My cup (cake) runneth over

Last night Ben and I had a date night in Tyson's Corner.  We went to see the new Iron Man movie and then grab a bite to eat. Except instead of dining in on a healthy meal we opted to take home a cupcake (or three).  That's the beauty of being adults.  We can eat dessert for dinner and there's no one around to yell at us.  Since Nicole was without power for the third day in a row, she came over after our date to indulge in some of our hot water, so we decided to share our date night cupcakes with her too!

The cupcakes themselves are from a place called Cake Love, which has had its 15 minutes of fame more than once on the Food Network and who's proprietor, Warren Brown, is also a frequent host/guest on the network.  So we had high hopes for these cupcakes.

(The top of our cupcake carrier)

Since this was our first try, we each selected one and decided to share them both and then selected a third to bring back for Nicole.  Knowing that it's easiest to judge a place when you have a good basis of comparison, Ben selected an old stand by, Vanilla cake with Vanilla frosting or "Vanilla on Vanilla." I chose something a bit less tested, a chocolate coffee cake with whipped frosting (mild vanilla flavor).  And for Nicole, we chose a toffee cupcake, knowing her love of the candy.

(Here's the toffee cupcake, sorry no shots of the other two, Ben and I got a little ahead of ourselves with the eating and forgot to take pics)

All in all, we really enjoyed our sweet treats.  But there is a note of relativity about that statement.  I say this because while they were good, moist and light with tasty frosting, they were not the best I've ever had.  Up to this point in life the best cupcake I've ever had comes from Georgetown Cupcake, where the bakers put all other cupcakes to shame.  However, the average cupcake from this upscale locale rings up at around $5.00.  Cake Love, however, delivers a tasty alternative (even if not as perfect) for just $3.25 and is less than 10 minutes from our new house, where as Georgetown requires me to negotiate the Key Bridge, parking and more Trixies (substitute Georgetown for Lincoln Park) than I care to encounter.  That said, they'll be seeing us back at Cake Love sometime soon.

And while we're talking cupcakes, I should note that although I've enjoyed what the metro DC area cupcakeries have had to offer, I am DYING to try a cupcake from my great friend Julie's mom's new cupcake store, Cup.Cake.  From everything I've heard and read, I am confident that they'll give even Georgetown Cupcake a run for it's money!