Daily dispatches on the Washington, DC area's food, restaurant and dining scene.

The Opening Day Scene at Hello Cupcake

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By Ann Limpert   Published Monday, August 25, 2008

Comments

$3 for a TINY cupcake that is about three bites and not even all that high end quality at all. That greasy icing ... that is all lard - crisco shortening my friends. That’s how they make it so light and fluffy... oh and pretty much tasteless as well. What is even worse, is that after paying the $3 for a cupcake to take home for a friend, they put it in a ~paper bag~, resulting in their nicely decorated cupcake - which is all it has going for it - turn into a smushed up piece of crap when you get home, with the icing ending up all over the inside of the bag (not to mention grease marks from the icing all over the bag too). Real great for $3! You’re better off getting a Tasty Kreme donut in a bag for .70 cents, and it tastes better too. $33 for one dozen of these? You’d have to be out of your mind. You could make two dozen at home for only $4 ($1 box and two $1.50 icings on sale), and they would even taste better too. The cupcake shop is a great idea, but they are not doing it well at all. For a $3 cupcake, I want QUALITY! For what they serve, it’s barely even worth .50 cents! And I still don’t think I would buy them for .50 cents either.. they are just not all that great.

Posted by: DMCinDC, Sep 26, 2008 02:55:15 PM

I’ve tried 5 different flavors of the cupcakes at Hello Cupcake and was really only a fan of one of them--the triple coconut. The triple coconut is moist and full of flavor, unlike the others I’ve had there. I love the concept of Hello Cupcake but was surprised by how small the cupcakes are for the price! If a dozen cupcakes cost $33, they need to be melt-in-your-mouth good!...which isn’t quite the case at Hello Cupcake.

Posted by: Cakelover, Aug 30, 2008 05:35:33 PM

The banana cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting is out of this world!

Posted by: Sarah, Aug 29, 2008 11:37:37 AM

Hands down the best cupcakes in the area! Hats off to the chefs and the Owner. And people, give ’em a break re: the wait and lines. Its their first week.

Posted by: CupcakeLover!, Aug 28, 2008 10:07:43 AM

Tip of the hat to the chefs, great job!

Posted by: Cuppie Cake Boy, Aug 27, 2008 08:05:54 PM

Hands down the best cupcakes with the best and most interesting flavor combinations in the city. The most friendly and helpful staff as well. I wish them nothing but the best of luck as opening a retail food business in this town is very difficult and stressful, people can be very critical when they have never been in the food business. Good Luck!!!

Posted by: doubleg, Aug 27, 2008 05:53:52 PM

Of the 4 that I tried, my favorite was the original yellow with chocolate icing. Now THAT is the perfect frosting, and while the others ’cakes had too much frosting, I couldn’t get enough of this one. (oops, maybe I should’ve kept that as my little secret!)

Posted by: dccake, Aug 27, 2008 01:40:01 PM

I haven’t been yet. Think I’ll wait until the lines die down, but nobody has compared Hello Cupcake to the Baltimore Cupcake Co. There’s an Olney location of the BCC, and I can tell you that their cupcakes are out of this world! Anybody care to compare the two?

Posted by: Roy, Aug 27, 2008 12:31:27 PM

Personally, I think I’ve had better cupcakes out of Betty Crocker box. Cake was average and the frosting was stale. Also of note were the cupcakes’ size. Pretty small, if you ask me. I know gas prices are high and restaurants are cutting back portion size -- but c’mon. For $3, I’ll opt for a happy hour beer next door at Big Hunt or a Krispy Kreme donut from across the street.

Posted by: Cupcake Connoisseur , Aug 27, 2008 11:40:05 AM

Are people smoking crack? Who would pay $3 for a small little cupcake?

Posted by: Roger, Aug 27, 2008 10:11:36 AM

Stood in line 20min for a Velvet Elvis and Peanut Butter Blossom. Both were delicious with moist, fluffy cake and not too sweet icing. I’d definitely wait in line again!

And to SpottieOttieDopaliscious: I mean, really, who could anticipate a 100-person deep line for CUPCAKES, that lasted for hours!

Posted by: TK, Aug 27, 2008 09:00:38 AM

I had the 40 Carrot cupcake yesterday and I wasn’t impressed. I only waited about 15 minutes, but it wasn’t worth it. The cake iteself was good with it’s little chunks of carrot. But, the frosting was so-so -- a very sugary cream cheese. Frankly, I can do better myself and an entire batch would be about $3.

Posted by: Allie, Aug 27, 2008 08:54:25 AM

The place is cute and the cupcakes delish. I wasn’t impressed with the staff, they weren’t friendly or helpful. The lines will die down, don’t worry about that! It’ll only be NEW for so long.

Posted by: CBS, Aug 27, 2008 08:37:13 AM

This is a place for frosting lovers - I don’t care for frosting and found that there was too much and it was too rich and sweet. The cake part was good. Wish they had some low-fat varieties along with their vegan and gluten-free.

Tried: prima donna, de lime & de coconut, triple coconut, and you tart. Fav was the triple coconut.

Would love to see them add cupcakes with fillings or add-ins in the cake - right now they only have the PB&J with a grape-jelly center.

Posted by: AM, Aug 27, 2008 08:26:18 AM

Hello Cupcake ranks second in my opinion to Baked and Wired in Georgetown, with Sticky Fingers in Columbia Hts a close third. Georgetown Cupcake is lucky to beat out Cakelove for fourth in my opinion- talk about overrated. Hooray for Hello Cupcake!

Posted by: Cupcake Expert, Aug 27, 2008 08:22:18 AM

I’m a huge fan of this place! I’ve tried a couple of their cupcakes and my favorite is the black and white. It was fantastic!

Posted by: Jessica, Aug 27, 2008 08:21:55 AM

Best Cupcake in the City!!! I waited about 40 minutes on opening day... tried Heart of Darkness (very rich--- perfect with a cup of coffee or glass of ice cold milk), Prima Donna (surprisingly good and fresh strawberry buttercream frosting), Triple Coconut, and Peanut Butter Blossom. The cake itself was moist, and perfectly light. But what will really set this place apart is their frosting... not the dense, almost sugarless hunk of butter atop cakelove, nor the "almost but just not there flavor" of Georgetown cupcake. This one is it! I hope more locations are coming.

Posted by: DW, Aug 26, 2008 10:12:42 PM

I had their cupcakes today and have declared they are the second best in the DC area, if I was in the area I might go, but if I had the time I’d go to Georgetown Cupcake any day over it... better cake, better frosting, better people...

Posted by: So..., Aug 26, 2008 09:09:22 PM

So happy Hello Cupcake is finally open! I was lucky to get there a little before the long lines began, and was surprised since it was lunch time and I only spent 15 minutes in line. People should expect long waits and high demand since the shop is just opening, but don’t get dismayed. The cupcakes are definitely worth the wait. I’ve tried a number of different flavors...Triple Coconut, Peanut Butter Blossom, Velvet Elvis, 24 Carrot, Gluten Free Carrot, Vegan German Chocolate, and Vanilla Gorilla, and they are all amazing.

I review DC/MD/VA cupcakeries on my blog, www.delleicious.blogspot.com, for those cupcake lovers out there looking for the best cupcakes around where they live!

Posted by: Danielle of Delleicious DC, Aug 26, 2008 07:46:11 PM

I’ve tried CakeLove and didn’t know what all the fuss was about. For those of you who are looking for a sweet treat from a cupcakery without all of the dyes and preservatives, Hello Cupcake is it. They have found that difficult balance. A moist yet fluffy cake and a creamy not greasy or overly sweet buttercream frosting fullfills the urge to a tee. I have yet to try one topped with the ganache.

Posted by: Seasoned Palate, Aug 26, 2008 12:59:01 PM

I wish I could give a review of the cupcakes. I got in line yesterday at 4:30pm and waited 45 minutes and only made it to the door. Had to leave for an appointment.

The cupcakes looked good, but by that time they only had 4 varieties anyways. I wish they would have told the people in line that information, as I probably wouldn’t have waited to try to get one.

Posted by: Beth, Aug 26, 2008 12:02:31 PM

Stopped by there yesterday with a friend around 11:40am and after reading some of these comments, I realize how lucky I was! The line was a breeze, there were probably only 4 people in front of us...we both got a 4-pack of cupcakes and decided to try one each at the super cute store (we both had our triple coconuts). delicious! the frosting was oh-so-yummy. when we left the store, a line was starting to form out the door, so realized we got there at a really good time. can’t wait to try my root beer float, prima donna, and 24 carrot!

Posted by: Nancy, Aug 26, 2008 05:40:14 AM

the cupcakes where awesome and what a great place. Good luck to the staff and owners.

Posted by: Scott, Aug 25, 2008 10:12:03 PM

It WAS a long line but I heard the staff say that they chefs had been there since 3 am baking so I don’t know how much more prepared they could’ve been. Definitely well worth the wait, my ’you tart’ was delicious even though it was gluten free.

The staff was also very friendly, especially the guy with glasses who helped me with my order :)

Posted by: Neonyte223, Aug 25, 2008 06:53:29 PM

the line was expected -- long overdue GOOD desserts only joint in wdc. the velvet elvis was supa-licious! the vegan cupcake was delish and tooth achingly sweet! unfortunately i didn’t get to try the seasonal fave or any of the other interesting flavors, but that just means another trip!

Posted by: VandZ, Aug 25, 2008 05:43:42 PM

We were planning on making an office trip over there around 3:30 today, but had the sense to call first, and they told us the line was about 100 people long. The cupcakes sound good, but I think we’ll wait till next week to try them out.

Posted by: Catherine , Aug 25, 2008 02:19:22 PM

WTF was up with that line? Are the cupcakes free? I guess any place that is better than Cakelove (pretty low bar because that place SUCKS) will get some good traffic.

Posted by: Scott, Aug 25, 2008 01:56:48 PM

This place will never touch Baked and Wired in Georgetown. Never!

Posted by: SpottieOttieDopaliscious, Aug 25, 2008 12:10:34 PM

I just came back with my gluten-free You Tart! The icing was delicious (if a little too much of it). The cake was sort of dense, but that may be the gluten-free biz. It wasn’t my first choice (or even my 5th). On opening day, they should have planned better. There were maybe two dozen cupcakes left, in only three flavors after I stood in line. They were about to close down and reopen freshly stocked 90 minutes later. Uh, no I cannot come back at 3pm. I’ve already stood in this line for far too long.

Posted by: Ra, Aug 25, 2008 11:20:37 AM

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