Baked & Wired is in!!!! Georgetown Cupcake is silent...still

Yum, my personal favorite cupcakery has committed to the First Annual DC Cupcake Contest.  Where's Georgetown Cupcake?  After two attempted contacts...nothing.  Wow.  Wonder if they are afraid....

8/8 Update: Cupcake Contest Competitors

To date, the first Annual DC Cupcake Contest is generating quite a bit of interest. Here are the competitors as of now:

Professionals:
The Baltimore Cupcake Company
52 Cupcakes

Baked & Wired

Amateurs:
Amanda Gregory
Catie Woolley
Tiffany Rose Goodyear

Out of Towners:
PattiCakes (Bryn Mawr, PA)
Sweet N Sassy Cupcakes (Newark, DE)
Nostalgia Cupcakes (Annapolis, MD)

Cupcake Contest - Call for Entries!

It's on!! Yes, I've finally secured a date and a location. Thursday, September 25th at the elegant Washington Club, located in the heart of DC at 15 Dupont Circle. The time is TBD, but will be held after normal work hours. Entries will be accepted in three categories:

• Professional
• Amateur
• Out-of-Town

There will be 3 entries allowed within each category:

• Vanilla with Chocolate Icing
• Chocolate with Vanilla Icing
• Wildcard - where creativity counts

Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Samples for the audience are encouraged in addition to the official entries.

More details will follow, please stay tuned. If you are interested in signing up to participate, please contact me at jmcollins71@yahoo.com.

Blogger's Block!

I have Blogger's Block.  I have lost my blogging voice.  I have lots to tell my readers - I've been busy for sure, but just can't seem to find the words to say it.  As the BF chided me, "You just need to think outside the blog."  Well, in the absence of having a compelling blog post, please do stay tuned to J-Coll's Tidbits as I do update those frequent.  I read nearly 250 blogs daily (thanks to the genius of Google Reader), so you'll get a microblog post there that you can usually count on.

Oh, and I have a solid lead on a fantastic location to host the cupcake-off.  Will update more once its secured.

And, I had PattiCakes (my fav Philly cupcaker) two weeks ago.  They wow'd me as usual.  Chocolate with Peppermint Icing.  Yummy!

Ok, over and out.  Hopefully, I will be super-inspired to blog tomorrow.  

The Cupcake-off: Event Status & Call for entries!

The upcoming cupcake contest aka the First Annual DC Cupcake-off is really starting to gain some momentum.   Here's the latest details I can share with you:

1. Location, location, location - we have a couple of embers in the fire, just need to nail down the details and confirm the date.

2. Sponsors needed!  To cover the incidental costs...  Interested?  Please contact me!

3. Call for entries - its now official...  Think your cakes are best best?  Well, prove it!  There are 3 categories - Local, Out-of-Town, and Amateur - with only 3 contestants in each.  So far, I have 1 amateur, 2 out-of-towners, and some serious interest from 2 local cupcakeries.  Please send all requests for entry to me directly at blondesiview(at)yahoo(dot)com or comment below.  I will forward the contestant rules to you directly.

Please forward this to friends, family, fellow bloggers, your boss, whomever!

Stay tuned - more contest details to follow...

A Cupcake Coma!

As I lay here dying... I thought I would share the details of the cupcake-induced coma in which I find myself. On a whim, a co-worker of mine and I ventured into Georgetown in search of a sweet treat to satisfy our mid-afternoon slump. Somehow she convinced me to give Georgetown Cupcake a second chance (to which I reluctantly agreed?!?!) After trying to navigate down narrow Potomac Street and being very frustrated by delivery trucks taking up all the parking spots, I was mildly encouraged because the line was the smallest I'd ever seen - only extending out to the front step. It was all good til I saw the last guy in line - leave. Never a good sign. So, I rolled down my car window and asked how long he'd been waiting. He responded, "Not long, but I hate lines!" As a long-line-hater myself, I took off and headed straight to Baked & Wired, secured parking easily, waited in a minimal line of 3 people and ordered my cupcakes. How easy was that? Super easy! So, I trekked back to the office and devour the chocolate birthday cupcake with vanilla icing. The cake itself (which I cut the bottom off so as to give the cake itself a fair evaluation sans the sweetness of the icing) was nothing short of delectable. Really. Moist but not flaky - it stood up nicely to my knife. Very chocolately, but not overpowering. I would have been happy with the cupcake bottom by itself, but the white icing was a like a little cloud of heaven. I'm in love and in a coma right now.

And, I told the lady waiting on me about the Cupcake-Off - she was really excited and told me who to get in touch with to set it up. Yay!

CupCake Controversy: A Cupcake-Off! Who has the Best Cupcakes?

The Cupcake controversy in DC may soon come to an end.  I'm pleased to announce the 1st Annual DC Cupcake-Off!  It's like a bake-off but with cupcakes!  Here are the details:

There will be 3 DC entries from local cupcake stores (hopefully the ones I've been covering); 3 out-of-state cupcakes (will magnolia take the cake?!); and 3 amateur cupcake bakers.  Each cupcakery will be able to enter up to four recipes.  A panel of independent judges will select the winners in each category.  There will be bloggers, Twitterers, cupcake connoisseurs, paparazzi, food critics and more hoopla than a circus!  Stay tuned for the details.  Its tentatively scheduled for May 29, pending location confirmation.  If you are interested in participating in one of the cupcake categories, please email me directly at blondesiview@yahoo.com or leave a comment.