Beverly Hills.

  25. The Chocolate Priestess
    April 1, 2011 | 7:55 am

    Ah, see, as a historian then I can never be a true foodie because the history of a place will always outshine the food. Yes, even if it is Chocolate!

  26. d.liff @ yelleBELLYboo
    April 4, 2011 | 4:19 pm

    Glad you enjoyed DC! I have to admit, Georgetown cupcakes are definitely not my favorite in the district. I’ve never eaten Gluten-free there, but I find their cupcakes too sweet and their frosting too dense. Next time, you have to try Red Velvet in Chinatown/Penn Quarter. It’s the best!!

    At Sticky Fingers, did you try the Cowvin Cookies? Someone brought them into our office for a goodbye party and it was possibly the best baked good I’ve eaten in my life. The party was months ago and I still can’t stop thinking about them!

    • Wannabe Chef
      April 4, 2011 | 4:25 pm

      I like my desserts to be super sweet so that’s probably why I liked Georgetown Cupcakes.

      Didn’t see many cookies at Sticky Fingers. They had an interesting selection of cupcakes but I could only eat the GF chocolate so I went with that.

  27. Meghan
    April 4, 2011 | 11:09 pm

    What a great post! When I visit a new city I always go cupcake hopping, it’s my sport!

  28. Deborah Dowd
    June 17, 2011 | 2:50 pm

    Georgetown Cupcakes converted me to the cupcakes craze, as well! I have a picture in my post of the line waiting on the weekend!