And the Winner Is...The Best of 2012

Winner: Cakelove

Tie-Breaker: Aside from being wildly entertaining and informed about their cupcakes, one of the staff members at Cakelove had on a Wu-Tang Clan shirt with every member of the Wu-Tang Clan's names on it. I guess that's a fairly shallow reason to break a tie but do you know how many people are in the Wu-Tang Clan? Enough to put on a shirt. 

Congrats Cakelove!

R.I.P. Russell Jones

Winner: Georgetown Cupcake 

Tie-Breaker: The Sweet Lobby has amazing macarons and won Cupcake Wars' All-Stars with their MacTop creation. However Georgetown Cupcake cleverly debuted their cupcake hamburger at the start of the summer picnic/BBQ season and didn't forget the special sauce, poppy seed bun and cheese. But let's face it, food in the shape of others foods versus food on top of other foods is pretty creative. 

Congratulations Georgetown Cupcake!

Winner: Buzz Bakery 

Tie-Breaker: Baked and Wired has kickin' cool flavors like the Smurfette and the Fat Elvis that are beyond creative and big enough for two people. At the same time Buzz Bakery has the creative genius of Tiffany MacIssac who made an appearance on Sweet Genius. They also scored a 4.3 on their review compared to the 4 received by Baked and Wired. Overall both bakeries are awesome and yes, I gave Baked and Wired points for being next to a moat. Wait, that is a moat, right? 

Congratulations Buzz Bakery!

Best Cupcake Food Truck: Curbside Cupcake

Curbside Cupcake has a special place in every D.C. resident's heart as the first cupcake food truck. It's destined to go down in D.C. history with Marion Barry and  Ben's Chilli Bowl or Yum's carryout. With new locations in Pentagon City Mall and Union Square, they've revolutionized the food truck industry...lobbied and withstood city regulations and at the end of the day keep it classic.

Congratulations Curbside Cupcake!

Best Liquor Infused Cupcakes: Pretty Girl Cupcakery 

Pretty Girl Cupcakery is an oasis in the cupcake desert of Prince George's County, MD. They explore with various flavor choices but still keep it classy, San Diego. Their liquor-infused strawberry champagne cupcakes have been personally tested by yours truly (twice, don't judge me) and I am pleased as punch to congratulate them on their win!

Congratulations Pretty Girl Cupcakery!

Best New Bakery: Pretty Girl Cupcakery 

Pretty Girl Cupcakery is an exquisite cupcake shop located in suburban Maryland that is truly making its mark on the cupcake scene. They deliver on their promise with delightful waitstaff, innovative technology all housed in a perfectly pink and vanilla box shop. 

Congratulations Pretty Girl Cupcakery!

Best Online Bakery: The Butter Scotch Shop

The Butter Scotch Shop is one of my favorite online bakeries. Their moist and fluffy creations are reminiscent of my own grandmother's cupcakes; and that is hard to do. Owner Brandiss Smith creates each batch with love and delivers with a smile. 

Congratulations to The Butter Scotch Shop!

Best Vegan Cupcakes: Sticky Fingers Bakery

Although most shops have adopted handsome vegan and gluten-free offerings, Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights, DC is the Vatican of veganism. It would be a travesty for them not to win this category. Further rockstar baker, owner, author, and two-time Cupcake Wars winner, Doron Petersan is the face of veganism in D.C. 

Congratulations Sticky Fingers Bakery!

Winner: Sprinkles Cupcakes

Tie-Breaker: Although I'm still steamed that DC doesn't have a Cupcake ATM or ice cream store, I am happy that they exist and are only a plane ride away. Further their expansion to the UAE is well, epic! But the true tie-breaker is their announcement of curbside service which makes the Critic very happy when attempting to park on those Georgetown Streets!

Congratulations Sprinkles Georgetown!

The Butterscotch Shop

Mini Lemonade Cupcakes/ Photo courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop

Review:  The Butterscotch Shop 

Location: Online/ Waldorf Farmer's Market 

Flavors: 14 Karot, What is that velvet?, Lemonade, Glory, and Sprinkle Me

Price: $20 per dozen

Score: 4.8

One of the challenges that bakers face is recreating the ‘magic’ with each batch.  Perfection gets sold while less-than-perfect gets tossed so; it’s a rare treat when you come across cupcakes that merge commercial uniformity with homemade goodness. To put it plainly, The Butterscotch Shop is the bomb!

Glory Pound Cake Cupcakes  /Photo courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop 

On a sunny Saturday morning, I would be gifted a box of six cupcakes containing five flavors:  14 Karot, What is that velvet?, Lemonade, Glory, and Sprinkle Me. I coordinated a meeting with owner Brandiss Smith, to pick-up cupcakes from her booth at the annual BowieFest. Meeting Brandiss and her husband was an absolute pleasure and I watched as each customer was treated with patience and kid gloves.

Lemonade Sunflower Cupcake/ Photo courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop 

Driving home with my cupcakes on the passenger side was so tempting but I refrained. Once I opened my cupcake container I immediately went for the lemonade cupcake which was the outlier in the group. The cake was crumbly and dense like it was a day old. The frosting was creamy but lifeless and didn't compliment the cake.

What is that Velvet? Cupcakes/ Photo courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop

With a website that boasts over 20 different flavors and a dozen retailing for $20 (plus a small delivery fee), I knew that there was goodness somewhere in my container of cupcakes. I didn’t lose hope. I chose the Glory cupcake next and was instantly in heaven! The cupcake was blissful with a slight icing drizzle. The texture was moist but with the expected density of a pound cake.

Eager, I went for the What is that Velvet? cupcake which also had a moist texture and the perfect chocolate flavor. The icing was cream cheese, I believe, but it tasted like heaven on my tongue.  

Sprinkle Me Cupcakes/ Photo courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop

Next up was the Sprinkle Me cupcake which was my favorite cupcake of the bunch. The texture was ultra-moist and flavorful. In fact, Butterscotch’s frosting is a true winner!  The homemade goodness is like nothing I’ve ever tasted on a commercial-grade cupcake. It reminded me of my grandmother's recipes which are hard to replicate (I know because I’ve tried).  Kudos to The Butterscotch Shop for that!

14 Karot Cupcake/ Photo Courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop

My final cupcake was the 14 Karot cupcake. What I loved most is that the cupcake wasn’t overrun with nuts or raisins which can get stuck in my teeth. Instead, biting into the carrot cake cupcake was delightfully moist, spiced to perfection, and that signature frosting acted as the bow on my cupcake present.

Look at all the sprinkles!/Photo courtesy of The Butterscotch Shop

Overall The Butterscotch Shop is amazing and there aren’t enough adjectives to describe how much I enjoyed these cupcakes. The best thing that you can do is visit them every Saturday at the Waldorf Farmer’s market from 9AM until 1 PM. Or place an order online and see for yourself the cupcake-goodness.

Happy Eating Cupcake Lovers!

*The cupcakes in this review were gifted however that did not persuade the thoughts of the reviewer.