Let Them Eat Cake
Cupcake, actually.
Instead of ordering a big, fancy wedding cake, Rob and I decided on something a little more in keeping with our "finger food" theme: an array of cupcakes and pineapple buns, set out on a cupcake tree. (A Chinese dim sum staple, pineapple buns are like less-sweet custard donuts. Their name comes from the crinkly texture of the top of the pastries, not any kind of pineapple taste.)
I considered ordering the famous CakeLove cupcakes, but the per-cupcake price and the hassle of having to pick them up in D.C. on the day of the wedding led us to instead choose Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe, an Arlington-based German bakery I'd heard good things about.
There was a good bit of confusion when we got to the bakery -- not realizing at first that there was a woman specifically tasked to deal with weddings and special orders, we took a number and waited our turn in line -- but once we sat down with our sample cupcakes, all was fine. The original cupcakes we'd reserved to taste -- one yellow, one chocolate, both with white icing and blue flowers -- were actually kind of disappointing. The cakes themselves -- particularly the chocolate cake -- were splendid. But the icing -- and I'm usually a big fan of icing -- was so overpoweringly sweet, it completely obscured the taste of the cake.
While waiting in line, though, we'd also spotted an interesting cupcake with pink-flecked icing (it turned out to be yellow cake with raspberry buttercream icing). That cupcake was perfect, much less sweet than the other cupcakes, but much easier to appreciate. After we expressed our enthusiasm for the buttercream, the woman helping us also brought over a slice of yellow cake with lemon buttercream icing to give us an idea of how that flavor tasted. Yum yum yum.
The final order: 60 cupcakes, 20 each in the following flavors:
- Yellow cake with lemon buttercream icing
- Yellow cake with raspberry buttercream icing
- Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing
After so much sugar overload, we needed something completely different to cleanse our palates -- and detox -- a bit. Since the bakery also had a deli counter, we decided to order lunch there, with me getting a bratwurst (and suppressing a sudden craving for German potato salad) and Rob ordering a chicken curry sandwich. Good stuff -- and I'm looking forward to going back again.