Washington, D.C., Takes the Cake

By Liesel Davis

It's a sunny, spring morning in Washington, D.C. The landscape is showered with rows of primary colored tulips and daffodils and magnolia and cherry blossoms fragrance the air. Visitors are busily taking turns snapping photos of each other in front of the Capitol, while protestors are gearing up for a busy day of self-expression. The mood is just about as hustle and bustle as you can ever hope to find in a city that feels as if opening the top button is about as casual and carefree as things ever get.

It's a long weekend, and I am prepared for three days of dessert tasting, with a steady monocle focused on cake. Despite a somewhat lackluster dining scene (we know, D.C., you do have your bright spots, but overall it is a tough comparison to the dining frenzy that is New York City), it turns out this is a pretty darn good cake town. With choices like Georgetown Cupcake and CakeLove, it's not hard to wrestle together a few tasty options.

Georgetown Cupcake, a tiny converted townhouse around the corner from the main drag, would be easy to miss if it wasn't for the line of eager customer's trailing out the door. And on this holiday weekend, things are a little more frantic than usual. But the line moves quickly, and it's worth the wait. Seasonal flavors (Cherry Blossom—cherry cupcake topped with vanilla frosting and a fondant cherry blossom—or Raspberry and White Chocolate) rotate with staples such as a classic red devil, carrot, and lemon, along with a variety of chocolate and vanilla options. The cake is moist and the frostings not too sweet. Thick chocolate ganache, rich cream cheese, and dense Madagascar vanilla frostings all lend the right flavor and texture to their respective cakes. After the frosting is piped on, each cupcake receives either a fondant topping (hearts, bunnies, carrots, flowers) or is garnished with shredded coconut, nuts, sprinkles, or candied lemon peel. Piled high on metal tiered cake stands and set behind a tall glass wall, they make for an imposing display of cupcake imagination. Sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne have perfected their baking well.

CakeLove, started by lawyer turned baker Warren Brown, now has six locations in the greater D.C. area plus the Love Café on U Street. With a variety of cakes and cupcakes (Bavarian, lime buttercream on vanilla, strawberry buttercream on chocolate) and madly delicious buttercream, anyone can find a favorite, and it's the coconut/lemon cake that I can't resist. The cake at CakeLove is dense and sturdy, so it fares well with the foil of creamy coconut buttercream, coconut flakes, and tangy, tart lemon curd wedged between each layer. Except for their recent addition of devil's food cake, which contains red dye and cake flour, all their recipes are made with all-natural, carefully sourced ingredients.

Just down the street from the Love Café, you'll find another delectable coconut laden slice. This one oozing with buttery moistness. At Crème Café, the housemade secret-recipe Coconut Cake and delivers it daily to the cafe. Not even the servers know exactly what makes the cake so rich with coconut flavor. The aftertaste smacks almost of almond, and served warm with a sprinkling of red Hawaiin sea salt and a pool of blueberry compote and Navan-spiked whipping cream on the side, this cake is plate lickingly, tastebud hauntingly good.

Still fairly new, Founding Farmers opened their doors last September (2008). All abuzz with eager dinners, this restaurant is owned by a North Dakota farmers' union and features sustainable, organic food; biodynamic wines; and eco-friendly practices. With low-fume paint and produce sourced from local farmers, the certified-green restaurant is the epitome of the farm to table movement. And although the food is nothing to write home about, the richly red Authentic Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting is worth putting pen to paper. It's more earthly and less sweet than most versions, and with gargantuan proportions, it easily served three of us. Despite its size, the cake disappeared quickly, and we were scraping at air with our forks before we knew it, with not even a crumb or trace of frosting left on the plate.

After all that cake eating, I needed some ice cream to wash things down. And where better to stop than Dolcezza. Fresh Brazilian gelato with flavors that taste exactly like what they are made from, this is ice cream with punch. Ingredients here are also sourced from local farmers, so the flavors change regularly depending on the season and availability. I was pleasantly surprised by the Red Grape. It was refreshing grapeyness at its best. If you can't remember the last time you had something grape flavored that actually tasted like a grape, then you'll want to give this flavor a try. The Pistacchio di Bronte (pistachio) is deeply nutty yet light. I was won over by both the Tahitian Vanilla and Sumatra Cinnamon, but after sitting down with my own scoops, I covetously eyed another customer with scoops of the Valrhona Chocolate Amargo and Champagne Mango on a cone. I know exactly what I am ordering next time—the same. Dolcezza has two scoop shops—one in Georgetown and one in Bethesda, Maryland—as well as stands at several of the farmers' markets around the District and in Virginia, where you can find flavors such as Lemon Opal Basil and Avocado Honey Orange. If you are in a mind for wandering the various produce stands and local artistic endeavors, this treat can't be beat on a sunny afternoon adventure.

Working my way through the weekend with a cone in one hand and a cupcake in the other, I found that, political issues aside, there are plenty of sweet things going on in our nation's capital. And dessert is a cause I will gladly wear a button for.