A cupcake store is leaving Dupont after eight years.
Hello Cupcake, which opened at 1361 Connecticut Ave. NW in 2007, announced its closure last week. A Borderstan reader tipped us off to the news last night.
“After 8 marvelous years in Dupont Circle, we are sad to announce the closing of Hello Cupcake,” reads the company’s announcement. “We wish to thank our wonderful customers, our supportive neighboring businesses, our fellow chefs and bakers in the D.C. food community, and our amazing staff, past and present.”
Hello Cupcakes previously closed its Barracks Row location in 2014.
Photo via Twitter / MiketheMadBiologist
From Laetitia Brock. Email her at laetitia[AT]borderstan.com. You can follow her at @FrenchTwistDC and on her own blog, French Twist DC.
The Sweet Lobby. (Laetitia Brock)
Have you been to The Sweet Lobby yet? It’s one of my favorite spot for Macarons in the District. This week, the Eastern Market boutique is celebrating its second birthday by giving us birthday gifts. Starting today through Friday, June 7, the pastry shop will be giving out a different treat to patrons who stop by The Sweet Lobby. It’s worth a trip to Capitol Hill.
All you have to do is like them on Facebook, pick up an anniversary cards, which will be distributed throughout the week, and get it stamped for a different free specialty item very day of the week.
Pretty sweet right? The giveaways are: Monday 3rd June – free eclairs; Tuesday 4th June – free shortbread; Wednesday, June 5, free cupcakes; Thursday, June 6, free Madeleines; and last but certainly not least on Friday, June 7, free Macarons!
It gets even better. Get your card stamped each day for a chance to win one of five amazing prizes, including the Grand Prize of a full selection of catered treats by The Sweet Lobby, for you and 20 friends! Wish me luck and happy birthday to The Sweet Lobby!
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From Kim Vu. He also has his own food blog, DC Wrapped Dates. Follow him at@dcwrappeddates or email him at kim[AT]borderstan.com.
Edgar at YOCAKE, 1829 M Street NW. (Luis Gomez Photos)
As much as any major city, food crazes have a habit of coming and going in DC in quick succession. PX, The Gibson and The Columbia Room, among others, ushered in a wave of craft cocktail programs and speakeasies.
From their home, any Borderstan resident can probably walk to four or five mid-price-range restaurants with exposed brick or a converted post-industrial decor.
For some trends, the jury’s still out: craft ice, anybody? But there’s no doubt that at least two of these concepts have taken root in this city, and have demonstrated incredible staying power: cupcakes and frozen yogurt.
To wit: Georgetown Cupcake’s lines still regularly stretched around the block; and the ever present expansion of yogurt-serving shops SweetGreen, Fro Zen Yo and Pinkberry.
Cupcakes and Yogurt
It’s into these markets that YOCAKE boldly steps in. Located on the very southern edge of the Borderstan neighborhood, YOCAKE is the second location of a Bethesda-based brand that sells both cupcakes and frozen yogurt. It’s not a new model by any means (see: the TangySweet/Red Velvet Cupcakery mashup on P Street, or cupcake sales at Mr. Yogato), but unlike other previous attempts, it’s one brand behind both.
Sitting on the second floor of a townhouse, the look is polished and clean and quasi-futuristic, with its use of purples and silver and glass. In many ways, it’s quite a juxtaposition from its neighbors on the block: bars/lounges like Mighty Pint and Ozio, kabob houses and the strip club Camelot.
The array of cupcakes is impressive: solid favorites like red velvet or triple chocolate are interspersed with lavender lemon, almond and pear and peaches and cream. The cupcake recipes from the brother-sister team that own YOCAKE are derived from their mother’s French culinary training, though we’re told that “they’ve been sweetened a little” to match the American palate.
And then there’s the piece d’resistance: the eponymous YOCAKE itself, a serving that features a cupcake topped by frozen yogurt. On this trip, we didn’t have a chance to taste it, but the thought itself sounds quite decadent.
Located at 1829 M Street, YOCAKE is now open for business.
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