The Woman Who Had No Wedding Cake And The Cupcakes That Seduced Her To Bethesda

Let's start with two facts:  No one promotes local food more than this blog, and no one has been able to get Mrs. HowChow to like cake.

Okay, there were a few exceptions.  Sweet Street Desserts in Pennsylvania ships a carrot cake so moist that Mrs. HowChow will eat it any time.  But most cakes make her say "dry" and look around for a bread pudding or another dessert that suits her fancy.  At our wedding, I vetoed cake and had them surprise her with a giant rice krispie treat instead.

Georgetown Cupcakes has won over Mrs. HowChow and set a standard that all of the local cupcake bakeries should be proud to emulate.  The cupcakes are tiny and expensive.  They're also incredibly delicious.  Light, moist cake.  Big, interesting flavors.  They all taste different, and they all taste fresh without fronting just sugar.



My favorite has been a salted caramel cupcake.  There others were great -- coconut, red velvet, chocolate, etc.  But the caramel made the cake even-moister with a flavor that would have been at home in a restaurant dessert.  Even the frostings are delicious and vary by variety -- and none of the super-stiff frosting that many places put on cupcakes.  They're small, but I get everything I want in dessert from a single cupcake.  I only ate the second and third out of my responsibility to the blog.

Our local bakeries don't need to ape Georgetown cupcakes, and I'm dubious around the hype of any product that takes its cute founding story onto reality television and QVC.  But the bottom line is that the woman who detoured me to buy a dozen cupcakes earlier this month would normally be buying merengues, cookies or fruit tarts.  These cupcakes have her hooked.

So what cupcakes do you recommend in Howard County?  We have a new rush of joints so you could find cupcakes at places like Linda's Bakery, Touche Touchet, Cooks 'n Cakes, Oh What A Cake!, Kupcakes & Co., and Sweetcakes.  Where do you go?  What do you order?

Georgetown Cupcakes
3834 Bethesda Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-907-8900

NEAR:  This is in the downtown Bethesda shopping area off Wisconsin Avenue.  It's a long drive just for cupcakes, but that area has fun too.  If you're willing to drive a long way on Wisconsin Avenue, you could stop at the new Rockville Whole Foods on the way home -- or Penzeys for spices or any of the ethnic markets along the road.