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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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And yet you said this:

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

To be honest I haven't had a cupcake from them since the debacle of the birthday cake. At the time (five years ago) they were, yes, the best which is a large reason for why I tried their birthday cake. Based on what I've read from several on here it sounds like today even their cupcakes are no longer a reason to visit. I just wouldn't have very positive things to say...

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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?

Health code requires that "potentially hazardous foods" must be held outside the "danger zone" of 41-140 degrees (some jurisdictions say 45-140, some 40-140) if it is to be held for more than 2 hours. A cooked cake typically would not be classified as potentially hazardous unless, possibly, the frosting contains raw egg elements or if your local health department has made a particular ruling.

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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?
Just like any business moving out of its original market area, Mr. Brown is taking a risk by opening in Canton and sharing a building with a Starbucks [also serving coffee & umm, baked goods]. It will take more than an homage to Baltimore's legendary Berger Cookie to win more than just the one-time curiosity customers.

This week's Baltimore Business Journal has a short blurb by Julekha Dash about this new retail complex.

The 1,300-square-foot store will open the first week of February at a pad site at the Can Company, the retail development that houses Kiss Café, Austin Grill and Cloud 9 Clothing boutique. CakeLove will share a building with Starbucks.

<snip>

With room to seat 10 and a coffee menu, the new Canton store is a hybrid of CakeLove and Love Café, Brown said.

ETA: Most DR-folk "think local" and avoid chains. I wish Mr. Brown well and hope he is able to [quoting another FoodNetwork personality] "kick it up a notch" with his product's quality and outsell his new neighbor. The benefit may be better product at all his locations. [A girl can dream - I haven't read anything to make me want to go back]
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Just like any business moving out of its original market area, Mr. Brown is taking a risk by opening in Canton and sharing a building with a Starbucks [also serving coffee & umm, baked goods]. It will take more than an homage to Baltimore's legendary Berger Cookie to win more than just the one-time curiosity customers.

This week's Baltimore Business Journal has a short blurb by Julekha Dash about this new retail complex.

Compared to the usual baked goods at Starbucks, CL offerings can easily compare. Plus there is the 'local' angle that I can be used. I really want to support them, but it is hard when the product is not that good.

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I'm not much of a cupcake person, but I like Cakelove's cupcakes (especially the new german chocolate cake), and I know other people who enjoy them, as well. I'd take Cakelove's baked goods over Starbucks' any day. Most cupcakes remind me of boxed cake mix, while Cakelove's taste like real cake to me.

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I'd take Cakelove's baked goods over Starbucks' any day. Most cupcakes remind me of boxed cake mix, while Cakelove's taste like real cake to me.

Well there's no doubt about Starbucks, even if that's a terribly low standard of comparison. I think most people would agree with the "real cake" comment as well:

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.

The only reason I mention this is because I was interviewed for a recent Baltimore Sun article here. I'd talked with Stephanie on the phone for about fifteen minutes, and we discussed a variety of things, including me applauding Brown for not compromising on his ingredients. It's pretty clear I was used as a "dissenting voice" in the article, which is fine, but I think my post up above is a more accurate "read" in terms of my overall views on CakeLove, which - price and hype aside - are largely neutral and detached.

Cheers,

Rocks

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A vendor brought in some of these today. I really enjoyed the icing on a German chocolate cupcake, which had caramel and ribbon coconut rather than that the usual nasty dried out flakes. But the cake part was really dry.

What would be nice is if they sold icing in separate containers to ice your own stuff. That seems to be the only thing they have going for them at the moment.

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CakeLove is opening soon in Tysons Corner Mall next to McDonald's and across from The Original Soup Man

Tysons might make sense for them, given their "wait 20 minutes to eat the cupcake you really want now" policy. You could place your order, wander off and shop or eat elsewhere while your 20-minute clock is ticking, and then return for your cupcake. I wonder if they will give you a little beeper so you don't lose track of time. Nothing would be worse than having to eat a 21-minute-or-more-old cupcake....

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Started out liking Cakelove (because of Warren Brown's story) but had the same problem noted here with the frostings on the cakes and frozen cupcakes (not worth it for the price), but recently had some pound cake tarts and carrot cake from there for my birthday which were delicious. Still, they cost too much. Perhaps with expansion they might lower their prices?

Recently checked out Buzz Bakery in Alexandria - now here's a place I'd love to see expand and duplicate itself in D.C. It's got a clever (kitchen utensils adorning the walls), cozy vibe; they serve Illy coffee; and they have a bacon,egg and cheese brioche (all the good stuff's baked inside the brioche), plus Guinness cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes for $2 (and no wait). The cinnamon roll's pretty good too. They also make their own granola. If this place were in my neighborhood, I'd go there everyday and get fat on cupcakes.

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CakeLove is opening soon in Tysons Corner Mall next to McDonald's and across from The Original Soup Man
This location opened as of May 19, I think. Cupcakes are now $3 a piece and is starting to taste like boxed cake mix. I bought two: Strawberry frosting on vanilla cupcakes and Raspberry frosting on Chocolate cupcake. The Chocolate tasted better than the Vanilla, and I'm just realizing that overall, I'm not a huge fan of buttercream frosting. Given the quality to price ratio (including portion size), I'm not digging the price.... :lol:
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Cupcakes are now $3 a piece and is starting to taste like boxed cake mix.
An improvement, perhaps? :lol:
I'm just realizing that overall, I'm not a huge fan of buttercream frosting.
So I'm not the only one! Give me powdered sugar frosting any day.
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An improvement, perhaps? :lol: So I'm not the only one! Give me powdered sugar frosting any day.
I am a novice cupcake maker and a dedicated scratch baker so now that I am making cupcakes I am making frosting. Other than ganache, the only type I have made is buttercream. Essentially buttercream is butter and powedered sugar so.... ?
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Other than ganache, the only type I have made is buttercream. Essentially buttercream is butter and powedered sugar so.... ?

There's buttercream and then there's "American buttercream" which is the butter and powdered sugar frosting that you're referring to. According to Cakelove's website, "The majority of buttercreams at CakeLove are Italian Meringue Buttercreams." Italian meringue buttercream (and maybe Swiss meringue buttercream) is the kind of buttercream I assume folks are referring to above -- it tastes more like butter than the powdered sugar frosting and is less sweet. It's made of egg whites, butter, granulated sugar (see here for a tutorial on egullet on a kind of an Italian meringue buttercream).

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There's buttercream and then there's "American buttercream" which is the butter and powdered sugar frosting that you're referring to. According to Cakelove's website, "The majority of buttercreams at CakeLove are Italian Meringue Buttercreams." Italian meringue buttercream (and maybe Swiss meringue buttercream) is the kind of buttercream I assume folks are referring to above -- it tastes more like butter than the powdered sugar frosting and is less sweet. It's made of egg whites, butter, granulated sugar (see here for a tutorial on egullet on a kind of an Italian meringue buttercream).

Correct. Well made buttercream is a wonderful thing. CL is not a good example.

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There's buttercream and then there's "American buttercream" which is the butter and powdered sugar frosting that you're referring to. According to Cakelove's website, "The majority of buttercreams at CakeLove are Italian Meringue Buttercreams." Italian meringue buttercream (and maybe Swiss meringue buttercream) is the kind of buttercream I assume folks are referring to above -- it tastes more like butter than the powdered sugar frosting and is less sweet. It's made of egg whites, butter, granulated sugar (see here for a tutorial on egullet on a kind of an Italian meringue buttercream).

American buttercream: confectioner's sugar whipped with butter (grainy and boring)

Swiss buttercream: egg whites are beaten almost to soft peak stage and granulated sugar is whisked in, then butter is beaten in

Italian buttercream: egg whites beaten to peaks; boiled sugar syrup whisked in; then butter

French buttercream: boiled sugar syrup is whisked in to a beaten mixture of egg white and yolk; then butter is mixed in.

Thus endeth the lesson. ...maybe we have another theme for the next picnic?

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American buttercream: confectioner's sugar whipped with butter (grainy and boring)
Grainy and boring, perhaps, but on a cupcake--where you (or just I) want the thing to taste like something that came out of Mom's kitchen--I'll take it. :lol:
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Grainy and boring, perhaps, but on a cupcake--where you (or just I) want the thing to taste like something that came out of Mom's kitchen--I'll take it. :lol:

Anyone know what the frosting at Georgetown Cupcake is made of? I like it much better than the buttercream at CL. I'm thinking cream cheese is an element? (sorry if this is a thread elsewhere.... I searched but didn't find)

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Didya know that Warren has a book out? Titled "How to bake cakes from scratch" (my apologies if already mentioned elsewhere.) Am roaming through Politics & Prose and they have several copies out because, you guessed it, he'll be speaking here today at 5pm. A woman walked by the books & said very sarcastically to her friend "gee, you mean you can actually bake cakes from scratch? really??"

Hurry to get a good seat! :lol:

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I believe I was among the earliest who called into question the quality of Cakelove's goods, about 2-3 months after he opened the first location on U St., in a Chowhound post.

A friend of mine was in the same firm as WB before he quit to open Cakelove. She brought one of his cakes to a party one time, and when she mentioned that he was quitting the firm soon to bake full time, I was stunned. Because the cake SUCKED.

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A friend of mine was in the same firm as WB before he quit to open Cakelove. She brought one of his cakes to a party one time, and when she mentioned that he was quitting the firm soon to bake full time, I was stunned. Because the cake SUCKED.

This is a post of mine on CH from May 20, 2002 about a $100 birthday cake that I bought from Cakelove: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/165661 At the time I thought they had outstanding cupcakes but eight years ago this was before few others were doing cupcakes like this. Today there are many with a number better. Still, as a result of this experience, I have not had a cupcake or any other cake from Cakelove since.

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Well, I don't see it as a "random slam" of Warren Brown. It was pretty straightforward, and IMO correct. And I think it's clear what he meant about easy on the eyes and back story, and it makes perfect sense to me. Full disclosure--I believe I was among the earliest who called into question the quality of Cakelove's goods, about 2-3 months after he opened the first location on U St., in a Chowhound post. I am totally convinced, and have been since then, that the reason he is fawned over by the media is those two things, not the quality of his products, which is pretty bad. I'm appalled every time I see another TV show that features him.

AS to the charge of sexism, I don't see that either. I have no idea who he was referring to, but if his choice of an example happens to be a woman, so be it. Would it have been sexist if he had alluded to a male chef? Why should it be if he alludes to a female? In fact, forgive me, but the main thing I see here that actually might be seen as sexist is the assertion that what he said was sexist.

Edit: Went back and found my old post http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/168183#899700 Jul 24 2003 -- that was about a year or so after he opened.

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Tell us how you really feel about the cake ;)

I'm telling you that my kids along with a cake mix box and Funfetti frosting could have made a better cake. I think my remark was "if this is what his cakes are going to taste like, he should keep his day job..."

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I'm telling you that my kids along with a cake mix box and Funfetti frosting could have made a better cake. I think my remark was "if this is what his cakes are going to taste like, he should keep his day job..."

You were ignoring his great "back story" as if he was the first burned out lawyer to quit his (or her) job to open a restaurant.

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I went to a birthday party about 2 years ago and the hostess raved and raved to anyone and everyone that she got the cake from Cakelove. I agree with the above poster that a box of duncan hines and some canned frosting would have been better. But the funny part was that the trash can in the bathroom was filled with plates of uneaten cake as were the bookshelves lining the hallway. I went back in the kitchen and realized the hostess was sitting in front of the trash can, so people were ditching the cake wherever they could.

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When Cakelove first opened on U Street, I really enjoyed their cupcakes (contrary to some of the posters above.) I liked the vanilla with chocolate ganache and the german chocolate cupcake. I haven't had one for a long time until today. my sister bought cupcakes from the Shirlington outpost of Cakelove for my niece's birthday party . This was a group of mostly 6 and 7 year old girls with one 9 year old (the birthday girl's sister). the cupcakes were not a hit. It seems that they only liked the red velvet cupcake. My theory is that the red velvet cupcake had a different frosting (perhaps a cream cheese frosting???) The other cupcakes definitely had a buttercream frosting and the kids left them on their plates after one bite. I tasted a vanilla one with chocolate frosting. the cake was fine but I usually don't like buttercream and I didn't like this frosting. It was too heavy and greasy and not overly chocolately but that might just be a dislike of buttercream.

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When Cakelove first opened on U Street, I really enjoyed their cupcakes (contrary to some of the posters above.) I liked the vanilla with chocolate ganache and the german chocolate cupcake. I haven't had one for a long time until today. my sister bought cupcakes from the Shirlington outpost of Cakelove for my niece's birthday party . This was a group of mostly 6 and 7 year old girls with one 9 year old (the birthday girl's sister). the cupcakes were not a hit. It seems that they only liked the red velvet cupcake. My theory is that the red velvet cupcake had a different frosting (perhaps a cream cheese frosting???) The other cupcakes definitely had a buttercream frosting and the kids left them on their plates after one bite. I tasted a vanilla one with chocolate frosting. the cake was fine but I usually don't like buttercream and I didn't like this frosting. It was too heavy and greasy and not overly chocolately but that might just be a dislike of buttercream.

No, just a dislike of poorly made buttercream.

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Seeing this bumped to the top and knowing that I'd be in Silver Spring today led me to stop in to Cakelove for a snack. Now, I know that the reputation has been less than stellar, but I figured I couldn't accurately give an opinion, negative or otherwise, if I hadn't tried the place.

Let the bashing begin!

Everything about my trip here completely disappointed me. I ordered two cupcakes, a vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting and a 44th, advertised as vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream, caramel, and sea salt. (3.25 each)

Where do I begin? The buttercream was nearly a solid mass and not creamy at all, both cakes were dry, and if there was sea salt, I'd be shocked. I liked the strawberry flavor of the strawberry buttercream. That's about all I have to say.

It's been said multiple times that boxed cake would be better than what Cakelove is serving, and while I thought that was absurd, it's entirely true. $3.25 for one of these cupcakes is highway robbery.

(As a bit of an aside, there was a woman working behind the counter on a red velvet cake who said to her co-worker, the woman who robbed helped me, "This cake feels like it's a week old!" And then proceeded to continue preparing it. Quality control at its finest, folks.)

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I've never bought any products from Cakelove and don't have a particular opinion on the place one way or the other. I'm increasingly curious about the refrigeration aspect, which seems to be an important component of their model. I try not to refrigerate baked goods unless absolutely necessary, since I've been told it makes them go stale more quickly. They refrigerate their cakes for what sounds like a significant amount of time.

One of the major complaints people seem to have about these cakes is that they are dried out, which is what happens when baked goods start to stale. It doesn't seem to be a matter of simply keeping cakes cool either, since, at one point, they were handing out instructions with the cakes telling people to keep them at room temperature for a certain amount of time before eating so the frosting will soften. Those cakes must be kept at a fairly cold temperature. Is the problem that they need them cold for the buttercream and that works at cross purposes with the freshness of the cake? What do other bakeries do?

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I had a cupcake at the National Harbor location. It tasted like old refrigerator smell. They said they by law have to refrigerate them.

Ridiculous. So I guess that means that Georgetown Cupcake, Baked and Wired, Hello Cupcake, and the myraid of other cupcake places in this town are "breaking the law"....

I don't get it.

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Ridiculous. So I guess that means that Georgetown Cupcake, Baked and Wired, Hello Cupcake, and the myraid of other cupcake places in this town are "breaking the law"....

I don't get it.

Health code does vary by jurisdiction. Especially in terms of our of refrigeration display of foods. When I was with Whole Foods, certain stores inthe DC/VA/MD triad were allowed to have cheeses out of refrigerations, some not at all and others in between. It can also boil down to your particular health inspector. What is OK in DC may not be at National Harbor.

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Health code does vary by jurisdiction. Especially in terms of our of refrigeration display of foods. When I was with Whole Foods, certain stores inthe DC/VA/MD triad were allowed to have cheeses out of refrigerations, some not at all and others in between. It can also boil down to your particular health inspector. What is OK in DC may not be at National Harbor.

Yeah, but the CL cupcakes are refrigerated in DC, MD, and VA. I don't think jurisdiction has anything to do with it.

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Wanted to note that one of Hubby's co-workers gave us a German Chocolate cake from Cakelove. Normally I really dislike their baked goods, but this one wasn't too bad. I think it may have had to do with the fact that Hubby had it sitting out at his desk all day and the icing (which wasn't traditional german chocolate icing I don't know if that is good or bad, I love the traditional icing, but my Mom makes it so well it may have made the whole thing dissapointing) and the icing oozed into the cake a bit which I think moistened it some. Also since the whole cake was coated in icing I think that may have protected it some from drying out. Not too bad, even right out of the fridge the next day. Now it wasn't extremely moist, but it wasn't horribly dry or butter tasting either. It wasn't my favorite cake ever, but it was much much better than one from a grocery store. I don't know what to think by it, except perhaps I got a tasty fluke on my anniversary.

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Damn it.

A ravenous teenager in tow, we trekked into Cakelove in Shirlington the other day. Somehow, two of the salted caramel* cupcakes wound up coming home with us. I am typically not a fan of Warren Brown's creations, finding them too sweet and unworthy of a gluten binge even when brought up to the critical room temperature.

Alas, salt alchemy transformed these into starkly amazing desserts.

Grrr.

(*trite alarm)

(calorie alarm)

(will power disarmed)

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A ravenous teenager in tow, we trekked into Cakelove in Shirlington the other day. 

The Silver Spring location has closed; it was dark, and stripped bare when I was walking past it this afternoon.

The Shirlington location has closed as well.

If you Google 'CakeLove,' the #1 hit is www.cakelove.com, and the Google description says "CakeLove in a Jar." They seem to be really pushing this concept, at the expense of closing up several locations.

It's early Monday morning, but their website (which could still be down for weekend maintenance), returns an error message.

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I knew that Love Cafe had closed on Jan 29, 2012, and that some distal CakeLove locations were closing, one-by-one:

post-2-0-58830200-1450373422_thumb.png

but I had no idea that the entire business model was changing, until this morning:

"The Original CakeLove Location is Closing on U Street" by Missy Frederick on dc.eater.com

For many years, Warren Brown had a vice grip on the cupcake industry, until the competition (e.g., Georgetown Cupcake) started to appear, and then came the avalanche. My guess is that supply is far outweighing demand right now. Brown showed incredible foresight getting into this business, and he may well be showing equally impressive vision by getting out now. He should be remembered as a pioneer and a trailblazer.

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Don -- i have seen a growing flood of recipes (Yummly and elsewhere) for meals in a jar -- yogurt parfaits, caprese salads, etc. This development indicates the trend might be spreading from "make at home" to "buy."  This guy was ahead of the curve once, maybe he can catch lightning in a bottle, I mean jar, again.

Jars are good because you can recycle and reuse them.

Keep an eye on this!

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