Treat Trends

Posted by Rebekah Lowe / Friday, October 7th, 2011

By Johnisha M. Levi

Cupcakes are so popular these days that they even star in their own reality series (i.e., TLC’s D.C. Cupcakes; Food Network’s Cupcake Wars; WE TV’s Cupcake Girls).

While it is easy to malign the meteoric rise of the pint-sized dessert (from Duncan Hines to designer duds), pastry chef and Cookology instructor Brad Spates readily acknowledges the dessert’s role in saving the modern bakery. As he points out, the cupcake became popular at a time when more and more people were turning to grocery stores to buy both their breads and other baked goods.

Market Salamander pastry chef Jason Reaves, the baking half of newbie dessert truck SweetFleet (@SweetFleetLLC), is convinced that cupcakes are a “trend, not a fad.”

“Cupcakes have been around longer [than some of the other current dessert trends] and everyone can relate to them,” Reaves maintains. “They bring us back to childhood [and therefore] have a little bit more staying power.”

Cupcakes, however, do not inspire love and happiness in everyone.

Area bakeries featured in a recent EaterDC.com write-up make clear that some feel they are becoming slaves to the trend. On the one hand, cupcakes are what the customers want, while on the other, the endless demand severely limits creative expression.

Isn’t there room in our stomachs for more than just butter cream-coiffed cakelets?

If you are serious about pastry, Michel Giaon of Reston’s Michel Patisserie is one to know. His pedigree is impeccable: he trained at L’Ecole Lenôtre, worked in Parisian bakeries including the famed Ladurée, and most recently directed Wegmans Patisserie and Baking Department. He left the latter position after two and a half years so that he could focus on his own creations. Although Giaon makes petit fours (including mini éclairs and petite tarts filled with the likes of almond cream and lemon curd), as well as cakes, tarts, breakfast breads, and savory delicacies, he chose French macarons as the centerpiece of Michel Patisserie.

Macarons (Photo Courtesy of Michael Patisserie)

“I have a weakness for macarons,” Giaon admits. “You can create new flavors and play with them and they are small enough for people to indulge.”

Giaon aptly describes macarons as “one of the hardest things to do in pastry.” Technique is the key. The macaron shells are an alchemical mixture of almond meal, egg whites and sugar that has to be combined in just the right fashion. It is easy to either over- or under-mix the batter, which should slowly sink back into itself when it is ready to pipe. If you achieve the proper consistency, you’ll get a light as air disk with an unblemished surface and a pied, or foot, on the bottom.

Not only is it every bit as appealing to those who like their desserts perfectly petite in proportion, the macaron is also gluten-free. (Cue resounding cheers from celiac suffers and the gluten-sensitive.)

With my first bite of Giaon’s macarons (a zest-filled orange), I thought, “This is how Proust must have felt about his madeleines.” Giaon says the secret is in the cream used to fill the almond meringue cookies—he doesn’t just take the common “shortcut” of just using flavored buttercream.

What is more, Giaon’s macarons come exquisitely packaged, complete with a color-coded flavor guide and an instructional insert on how to best preserve and serve your macarons. Look for Michel Patisserie’s future storefront to open in the District of Columbia early next year.

Craving something a bit more rustic and homey? The Blakely sisters have been baking pies (and canning fruit) since they were wee things. Their upcoming Georgetown pie, O’B. Sweet, will feature three sizes of pies (7 and 9-inch, as well as the single-sized “cuppies”), filled with fresh fruits (jumble berry, cherry, peach, and several incarnations of apple), specialty creams (banana, coconut and raspberry versions), seasonal whims (a winter time favorite is Bourbon Chocolate Pecan) and savory delights (pot and shepherd pies). The sisters have been working with Bigg Riggs Farms of West Virginia and other local farms and dairies to source their ingredients.

Trang Bowers may have worked in the corporate world as a CPA for 20 years, but she always kept one foot in the kitchen door. Once her daughter was grown, she decided to pursue her love for the culinary arts full time. Although Bowers caters to the cupcake crowd at her Dulles Town Center-bound kiosk, she smartly chose not to put all her eggs in one basket. Her cupcakes are a way to “supplement her revenue line” and to “bring in traffic” as she works on specialty cakes and moves closer to achieving her ultimate goal—a storefront bringing “really quality, and gourmet” single serving desserts to Leesburg.

Bowers first became smitten with mini-desserts after making a series of small treats (caramel Lady apples, tartlets, and pots de crème) that family and friends could enjoy after a Thanksgiving dinner glut. Her future storefront will incorporate some of the petite treats she has experimented with and developed for her kiosk and The Wine Kitchen. Some of her other ideas include portable pies made in tiny takeaway mason jars and fry pies. In the meantime, she’ll keep serving up the cake pops, paletas (Mexican ice pops), cake shots (“mini trifles served in a cup”) and signature tartlets that have made her mid-mall stand a must-stop.

A Tasty Introduction to Area Retailers

Posted by Natalie Kaar / Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Pink Giraffe Lunchbox, $29.95 (Little Choux)

Hello there, shoppers!

As if you needed a reminder of the fact, it’s back-to-school time. Still have some shopping to do and already making to-do lists for all of the upcoming kiddie soirees that come along with the studies? Your help awaits.

Save the date, Sept. 9 (from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.), for one very special back-to-school event.

The locally based online children’s boutique Little Choux, chock-full of handpicked items for children up to age 6 — including apparel, gear, toys, decor and more — and local vendor Petite Social, which specializes in party planning for the small set, will be setting up shop at Alexandria’s Lavender Moon Cupcakery.

Not only will the pop-up shop allow you to get an up-close look at Little Choux’s enviable array; Petite Social will fill you in on what they can do to make your fall functions fabulous. That is while you enjoy a cupcake, of course!

For more information, like the stores on Facebook.

Happy shopping!

–Natalie Kaar

Ps. Since when has  crayon carrying been so stylish?

Free Cupcakes at Rabbit in Clarendon

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, July 28th, 2011

(Image: Twitter)

Clarendon’s vegetables and cupcakes dispensary Rabbit (rabbits eat cupcakes?) opens up today, Thursday, July 28.

To celebrate, Chef Aaron Gordon told the City Paper that he will be giving away 5,000 free Red Velvet cupcakes to anyone that happens by between 4 and 8 p.m.

Rabbit specializes in salads both simple and fancy (fruit and prosciutto; salad Nicoise), and also serves pricey ($10.50!) specialty sandwiches, as well as breads, carrot juice, “grilled proteins” and other healthy rabbity-type foods.

The cupcakes will come from the connected Red Velvet Cupcakery, whose cupcakes are usually $3.25, which is noteworthy because that is $3.25 more than free.

So hop into your questionably shaped carrot car and ram right into Rabbit for free cupcakes.

Rabbit

3035 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington.

- Kris King

Red Meat: Warren Brown

Posted by Warren Rojas / Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

It’s been a decade since local cheflebrity Warren Brown dropped the legal briefs and picked up a rolling pin:

(Image: Joshua Cogan)

He’s since opened several bakeries/cafes, helped pioneer the reality cooking show/travelogue concept and has penned a few cookbooks (with at least one more already in the works for next spring).

WR: Butter. Sugar. What other culinary elements could you not live without?

WB: It’s equipment for me. My mixer. My stainless steel skillets (always skip the non-stick). My coffee grinder – to mill spices and whole grains.

WR: What’s the very first dish you ever mastered? How long did it take? Do you still make it today?

WB: Sweet & Sour Chicken. Haven’t made it in years, but first did it in high school. I remember feeling especially proud when I got the recipe right and successfully fried the chicken strips, and when I tasted the sauce and liked it!

WR: What seasonal ingredient(s) get your creative juices flowing?

WB: Stone fruits

WR: My latest cookbook obsession is …

WB: Moro–kinda old, by Sam and Sam Clark, published in England. Love the foods they share.

WR: What’s the most challenging dish you’ve ever attempted? Would you make it again?

WB: Timpano – after the main dish from the movie Big Night. I’ve made it twice, both times was years ago. It was an all day affair and making the sheet of pasta was a real work out!

WR: If I could the spend the day working alongside any local chef, I’d love to collaborate with …

WB: Darren Norris @ Kushi.

WR: What’s the easiest/quickest–but still wholly satisfying–meal you make for yourself?

WB: Tough one. I like scones in the morning with scrambled eggs. Scones with oats and raisins and multi-grain.

Nothing is measured so I don’t really know measurements, but roughly speaking:

WR: In the next six months you won’t want to miss my …

WB: New line of cupcakes we’re test running this summer in our Summer Loving freestyle cupcake-a-thon. Strawberry cheesecake, Key Lime pie are just two early eye catchers.

WR: It’s quitting time. I’m pouring myself …

WB: This summer, a Peak Organic pale ale, or a cold glass of white wine.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Key Lime pie cupcakes sound like a little slice of heaven. Can’t wait to try one…

Come back next Tuesday for another helping of Red Meat.

–Warren

What’s Cooking: And I Feel Fine Edition

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, June 6th, 2011

- Sauca Opens Up Counter-Service Brick and Mortar Spot in Arlington

Local global lifestyle food truck (huh?) Sauca opened up its first brick and mortar spot last week. Aside from being stationary and permanent, the restaurant is much like Sauca’s food trucks, serving all sorts of global street foods like Mumbai Chicken, Vietnamese pork, Mediterranean vegetarian goods. According to Eater, the restaurant will also host weekly pig roasts on Sundays that “that involves a breakfast dish made with fries, pulled pork, barbecue sauce, cole slaw and a sunny-side-up egg.”

- Global Cupcake Trend Saves The World from Terrorists

British MI6 hackers infiltrated an Al-Qaeda training website and replaced bomb-making instructions with a recipe for Mojito cupcakes in a recent operation, which seems like kind of a friendly gesture, when you think about it. Apparently the recipe for the mojito cupcakes came from Ohio bakery Main Street Cupcakes, whose owners wasted no time in making terrible puns: “We always call our mojito cupcake the bomb, but it certainly has nothing to do with creating bombs.” ‘Ho boy.

- German Sprouts A Source of E-Coli, Wait, Nevermind No They Aren’t, Sorry Sprout Farmers.

Over the weekend the internet lit up with talk that German diseased sprouts were the source of the deadly E-Coli outbreak in Germany that has left 22 dead and over 2,000 sick. Warnings went out about eating other raw fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers, some even presupposed that the German outbreak would affect American grocery stores. Turns out that they were wrong. Whoops!  Tests of 23 of the 40 suspected batches of sprouts showed that they came up clean. So, just to play on the safe side, don’t eat anything for a few days.

- Climate Change Straining Global Food Supply

If an E-Coli outbreak wasn’t enough to lighten up your day, try this one: a recent New York Times article goes into detail about how global climate change affects our food supply in horrible ways. Increased demand for grain has caused huge price jumps since 2007, and our food supply can’t keep up with the demand. To make matters worse floods and heat waves, at least partially rooted in human-created climate change, have ruined entire harvests. Also, previously unchallenged ideas that the rise of carbon in the atmosphere would actually act as a fertilizer and actually aid in growing crops? Those are getting challenged now. The Times article has significantly more detail, but here’s the gist of it:  

- Kris King

The Cupcake Craze

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Cupcakes are everywhere.  It seems that every time I blink, a new cupcake shop, cupcake cookbook, or cupcake blog appears.  A ton of cupcake shops have sprawled across Northern Virginia.

Websites and blogs such as CupcakeFetish are multiplying at a rapid pace.  People stand in line for hours at Georgetown Cupcake just to get a few bites of heaven.  Vegans have several options on buying or making a great cupcake.  Babycakes, the NY store that is known for it’s vegan sweets, has a cookbook for sale with pages and pages of vegan cupcake recipes.

Cupcakes are a very versatile treat.  They can be filled with chocolate ganache or cream cheese, and topped with candy or several inches of icing.  Cupcakes can easily be toted off to football games, picnics, and parties-no utensils needed.

Lately, people are getting very creative with their cupcakes and have taken the ordinary cupcake to a new level.

Here is an astonishing cheeseburger cupcake:

(Image: CakeCentral)

Call me crazy, but if I bite into that one, I am going to expect a freshly grilled taste.

And this one is pretty out there- the tv dinner cupcake platter:

(Image: MomLogic)

While this looks amazing artistically, I can’t help but wonder about the butter and gravy mashed potato cupcake.  It’s almost a guessing game.  Will it be sweet like syrup, or taste like chicken gravy?

There are hundreds of websites out there with advice on how to quit your day job and start your own home cupcake business.  Brides are even choosing to use cupcakes as a twist on the traditional wedding cake.

(Image: Cake List)

With new concoctions and ideas popping up, it looks like cupcakes are here to stay.

What do you think of the cupcake craze?  Cool, or just plain crazy?

-Liz Stevenson

Move over, Georgetown Cupcakes and Easy-Bake Ovens

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Granted.  Nothing can truly replace the delight of an Easy-Bake Oven, but you can nurture your young culinary prodigies with a few early cooking lessons.  If you train them well enough in the foodie ways, they may soon consider it a privilege to prepare a fancy dinner for mum and pop… 

Wildfire Executive Chef Steven Lukis and WUSA9 Reporter Jessica Doyle host a hands-on class to learn all about baking and frosting cupcakes.  The workshop will be held at Wildfire (3^rd Floor) in Tyson’s Galleria of McLean on Saturday, September 25 from 11:30a.m. to 12:30p.m.  Tickets are $20 to cover one parent and up to two children.  Call Michelle Bringham for reservations at 703-442-9110. 

(photo: Wildfire)

Proceeds from the event will benefit Food for Others, a Fairfax-based nonprofit organization which provides food directly to the low-income families of Northern Virginia.

-Jamel Daugherty

Eye on NoVA: Cupcakeries

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, August 12th, 2010

I suppose this type of lunacy might make more sense:

If there WERE ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER OPTIONS:

View NoVA Cupcakeries in a larger map

Wise up, people!

–Warren

Cupcakes Actually

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Sisters Jennifer Neiman and Susan Woodhouse are hoping to capitalize on the current snack craze by opening their own gourmet bakery, Cupcakes Actually. Susan will tackle all the baking—“She started perfecting cupcake recipes over the past few years,” Neiman said of her legal assistant sibling-turned-professional baker—while Neiman plans to handle day-to-day operations.

Neiman said they expect to launch with just a handful of signature flavors, but will roll out seasonal/specialty selections as the business grows. Tentative offerings include: basic chocolate/vanilla cakes dipped in chocolate fudge or caramel, basic cakes smothered in rich butter cream or peanut butter frosting, strawberry puree-infused cupcakes topped with strawberry butter cream and an Italian cassata cake swabbed with Swiss butter cream.—WR

Open for lunch and dinner daily. 11944 Grand Commons Ave., Fairfax; 571-522-6315; www.cupcakesactually.com