The Red Velvet Cupcakery is a little shop in DC with swank little cupcakes for the tasting. I was in DC for New Year’s with my boyfriend and some other friends, and when we saw this place in passing, I insisted on going in. Naturally, no one objected (because seriously, who doesn’t like cupcakes? You don’t? Why do you hate freedom?).
Red Velvet Cupcakery - Washington DC
It was a tiny little shop; not room for more than maybe 10 people standing elbow-to-elbow in the waiting/ordering area. Upon walking in you’re presented with a glass case of cupcake options, including some pretty cool flavors.
Red Velvet Cupcake Selection
Since the cupcakes themselves were a little pricey ($3.25 apiece) I decided to cap us out at six. The flavors we chose were:
Left to right, top to bottom: Black Velvet, Morning Call, Vanilla Bean, Key West, Summertime, Red Velvet
How did the cupcakes taste?
Eh…
I’ll be perfectly honest: none of us were particularly impressed. Especially for the price per cupcake, we didn’t feel like most of them were worth it; it was kind of disappointing. The Black Velvet and Vanilla Bean were good, and I thought the Lemon and Lime were tasty (odd, them not being chocolate) but the others we felt were pretty “meh”. After some consideration, I finally decided the issue was the flavor of the cake itself; if the cake didn’t have chocolate to mask it, the “normal” flavor tasted strange. We decided the base flavor smacked of yellow Fruit Loops or Captain Crunch. It was odd.
Maybe their odd-tasting flavors have something to do with the quality of their ingredients. According to their web site they use extremely high quality chocolate, butter, and salt. Perhaps I’m so unused to such fine ingredients, that I don’t understand what they’re supposed to taste like (seriously – I’m not actually trying to be caustic here. For using such good ingredients, I can’t figure out why I didn’t like their flavors).
Nice box, eh? Eh??
For $3.25 apiece we were really expecting more; these I felt were worth $2 max. It was fun for the novelty, but when it comes right down to it, we just didn’t think they tasted that good.
Not, of course, that that kept us from finishing them. ^_^
Has anyone been to Red Velvet Cupcakery before?
Decimated Cupcakes!
Mary Gezo
Formerly of both n00bcakes and !Blog, the two magically become one on Spatialdrift; expect some lazy baking and serious nerditude. Also, I love semicolons.
Best cupcakes in DC are from Baked and Wired. The End.
I’m a tough critic when it comes to purchased baked goods, and have to say that most cupcakes I’ve had have been disappointing. Anyway, if I had to pick 6, I think I would have gone with the same ones, minus the coconut. Too bad they were a bust!
@Victoria – Check. I’m totally there next time I’m in DC. 😀
@Jessica – I haven’t had a lot of cupcakes outside of the ones I make or buy at the grocery store (is anyone else a sucker for store-bought cupcakes? Mmm…). So far, not impressed. But all that means is that I have to seek out and try more! 😀
i heard about this place from a friend. i guess i wont be going there anytime soon. thanks for sharing this post. have a great day:)
Culinary letdowns are the pits! Have you been to that little cupcakery in VA Highlands by Youngblood Gallery? They’ve been the best I’ve found in the ATL so far (not that I have been looking particularly hard)
@blackbook – Maybe you should go try it out anyway, just to make sure I’m not crazy. XD
@emily – I haven’t tried any Atl cupcake places yet, but I’m actually devising a list of ones I want to try out. If you know the name of that one, you should send it to me!