The Cake Bar

You Are Loved, The Cake Bar’s Valentine’s party, is back for a 3rd year. The evening will include a tasting of The Cake Bar’s cakes and chocolate fudge paired with artisanal cheeses and dessert wines. While guests are indulging themselves in The Cake Bar’s most tempting chocolate treats, they’ll also be supporting a worthy cause: $5 from every ticket purchased and the proceeds of the silent auction will benefit the World Cocoa Foundation’s Empowering Cocoa Households with Opportunities and Education Solutions (ECHOES) Program, which provides training and education to youth living in cocoa-growing communities in West Africa. Event sponsors include: Quady Winery, Easterling Events, ACKC Cocoa Bar, Japonica Tafé, Nusta Spa, Lake Champlain Chocolates, FranScent and Tranquil Space Yoga. Saturday, February 13th 7 - 10pm Studio Gallery 2108 R Street NW Washington, DC 20008 Near the Dupont Circle metro Tickets are $20 Purchase in advance at www.thecakebarandlounge.com For more information: contact@thecakebarandlounge.com or (202) 657-5946

You Are Loved: The Cake Bar's Valentine's Party Join us for cake and cocktails! Friday, February 8th 7-10pm K Street Lounge 1301 K Street NW Washington, DC 20005 Come singles, couples and friends. This party is for everyone. The Cake Bar is hosting its second annual You Are Loved Valentine's event. Enjoy our decadent cakes and liquor-infused chocolate fudge. While you indulge yourself, you will also be supporting a worthy cause: $5 from every ticket purchased will be donated to the World Cocoa Foundation’s Women in Cocoa Farming Education Program, which provides support and advice on successful farming for female cocoa farmers in West Africa. The evening will also feature a silent auction of special items donated by Arena Stage, Coup de Foudre Lingerie, Pa Dian Accents, ACKC Cocoa Bar, Tranquil Space Yoga, Japonica Tafe, E’Lantourage Communications, Valens Marketing & Consulting Group and FranScents; the proceeds will benefit the Education Program. Event sponsors include: Dagoba Organic Chocolate, Lemur Works, and Une Jolie Fete. Tickets are $25. Purchase advance tickets at www.thecakebarandlounge.com.

All hail the sweet potato! Come give thanks to this staple of southern cuisine at The Cake Bar's pre-thanksgiving party, Sweet Potato Soul. The event will feature our unique as well as traditional sweet potato desserts, including sweet potato cake, cookies and cheesecake. Lindeman's fruit flavored lambic beer and light hors d'oeuvres will also be served. For entertainment, guests will be treated to a Thanksgiving themed poetry slam and the sounds of old school funk, go-go and classic rock and rap. Finally, everyone will get a mini sweet potato pie to take home. Saturday, November 17th 4-7pm Reflections Studio 631 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Washington, DC 20003 Tickets are $20 and available to purchase in advance at www.thecakebarandlounge.com Sweet potato desserts are our specialty. I hope some of you can make it. Carla Durham owner/pastry chef The Cake Bar

Come live La Dolce Vita! Sunday, September 9th 3-6:30pm at Reflections Studio 631 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Washington, DC 20003 The wines will take center stage at La Dolce Vita. Wines that go with cake that is! From a honeyed Sauterne to a citrusy ice wine, sample some of the best dessert wines. Each wine will be paired with one of The Cake Bar's luscious cakes - flavored in orange, caramel and cinnamon - and an artisan cheese specially chosen to bring out the best notes of the wine. This event's featured "cake cocktail" is Orange Cream, a combination of cake, orange marmalade, creme fraiche and Grand Marnier. Tickets are $25. Purchase in advance at The Cake Bar Hope to see you there! Carla

Thanks for the suggestions Mark. I realized I needed to think differently. Usually at my events I have a dessert table. Wines, cheeses etc. are on another table. Although they're chosen to compliment the flavors of the desserts, they're not the focus. I need to think of it as though I'm serving people courses of wines and match a pastry and cheese to each. I was up thinking about this at 2AM!

Red wines sometimes give me a headache not too long after I drink them. And Ports can often be so heavy, I usually reserve them for when I'm serving chocolate.

Yes, that's the event I'm working on. I'm very excited about it. Although I usually serve some wines and cheeses at most of my events that compliment my desserts, they're still usually a bit of an afterthought. This is requiring me to give more thought to putting a "meal" together even if it mainly consists of desserts.

I'm putting together a wine list for my next tasting event and could use some input. This is a different approach to my events. Usually, I create the dessert menu based on whatever theme I'm going with and then select wines that best suites them. For my latest event, I want to introduce people to sweet wines since alot of people aren't as familiar with them. It's not an official wine tasting just some of the popular categories. After talking with Jane from The Winery (where I usually buy my wines), we came up with several vintages in 7 different categories - Tokaji (obviously the most expensive), late harvest riesling, late harvest vidal (Gray Ghost "Adieu" - would go nicely if I do a peach dessert), Muscat Beaumes de Venise, Madeira, ice wine and sauterne. Would like to get it down to 4. What do I eliminate? She thought the madeira, but the other wines are so similar. Which made her think I could do without the beaumes de venise if I'm doing a sauterne. Should I keep the Tokaji to as the wow wine or same the money? Will probably be serving a carrot cake, caramel cake and orange cake, cheese and fresh fruit. Any opinions? Carla The Cake Bar

If you missed The Cake Bar's Birth of the Cool event, we also host events with Professionals in the City, www.prosinthecity.com. Thursday, July 12th from 7-10pm is Summer Desserts Happy Hour. The event will feature our "cake cocktails", flavored cakes with fruit fillings, topped with creamy frostings and most importantly infused with premium liqueurs. For an appetizer, To Your Taste Catering will be providing a mashed potato bar to prep your stomach for the sugar and alcohol. For a recap of the menu at Birth of the Cool or other events, visit The Cake Bar website. Carla www.thecakebarandlounge.com

I don't have a store front yet. But I live in Fort Washington, MD and rent commercial kitchen time in Alexandria. Usually, my customers pick up orders at my house, but now that I have more customers in DC I have had to make some deliveries. I'm in the process of looking for a place to partner with to provide some of my products in DC. Other than that, I host tasting events on my own and with Professionals in the City. I have also sponsored several charity events. Carla

Sorry to agree with you. But you're right, many of them do go well with spicy food especially.

I hope some of you will consider attending my company's 4th tasting event, Birth of the Cool on Saturday from 7-10:30pm at Reflections on Pennsylvania Avenue. It will be an evening of cool jazz and cool desserts. On the menu is the latest in our series of "cake cocktails", Apricots & Almonds, an apricot cake flavored with Amaretto and topped with a creamy mascarpone frosting. For the summer, we're introducing Charlie Jr.'s Blackberry Cobbler. And as promised, freshly made ice creams and sherberts as only The Cake Bar can do them. Sample our Key Lime Ice Cream Pie and a shot of Southern Comfort ice cream. Taste Lindemans fruit-flavored lambic beers and Scrumpets fine quality teas chosen to compliment the flavors of the desserts. All of this set to the sounds of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and other jazz greats of the 50s and 60s and featuring an exhibit of classic jazz photography and vintage concert posters. You can purchase tickets on our website, The Cake Bar in advance for $20 or at the door for $25. I look forward to meeting some of you and getting your feedback on my desserts. Eventually, I hope to open my own place but in the meantime I've enjoyed hosting these themed events and have had a good response. Carla

I will have to try a glass of Marchese di Gresy at your restaurant with the sogno di limoncello. That sounds delicious.

Can anyone recommend a good Tokaji? If I'm going to try the expensive stuff, I want to make sure it's good.

Yes, I can never pronounce Gewurztraminer. But I like the Eisweins. And as an alternative to Champagne, I love Moscato D'Asti but I figured out the best brand.