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Cakelove, Warren Brown's Visionary (Admit It) Cupcake Empire - Shifting Business Models and Closed Dec 31, 2015


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When looking a gift horse in the mouth one must take care to watch one’s back. Or something like that.

The host of the New Year’s Eve soiree’ I attended outdid himself with an splendid home cooked meal, delightful company, and beautiful wines and champagne. The one thing he didn’t attempt himself was dessert - three spectacular looking cakes that stood beckoningly on the buffet throughout the evening. They were from Cakelove. I was pretty jazzed to finally be able to see what all the fuss is about! DH (Delightful Host) made sure he followed the instructions to bring them to room temperature for a couple of hours. We had our choice of “Neil’s Hat Trick” - white and dark chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream filling and chocolate ganache glaze, “Suzie’s a Pink Lady,” vanilla butter cake with pink buttercream and a few rasberries interspersed, and “Lemon Swirl” - vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd, with a large swirl of the curd on top of the cake.

Of course I sampled all three “for the team." :) So, with great trepidation (and fear that I will not be invited back), I am looking in the horse's mouth to tell you what I did like: the lemon curd. Unfortunately, that’s all. Real cake is to Cakelove’s what an Albrecht Dürer is to a Jeff Koons. I know DH thought he would be serving the best that the town has to offer - and who can blame him - the marketing wizard has done a very effective job of selling.

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I was walking around downtown Silver Spring today and noticed that Cakelove was open for business now. I am unsure if today is the offical grand opening but Warren Brown was there along with a photographer who was busy snapping shots of the baked goodies.

It's a bright, cheerful storefront - no place to sit but it looks like they have a countertop for some possible barstools. This store has a better display and more products than the U Street store (probably due to the greater retail space).

Warren was going around to everyone and offering them samples of his raspberry buttercream along with the "serve at room temperature" explanation. There were shirts with the slogan as well as stickers. Very interesting. Seems he's turning it into some sort of marketing slogan.

I've only had the key lime cupcake from Cakelove and I found it to be delish. Then again, I had it the morning after it was put out to be served at a party, which could explain why it was so good. (Also, morning munchies do make a good sauce...)

Personally, I don't understand why he's successful in selling a product that has a caveat on it. Perhaps it's his backstory that makes the product sell? I don't see bakers in Europe telling people they need to wait to enjoy their goods and last time I checked, Europe's got some damn good bakeries!

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I stopped in there this afternoon with my kids. The guy behind the counter said that February 4th was their official opening. Everything would be 25% off all day.

We bought a few cupcakes. I was not impressed. We kept them out from 4 when we picked them up until 6:30 when they were tasted, so the temperature excuse dies not hold up.

My three year old who had been hocking me since 4 to skip dinner and just have cupcakes just left it on her plate and said she doesn't like it (no I did not let her skip dinner for dessert), anyone who knows my daughter - she loves her sweets.

My six year old who usually NEVER likes cake decided that she likes it and it was the "BEST". Okay - my daughter likes dry cake.

Here was my take:

Frosting - The chocolate dipped had a "medicine" type taste. I have seen this before in poor quality chocolate. I did like the strawberry butter cream, it had real pieces of strawberry and was very fresh.

Cake - Dry and flavorless as others have reported, very disappointed.

I tasted samples in the store that were ice cold - Just what they are claiming we should not do and I thought that the samples were moister and fresher.

Bottom Line - would not go back, but I am sure they will survive on reputation alone.

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My fiance and I went to the Lovecafe on U Street yesterday. I've eaten at Lovecafe before and didn't like it at all and I'm not quite sure why we decided to go back. I got a chocolate-dipped yellow cupcake, and I have to admit that I liked it. The chocolate was a weird texture and was "sweating" when I got it, and it was definitely chilled. So I waited about 10 minutes for it to come closer to room temperature (if I waited until it got to 72 degrees I would have waited more than an hour) and it was quite good. The added bonus was Warren Brown rode by the window on his bike and I waved to him while my fiance couldn't stop laughing at how random it was that he was riding by while we were eating in there.

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My fiance and I went to the Lovecafe on U Street yesterday. I've eaten at Lovecafe before and didn't like it at all and I'm not quite sure why we decided to go back. I got a chocolate-dipped yellow cupcake, and I have to admit that I liked it. The chocolate was a weird texture and was "sweating" when I got it, and it was definitely chilled. So I waited about 10 minutes for it to come closer to room temperature (if I waited until it got to 72 degrees I would have waited more than an hour) and it was quite good. The added bonus was Warren Brown rode by the window on his bike and I waved to him while my fiance couldn't stop laughing at how random it was that he was riding by while we were eating in there.

Your cupcake was sweating? :o

The chocolate was a weird texture? :lol:

You violated the clearly posted signs and ate it at an improper temperature? :)

And you liked it? Clearly you must have had the cupcake made with the "secret ingredient." B)

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The other weekend after brunch a certain someone wanted to try a cupcake. I said it is your $3 so off we went. A vanilla on vanilla was purchased and the store clerk made sure to point out to us, and all the people in line ahead of us, to "make sure that the cake/cupcake comes up to the proper temperature before enjoying it." :) The pathetically small cupcake, after some 30 minutes resting at room temperature, was heavy and a bit dry, although it had a nice flavor. The vanilla frosting tasted strongly of lemon extract. I cannot believe that he gets $3 each for these things.

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I wonder what recipe Warren uses for his cake. Honestly, a lot of "from scratch" cakes can be dry, hence the extensive use of simple syrup to moisten. Many bakeries, even the good ones, use it along with commercial mixes, pudding in the batter, etc. to add some moistness to the finished product. Check out the many cake threads on eGullet sometime.

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I wonder what recipe Warren uses for his cake.  Honestly, a lot of "from scratch" cakes can be dry, hence the extensive use of simple syrup to moisten.  Many bakeries, even the good ones, use it along with commercial mixes, pudding in the batter, etc. to add some moistness to the finished product.  Check out the many cake threads on eGullet sometime.

I have not had a piece of his cake in a long time so I cannot comment on that. I do think that his cupcakes need to be tweaked as you cannot really use simple syrup to moisten them. Is is that hard to get light and airy cupcakes?

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I have not had a piece of his cake in a long time so I cannot comment on that.  I do think that his cupcakes need to be tweaked as you cannot really use simple syrup to moisten them.  Is is that hard to get light and airy cupcakes?

Well.....Yes it is. As annoyed as I am by Warren Brown on principle, I do have some sympathy for his plight.

The ways around the dilema are using invert sugars such as glucose,almond paste,lecithin to hold more moisture into the fat.

American palates are so trained to cake mix moisture that cakes made with regular milk-butter-eggs-flour-sugar don't seem right anymore.

This is the dirty little secret of the cake world.

I visited Cake Love yesterday for the first time.I was not too impressed. The buttercream is really more like lightly sweetened butter wiht out any air or fluff.I actually think he would get a better texture and less greasy taste if he used a different buttercream recipe. This is also not as simple as it sounds. Butter cream breaks and is tricky and is best made by the experienced (that's something he just doesn't have) and translates to paying someone with more experience and grappling with inconsistancy.

This said...

I really coveted the awesome tiny space the bake shop was in and the cafe was charming.

The buzzballs were terrible. The filling was tastless and I was given the wrong flavor and over charged.

And yet....................he is famous and prospers. My hat's off to him.

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I still don't get why they don't just bake enough cupcakes for that day and serve them at room temp. Other bakeries do it. Did I miss the explanation (I don't think there was one in the City Paper article)?

(Not that I'm paying $3 for one of those cupcakes, room temp or not)

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American palates are so trained to cake mix moisture that cakes made with regular milk-butter-eggs-flour-sugar don't seem right anymore.

I know it is a bit off topic, but to prive the point - have you tried finding a store bought cake mix that isn't labeled "Super-Moist" or "Ultra-Moist" or "Mega-Moist"? Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker and Pillsbury all make variations on the theme and that is the ONLY version carried at Wegman's and, I believe, the Giant by my house as well.

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I have been lurking on this board for some time now, and thought this whole Cakelove issue would be a good starting post.

To answer the question "Is a small commercial bakery that much different thana home kitchen", well yes it is. Believe me, it is much easier to bake 2 dozen cupcakes for your kids birthday party than it is to produce hundreds of those same cupcakes on a daily basis. But this does not excuse Mr Brown from serving an inferior product. I think the problem with Cakelove is that the owner has very little experience in the pastry industry, thus once he came across a recipe for "real" butter cake and "real" buttercream he decided to use it on ALL of his products and seems to be unwilling to change. I think he feels that if he uses oil, shortening, invert sugars, or other ingredients to improve the texture/moistness of his cake, he will have somehow given up on the "made from scratch" philosophy of his bakery.

I will admit I have only had Cakelove a few times and I was very unimpressed, especially when you factor in the cost. I have no problem paying top dollar for high quality baked goods, but his product falls way short. Will he change things?Most likely the answer is no, he has a successful business, a show on the Food Network, book deal (what a joke..). Why would he change things...

Basically, what it comes down to is that Warren Brown and Cakelove is a product of media hype and an interesting story. He has marketed himself extremely well and I think the quality of his product has become secondary in his business paln. The sad thing is is that for every Warren Brown, there are at least 10 quality pastry chefs with the technical skills to produce unbelieveable products. Unfortunately, these chefs do not either have the business sense, finances, or cojones to have a go at it on their own. To this I give props to Mr Brown...Anyway, that is enough ranting for now. I probably didnt say to much that has not already been said, but I had to add my 2 cents.

Basically

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The buttercream is really more like lightly sweetened butter wiht out any air or fluff.I actually think he would get a better texture and less greasy taste if he used a different buttercream recipe. This is also not as simple as it sounds. Butter cream breaks and is tricky a

I completely agree with this description of the frosting. It's like a stick of butter. My complaints with cakelove have much less to do with the dry cake and more to do with the frosting. Blech.
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I think the problem with Cakelove is that the owner has very little experience in the pastry industry, thus once he came across a recipe for "real" butter cake and "real" buttercream he decided to use it on ALL of his products and seems to be unwilling to change.  I think he feels that if he uses oil, shortening, invert sugars, or other ingredients to improve the texture/moistness of his cake, he will have somehow given up on the "made from scratch" philosophy of his bakery. 

Welcome to dr.com, Andelman, and that sounds like a plausible explanation for the quality of his product.

Bill, you have a good point too. All the cake cake mixes at Safeway this morning had some version of "super moist!" or "pudding in the mix" plastered on the front of the box.

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Sorry, youve got me going now.....I also meant to comment on the "look" of the Cakelove cakes as well...I'm sorry, but if I am paying $40.00 for a 6" cake i want it to look like a $40.00 cake. It seems to me that the rustic look is merely an excuse for poor craftsmanship (i.e. skill)

My wife made a funny comment the other night as we were watching Sugar Rush on the Food Network. It is almost as if the show is a vehicle for giving Mr. Brown baking lessons. He goes to all of these different pastry shops, bakeries, restaurants and gets some free tips....Unbelieveable....

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Sorry, youve got me going now.....I also meant to comment on the "look" of the Cakelove cakes as well...I'm sorry, but if I am paying $40.00 for a 6" cake i want it to look like a $40.00 cake.  It seems to me that the rustic look is merely an excuse for poor craftsmanship (i.e. skill) 

I wonder how he finds time to actually put his new found skills to work. I wonder how much time he actually spends in the kitchen at Cakelove.

I have to disagree that most Americans are turned off by cake that is not overly moist, I think that they would give it up in return for more flavor. My wedding cake was a traditional genoise, with a hazelnut butter cream. More than three years later people still compliment me on that choice. It was neither too moist nor too dry, but the flavors were profound. On the other hand, my one experience found that the cake at Cakelove was rather flavorless, and I won't even comment on what he calls buttercream.

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My wife made a funny comment the other night as we were watching Sugar Rush on the Food Network.  It is almost as if the show is a vehicle for giving Mr. Brown baking lessons.  He goes to all of these different pastry shops, bakeries, restaurants and gets some free tips....Unbelieveable....

our neighbors, who are accomplished home bakers, were flabbergasted that he had never used fondant icing :)

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This all reminds me of John Tesh leaving Entertainment Tonight to become a "concert pianist."

:):oB)

Another welcome, Mr. Andelman. Can't find much to disagree with. BTW, CakeLove uses Italian buttercream, which I think is kind of icky. I much prefer a buttercream made with egg yolks.

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:)   :o   B)

Another welcome, Mr. Andelman.  Can't find much to disagree with.  BTW, CakeLove uses Italian buttercream, which I think is kind of icky.  I much prefer a buttercream made with egg yolks.

Are you sure that is what he is making? According to Roland Mesnier in Dessert University "Italian Buttercream has the consistency of mousse and tastes less rich and buttery than French Buttercream." He also states that "it is the lightest and the least rich. It has a mousselike consistency and melts in your mouth."

This is no way describes what is on a CL cupcake to me.

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Are you sure that is what he is making?  According to Roland Mesnier in Dessert University "Italian Buttercream has the consistency of mousse and tastes less rich and buttery than French Buttercream."  He also states that "it is the lightest and the least rich.  It has a mousselike consistency and melts in your mouth."

Agree with Mike. Italian buttercream is my favorite precisely because it is less rich. Also, Italian is fiddly and easy to mess up - a poor choice for mass production.

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Are you sure that is what he is making?  According to Roland Mesnier in Dessert University "Italian Buttercream has the consistency of mousse and tastes less rich and buttery than French Buttercream."  He also states that "it is the lightest and the least rich.  It has a mousselike consistency and melts in your mouth."

This is no way describes what is on a CL cupcake to me.

Some article I read somewhere described the making of the frosting, using egg whites. The vanilla has the taste and texture of marshmallow whip, which I really don't like.
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Not doubting what you read (or tasted in your mouth!), Barbara, but i agree that I love Italian meringue buttercream and don't think what he's producing tastes anything like the IM buttercream I make [pats self on back]. Mine isn't like a stick of butter and is light and fluffy--frankly, delicious.

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I am sick of these post about cake love. I am not a fan of the product myself, but is it necessary to continue to bash his business daily. It is clear that there are many people who do like this product and continue to support Mr. Brown. If you don't like the product, don't visit his shop! I don't think anyone is being forced to visit Cake Love. Can we move on?

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I am sick of these post about cake love. I am not a fan of the product myself, but is it necessary to continue to bash his business daily. It is clear that there are many people who do like this product and continue to support Mr. Brown. If you don't like the product, don't visit his shop! I don't think anyone is being forced to visit Cake Love. Can we move on?

You can always ignore the thread.
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I feel as though I need to clarify something. Yes, there has been alot of Cakelove bashing on this board (and other food boards as well) and I think we can all agree that his products do not live up to the hype. However,I do have respect for Mr. Brown as a businessman. It is not easy to give up a steady paycheck to go into the low-margin baking business. Speaking somewhat from 1st hand experience (I left my food-related job in the summer to pursue my own project...) it is definitely difficult. What I have found is that the actual "food/product-making" part becomes secondary to the marketing. It is hard to earn a living if no one knows you are out there. To this I give props to Mr. Brown, he had a marketing scheme and went with it. I really want to like his place, believe me I do. I have spoken with him on the phone in the past and he seems nice and passionate about his business. I guess what bothers me is that there are places like The Swiss Bakery in Burke that produces high quality pastry, has an excellent pastry pedigree in their owners, yet it flies completely below the radar. I am sure its location has a lot to do with it and maybe the owners do not want any media attention, I can not say for sure. But as someone with a pastry background it irks me to see a business such as his prosper based on marketing alone.

Believe me, I am constantly trying to make my product better. Is my product perfect? Absolutely not. Do I hope it to improve and get better? Of course. Will it ever be perfect? No. Thus the nature of food.....

I feel as though I have strayed off topic here....I guess want I want to say that I have no problem with Cakelove as a businees, hey if the guy is making a living and he is happy with his product so be it and we can leave it at that. But I think he needs to take a closer look at what others are saying and make the proper adjustments. Like I said, I want to like the place, I like the idea of an independant bakery (a dying breed, BTW) and I like the idea of someone having a successful business. I just wish the product stood up to the hype.

Sorry for the long post, just needed to get that off my chest...

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Yes - seems like the place allows people to vicariously live out the fantasy of leaving the desk job and opening a food business!

My wife knew the owner from college so we were excited to finally try the much hyped place, but the cupcakes were kept in the refrigerator which made them hard (as others have pointed out) and far less flavorful. We just happened to be in the area and wanted a snack then and there. I tried to avoid frozen cupcakes by asking the lady when they were made and she said they baked every hour, so I asked if I could get one hot off the next batch. You would've thought I was asking to go back in the kitchen and bake the cupcake myself. So, I took my cold cupcake, was disappointed, and won't go back again.

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My wife knew the owner from college so we were excited to finally try the much hyped place, but the cupcakes were kept in the refrigerator which made them hard (as others have pointed out) and far less flavorful. We just happened to be in the area and wanted a snack then and there. I tried to avoid frozen cupcakes by asking the lady when they were made and she said they baked every hour, so I asked if I could get one hot off the next batch. You would've thought I was asking to go back in the kitchen and bake the cupcake myself. So, I took my cold cupcake, was disappointed, and won't go back again.

I guess you found out that they are not baked every hour! Are they stil $3 or has the price gone up?

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We had our choice of "Neil's Hat Trick" - white and dark chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream filling and chocolate ganache glaze, "Suzie's a Pink Lady," vanilla butter cake with pink buttercream and a few rasberries interspersed, and "Lemon Swirl" - vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd, with a large swirl of the curd on top of the cake.

Real cake is to Cakelove's what an Albrecht Dürer is to a Jeff Koons.

Same time, same place, new year. I am pleased to report that the cakes were immensely better than last year! Instead of Lemon Swirl there was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. The two cakes I sampled (raspberry and chocolate) were quite nice. The buttercream was just about perfect, and the cake layers were moist and flavorful. Better than the bouche de noel I had purchased from a local patisserie in Paris for Christmas dinner the week before.

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Mr. Brown has visited his old stomping ground, GW Law, a few times and has always been a treat in person. A few weeks ago I got to sample an actual CakeLove CAKE, a six-layer chocolate-on-chocolate concoction that was moist, airy, and perfectly frosted. Sweet but not too sweet. Yum. So for those of us who aren't crazy about the cupcakes, I think the cakes/other treats are well worth a try.

Side note: I've had vanilla and chocolate cupcakes from the much-ballyhooed Magnolia Bakery in NYC, and I must say...bleh! The frosting is way, way too dense and sweet. I would take a CakeLove cupcake over a Magnolia any day of the week. Then again, I would take one of my own cupcakes (thanks, Giant brand!) over either of the two as a rule.

And in still other news...my pants are looking and feeling more like sausage casings these days. After a RW trip to Willow on Sunday, I am going to be good!

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Warren Brown announced in his blog a couple of months ago that he plans to open a bakery and cafe in Shirlington Village this spring, in the neighborhood of the Harris Teeter and the new Signature Theater.

This location will be kind of a cross between CakeLove on U St. and Love Cafe. It's about 1,200 square feet which is big enough for a few tables and chairs along with all of our baking equipment. The menu will consist of the whole cakes for pick-up and walk-ins, slices of cakes, cupcakes + our cake-like pastries, coffee and espresso, and a limited selection of sandwiches and salads. And if anyone wants a cupcake with the frosting soft and right out of the mixer, we'll have that too. We're toying with the idea of frosting all the cupcakes per order–just like ice cream is served–so the cake is handed over when it's creamy and fluffy. It'll be a little messy, but a lot of fun!
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Many of you know how much I love cupcakes yet have always been extremely disappointed by Cakelove's cupcakes. OK I can't stand them. EVEN when I bring them to room temperature, dutifully as I am told to do, they are STILL, heavy, dense and flavorless. Yet, I still buy them because, foolishly, I thoink they will be different this time. Just when I thought I needed to find some rehab program for this co-dependent relationship, I discovered a new cupcake love: Magnolia. Nooo, not the famous NYC bakery but the gourmet deli, specialty food and wine shop in Lynchburg, VA. I know what you're thinking: Wine AND cupcakes! MMMMmmmmmm. I had the chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing and it was light, moist and flavorful. And, wonders of wonders, I wasn't asked to let the cupcake rise to room temp! I could enjoy it immediately. Oh! and they cost over a $1 less that the Cakelove cupcakes. Imagine that. A cupcake that cares about my needs!

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I was recently at Love Cafe for breakfast, but not for the cupcakes (though I think they're okay, I'm not really a sweets person - the carrot's my favorite). Instead I was interested in a light and fruity bite. I happily discovered that Love Cafe will serve you mango slices - that is, they will take a whole mango not previously sliced, and cut it up after you order it. I thought this was a pretty great thing, and not a service I've seen anywhere else. It was ripe and refreshing. And only $1.50.

Also, the egg and cheese sandwich looked good as well - with what looked like a properly fried egg. I'm planning to go back and try it...

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My children's wheedling and my own curiosity got the better of me tonight, after years of resisting temptation, and we took home a few cupcakes after a visit to "Downtown" Silver Spring. I have long admired Warren Brown as a businessman, but his product was unsatisfying in every detail. The cake is dense and dry as a bone, and the frosting is achingly sweet with a greasy aftertaste. The amaretto on chocolate gets special mention for combining the previously mentioned bad attributes with a horrid bitter aftertaste. Paying $3 apiece for these wretched little specimens was the, uh, icing on the cake for me. No (Cake)love here.

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I had an all-cake lunch today at Cakelove with a trained pastry chef who had never tried it before.

Cupcakes are $3 each, and come with several types of frosting. One thing I noticed is that in general, there seemed to be less of the buttercream icing on each cupcake than on my previous visits.

Raspberry Cream Cheese, Vanilla Cake was the best of the bunch, the cake itself fairly moist with a muffin-like hardtop. The cake was granular enough where we became convinced that there was some corn meal in the batter, but I asked a baker, and was told there wasn't - she thought that this batch had been baked today (CakeLove mentions on their website that their cakes rest overnight in the refrigerator). It was the best cupcake I've ever had at Cakelove.

Chocolate Buttercream, Chocolate Cake, as mentioned above, had less icing than I've experienced here in the past, and it wasn't bad at all. The cake itself was fairly light in color for a chocolate version, and was denser and drier than the one above. While nothing special, there wasn't anything particularly bad about this either.

Chocolate Ganache, Vanilla Cake didn't really have "ganache" as an icing; in fact, it was a dead-ringer for the iced frosting on top of a Berger Cookie. Interestingly, Cakelove will be opening a new branch next month in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore. Coincidence? Regardless, the cake itself was way too dry and dense. As an experiment, I tried to cut it, top to bottom, with my fairly-sturdy plastic fork, and failed - the fork started curving and the cake broke before I got to the bottom. I liked the fudgy icing much more than my companion, a purist, who railed that it wasn't at all a ganache.

A slice of New German Chocolate Cake ($6), was three layers of a similar chocolate cake that you'll find in Cakelove's cupcakes, except that at least one of these had been brushed with what appeared to be a chocolate syrup, assuring that the cake as a whole would come across as reasonably moist. The icing was a vanilla-coconut buttercream, with little pieces of toasted coconut, and was admirable in its restraint and not at all bad. If I had gotten this cake for dessert in most restaurants, I might have guessed it was store-bought, but I wouldn't have been disappointed.

After thirty minutes of prodding, nibbling, and dissecting each of these four desserts, we walked out, and I asked my companion, "What's your final assessment?"

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Are you a fan?"

"No."

"A detractor?"

"Not really."

The quality of ingredients is there, and I really appreciate that Cakelove isn't using a bunch of dyes, bad oils, and artificial ingredients in their products. On this visit, the icing had generally improved from before. The cake itself does tend to be dry and dense, and that just isn't my style, but these are not bad cakes; they're just not great cakes.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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Interesting thread. I wrote this over five years ago: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/165661 My opinions haven't changed. Simply stated, I am not a fan of Cakelove or its, now, many outposts.

The argument could be made here that a decent bakery with superior marketing will do quite well in any suburban area given the lack of an acceptible competitor. What was acceptible as "decent" forty years ago today is the exception. For myself, Cakelove isn't even decent. Two weeks ago I continued to apologize for that birthday cake I bought from him...

Of course my good friend is long past the 50th birthday that I purchased it for.

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Interesting thread. I wrote this over five years ago: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/165661 My opinions haven't changed. Simply stated, I am not a fan of Cakelove or its, now, many outposts.

And yet you said this:

On a very positive note Cakelove has the absolute best cupcakes I have ever tasted in my life.

This is a big statement - do you stand by it?

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I stand by my post from October. I gave the Silver Spring location another chance last month, and I can confidently say that CakeLove's cupcakes are some of the worst I've ever had. Dry cake, greasy frosting.

The "resting in the refrigerator" thing is utter BS. Cake is not improved by refrigeration. Many varieties can survive freezing and thawing, but it doesn't enhance the flavor to refrigerate cake.

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The "resting in the refrigerator" thing is utter BS. Cake is not improved by refrigeration. Many varieties can survive freezing and thawing, but it doesn't enhance the flavor to refrigerate cake.

I regularly use a couple of cake recipes that call for wrapping the cakes in plastic about 5 minutes after they come out of the oven and chilling to improve moistness of the cakes. When I skip this step, it is noticeable. I have tried the same thing with other recipes with mixed results. I do find that when I bake in batches and freeze layers, they are a little moister.

Which makes it that much more surprising that Cakelove cakes are so incredibly dry.

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And yet you said this:

This is a big statement - do you stand by it?

You must get to Magnolia bakery in NYC. The abominations from CL don't compare at all, in price or taste. I wonder if Brown has been up there?

Storing baked goods in a fridge is a great way to make them go stale very quickly. The fridge is a dry environment and unless the (cup) cakes are wrapped very well will dry out quickly.

For those in the know, do the desserts have to be stored in the fridge for health code reasons? Why not have them in a regular case like a normal bakery?

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