Tag Archives: cupcakes

Good Things Monday

Posted on September 12, 2011 | 1 comment

Starting the week off right, by celebrating some of my favorite things at the moment!

1. Pop up farmers markets

Since Eastern Market is always a madhouse, I love the smaller farmer’s markets that pop up around the city. Like the one in McPherson Square every Thursday where I sampled about ten local cheeses.

Before deciding on this yummy local havarti from Keswick Creamery. They also had a really yummy chocolate pudding, and spreadable cheeses (like Boursin).

At the pop up market on U Street I got a kind of apple I’ve never tried before: zestar. I’m so excited that apple season is here.

And lastly, there was a random bake sale across from Flow Yoga on P Street on Saturday where I got a gluten free German chocolate cupcake, and this rice crispy-type treat.

2. Nutritional yeast

I’ve heard about nutritional yeast for awhile, but haven’t tried it yet because it just doesn’t sound all that appealing. But then I heard that it was in Cafe Green’s delicious mac and cheese, so I figured it couldn’t be all that bad. I got a small bag from the Whole Foods bulk bins to give it a try.

I used it to top some roasted eggplant and it tastes remarkably like parmesan cheese, only meltier and milder. Apparently it’s full of B vitamins and other goodforyou stuff, so I will definitely use it as a parm substitute again.

3. National Celiac Disease Awareness Day is tomorrow!

Check out this list of 13 ways you can celebrate the day from Celiac Central. I’ll be doing:

#1: Share the Celiac Symptoms Checklist. I’ll be sending the list out to my friends and posting on social network. Chances are someone I know is a closet Celiac.

#3: Go for a run. Pre-diagnosis I felt so awful there was no way I could run. I will celebrate my health and run a bit longer and faster.

#8: Have a party. I won’t have a full-blown party (maybe next year 🙂 ) but I will be making some gluten free baked goods to bring into my office.

Are you doing anything to celebrate Celiac Awareness Day? And how psyched are you that it actually exists now?!

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Sweetbites food truck cupcake

Posted on August 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Fridays call for excessive desserts eating. As do most other days of the week. Yesterday I was determined to find the Sweetbites truck, after I tried to go on Thursday but they had already left Franklin Square. How cute is their truck? Sweetbites was at Farragut Square for Farragut Friday – a mass gathering of DC food trucks every Friday around lunch time. Sweetbites has eleven kinds of cupcakes on their menu, with one gluten free option. If I had a choice in the matter, I would have gotten the non-gf salty caramel flavor, but I gladly accepted the gluten free Madagascar vanilla and chocolate buttercream one. This was all kinds of sugary yumminess. Strong vanilla flavor, and ridiculously fluffy and creamy buttercream. The cake was really moist, but also kind of collapsed under the weight of the icing. Not in a bad way of course, since icing is a “the more the merrier” type of thing. I’m not the hugest fan of cupcakes, and often have lamented how DC seems to be in a rut where the only gf desserts offered anywhere are cupcakes. And I’m not opposed to throwing one out if it’s too dry or not impressing me, like I did at Sticky Fingers. But I gobbled this one up. I also was happy to see that Sweetbites keeps all of their cupcakes in tupperware containers to prevent cross contamination. Some of the trucks had huge lines, like the Red Hook Lobster Truck. They serve their lobster salad plain (or maybe on lettuce?) instead of on a roll, so I may try it for my next food truck adventure. Although a lobster roll is really one of those things that seems kind of depressing without the roll… :/ Food Truck Fiesta is a great site for seeing where DC food trucks are every day. For other food trucks with gluten free options, check out this list!  Although note that Curbside Cupcakes does not have a gluten free option, I got confirmation via Twitter.

Now off to The DC Scoop! Going to eat ice cream until I get brain freeze.

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Crumbs to carry a gluten free cupcake!

Posted on August 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

In a covert op on Friday night, a friend and I stopped into Crumbs Bakeshop downtown on 11th Street, since I wanted to check if they had a gluten free variety.

The guy working there told us a bit coyly that they didn’t have one, but then said that they should have one by October!

He said that there was already a button for it on the register, so it sounds like it’s legitimate, ven though on their website, they still say that they don’t carry them.

I also took this undercover picture, since I guess you’re not allowed to take pictures in Crumbs?

Hurry up already, Crumbs!

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Sticky Fingers Bakery – DC

Posted on June 22, 2011 | 5 comments

Yesterday after work I needed to pick up some things in Cleveland Park, which conveniently has a gluten free bakery, Sticky Fingers.  Sticky Fingers is a vegan bakery, but they also have a full menu of savory dishes.

I was very excited to see on their menu that they serve gluten free bread and wraps, as well as gf pancakes on the weekends (before 2:30pm).

I think I’ll have to go back for lunch and try the black bean quesadilla, hummus wrap, or Mac n’ Teese (gluten free pasta and daiya cheese).  Their menu isn’t incredibly easy to navigate, since things aren’t marked clearly as gluten free, but they do provide a list of all the ingredients in their sweets online which is helpful.

Since it was dessert time, I was looking for something with sugar in it.  Unfortunately they sold out of their gluten free cookies for the day, so the only option was cupcakes.  They had three gf varieties, all with chocolate cake, and your choice of mint, vanilla, or chocolate frosting.

I nabbed a chocolate one with vanilla frosting, mostly because I’m a sucker for rainbow sprinkles.  They’re like edible confetti.

Now don’t get me wrong; it’s impressive that anyone can make a vegan cupcake taste good at all.  Sticky Fingers uses tofu in their chocolate batter, and soybeans, and a whole lot of other stuff that sounds complicated.  So I appreciate the work that they did that I didn’t have to.

However… this cupcake was no match for Red Velvet Cupcakery’s chocolate one.  The frosting was really good, but the cake itself was just so-so.  I only ended up eating half of it and throwing the rest out 😦

I’m looking forward to going back to Sticky Fingers to try their savory dishes and get my hands on one of those cookies.  The people there were super nice and helpful, and I’m excited that there is even an option within walking distance of my apartment.

Sticky Fingers Bakery

1370 Park Rd NW
Washington DC 20010
(202) 299-9700

Order online

 

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It’s happening! GF Cupcakes in Queens!

Posted on September 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Queens is a bit slow to come around to having gluten free options in grocery stores and bakeries.  Mostly because most of the independently-owned shops are family operations that have been around forever, or focus on ethnic or regional specialties.

So, as excited as I was to see a new bakery pop up on Steinway, I was not expecting to see a sign in the window advertising gluten-free cupcake options!  We even joked around saying “Wouldn’t it be cool if they had some gluten free stuff?”  Well, they DO!

Who’s “they”?  Cream Bakery!

The only flavors that they had of the gluten free persuasion were vanilla with chocolate frosting, and chocolate with chocolate frosting.

I wasn’t really in the cupcake mood (I know… so sad).  But I’ll update this post when I try them!


Cream Bakery – 31-78 Steinway Street, Astoria NY 11103
718.545.3800
R Train to Steinway Street

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