Activity #5 - Cupcakes, Actually!

July 28, 2010
Cupcake Tasting ~ Cupcakes, Actually!
Fairfax, VA
Cost: approx $13 per person for cupcakes and bottled water, plus drinks & dinner at Coastal Flats
http://cupcakesactually.com/

We switched things up a bit this time... meeting first at Coastal Flats for drinks and dinner and debriefing of the "much ado about nothing" experience at Judy Harris' Cooking School (see Activity #4). We quickly moved onto other topics and simply catching up with one another and revisting summer vacations, etc. While three out of four TAOS members were getting their drink on - and someone was spilling her food and John Daly's on the table - our mama-to-be member "allowed" her sistas to indulge in Labor and Delivery talk. Just what every new mom needs/wants to hear 10 days before she's about to give birth, right?!?! This discussion only lasted so long, as we all realized that we'd digressed WAY too far from our original purpose of meeting (TAOS Activity #5)... and more food and drinks were (perhaps?) spilled and our too young and too full of himself waiter had one too many "cute"anecdotes... SO, we paid our bill and headed down the lane of Fairfax Corner to Cupcakes Actually, where our activity was tasting and evaluating a variety of cupcakes. After a rocking, yet somewhat amusing, start to our evening, we thought this sounded pretty fun and delicious!

The Cupcakery's website boasts:

"We are Cupcake Snobs."

"We are not bashful about our feelings for our cupcake beauties. They are made by our chefs … right in our shop kitchen in bustling Fairfax Corner. These gems aren’t your mom’s cupcakes (no offense to your mom)."

"Our weekly cupcake lineup features an exquisite variety of gourmet flavors. Our three exclusive signature cupcakes are dipped – lavishly bathed in top-coats of chocolate and caramel. Using personally-crafted recipes using local and premium ingredients, our cupcakes are made fresh from scratch daily."

This sounded like our kind of place! Indulging in the best of the best - a personal motto for many of us! Also, we had done our pre-activity homework which included: At Cupcakes Actually, we will each select two (yes, two) of their signature cupcakes priced at $3.05-$3.50 each. We will have a set of criteria by which we will conduct our own "tasting" of the cupcakes. Yes, you have to share. Upon selecting your cupcakes, you will need to consider the following:

1) The first selection should be your no-brainer, go-to cupcake -- something that you would pick without thinking twice. The one cupcake that your tummy must have. (Three words for me: Cuckoo for Coconut!)

2) The second cupcake will be a selection of something you *think* you would like, but might be a tad out of your comfort zone.

3) We must all select different cupcakes so there will be discussion. Be prepared to fight for and defend your selection.

4) You will have a "tasting sheet" for us to conduct our own cupcake tasting. Additionally, we will discuss why we chose the cupcakes we did, any emotions it evokes or fond memories that arise from the flavor, appearance and cupcake name.

So we walked up to Cupcakes Actually hoping to taste the top 2 cupcakes on our respective lists... there was a line out the door which we took as a good sign! Upon arriving at Cupcakes Actually, we had limited choices of what cupcakes we could purchase - no fighting or defending of choices here! None of the cupcakes featured on their website were available on this night... so with our mission in mind, we purchased a dozen cupcakes - at least one of each kind offered in the bakery and doubled up on a couple flavors in order to complete our dozen. We sat outside on this steamy July night and began to taste and rate our cupcakes - two different cupcakes a piece - and then we passed our cupcakes around the table so that we actually tasted 8 different cupcakes! (Sidebar: the other 4 out of the dozen were saved for our husbands - aren't we thoughtful?) We shared our reviews and rating sheet for each one we "taste tested." The clear consensus was that most of the cupcakes were dry... most of the icing was too sweet... and most of us wouldn't spend $3.50 on this kind of dessert again if we had to choose between Cupcakes Actually and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream right around the corner. There was ONE cupcake that got rave reviews from all the sistas - the flourless chocolate cupcake with decadent chocolate icing was delish!

All in all, it was a fun, low-key event filled with laughter-induced sugar highs! Wonder what will be next for Activity #6? Stay tuned...