Meet The Baker: Warren Brown (Pt.3)

My new series, Meet the Baker, features CakeLove owner Warren Brown. CakeLove currently has 6 locations throughout the D.C. metro area and has been highlighted by American Express, Dell, Inc. magazine, and Oprah Winfrey. Brown, a former litigator, is the author of 3 books and the host of the Food Network's Sugar Rush. This is the third and final installment of my interview with Brown at his downtown Silver Spring store where we discuss business, parenthood, his challenges and triumphs. Enjoy and don't forget to comment below!

Pick up Warren Brown's Books today!

                                         

Win A Dozen Cupcakes From CakeLove & an Autographed Copy of Their Book- Contest Closed

         ******Congratulations to the Winner Sarah Parnass*******

Enter to win a dozen cupcakes from CakeLove AND a signed copy of Warren Brown's new book, CakeLove in The Morning! Try their new and improved red velvet, banana or my favorite the vanilla-based strawberry cheesecake cupcake. Or you could fill up on the toffee crunch- the Cupcake Critic's official Cupcake Boo! 

To Enter:

1. Subscribe to the Cupcake Critic's blog

2. Leave a comment below with your e-mail address  

(To contact you about your winnings) 

3. Subscribe to my YouTube page (Optional)

4. Follow me on Twitter  (Optional)

5. Follow me on Facebook (Optional)

And just for kicks, check out my pinterest page! The more "likes" or entries, the better your chances of winning! Contest ends Friday, March 1, 2013.  But don't worry, you can also buy all of Warren Brown's books below! 

Good Luck Cupcake Lovers!

                                   

Event Recap: CapMac & CakeLove Team Up

Chef Brian, Chef Vickie and Warren Brown

CapMac, D.C.’s favorite food truck, teamed up with CakeLove, D.C.’s favorite cupcake shop, to bring customers the Sweet-N-Cheesy event! Team CapMac (consisting of Chef Brian Arnoff and Chef Vickie Harris) were on site at CakeLove s Downtown Silver Spring location serving up samples of their Marco Polo Mac (mac-n-cheese with red wine meat sauce) and their original mac (mac-n-cheese topped with extra cheese and cheez-its). 

L-R: Original Mac & Marco Polo Mac w/ meat sauce

CakeLove's Cream Cheese Frosting Flavors:
Nutella, Coffee, Lemon, Chocolate & Vanilla

CakeLove owner Warren Brown, served up 6 of their new cream cheese flavors which will be available for purchase later this year. Customers were encouraged to vote for their favorite flavor and think of names for each flavor ranging from chocolate, vanilla, lemon, coffee, nutella, and peanut butter. Ultimately peanut butter and coffee were voted the best flavors. I will keep my Cupcake Lovers posted on CakeLove's signature frosting to be sold by the container very soon!

The demo was FIYAH!

Team CapMac: Chef Vickie & Chef Brian!

Chef Vickie, The Cupcake Critic & Warren Brown 

Pick up Warren Brown's Cookbooks today!

                                          

Meet The Baker: Warren Brown- Part 2

My new series, Meet The Baker features CakeLove owner Warren Brown.  CakeLove currently has 6 locations throughout the D.C. metro area and has been highlighted by American Express, Dell, Inc., and Oprah Winfrey. Brown, a former litigator, is the author of three books and the host of the Food Network's Sugar Rush. This is the second installment of when I sat down with Brown at his downtown Silver Spring store to discuss: business, parenthood, his challenges and triumphs. 


                                      

Sweet & Cheesy: CakeLove & CapMac Team Up

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

One of D.C.'s favorite food trucks, CapMac, and D.C.'s own CakeLove are teaming up for a day of Sweet & Cheesy pleasure.  Team CapMac will be giving a live cooking demonstration to satisfy your cheese-loving side and CakeLove will be serving up 3-4 sweet samplings of their new cream cheese frosting for your sweet side. Attendants are encouraged to come up with some creative names for the frosting which will be used for CakeLove upcoming line of packaged goods. 

Also CakeLove's Warren Brown will be on hand to sign your CakeLove books...so bring'em out! Don't have one? No worries, click on the advert below and order your copy today!

When: Saturday, February 16, 2013
Where: CakeLove (8512 Fenton St. Silver Spring, MD)
Time: 1:00PM -3:00PM

                                                  

Meet The Baker: Warren Brown

The Cupcake Critic presents a new series called, Meet The Baker. Our first entry is Warren Brown, owner of CakeLove. CakeLove currently has 6 locations throughout D.C. Warren Brown, a former attorney, is the author of three books and the host of the Food Network's, Sugar Rush. I sat down with Brown at his downtown Silver Spring store to discuss: business, parenthood, his challenges and triumphs. Check out part 1 of the 3-part series. 

                                 

CakeLove Gets a Cupcake Makeover

Lemon blueberry Cupcake

Akin to the difficult decision of getting bangs or going from blonde to brunette, D.C.’s own CakeLove recently underwent a make-over by revamping three of their most popular flavors: banana, vanilla, and red velvet. After intense feedback from their customers, CakeLove owner Warren Brown blogged that he and his team went back to the lab and re-worked their  cupcake recipes from the ground up. Since many of their flavors rely on a vanilla cake base, the majority of their cupcakes have a completely different texture, taste and buoyancy.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Recently I stopped into CakeLove's Downtown Silver Spring location and tasted their new vanilla and red velvet cupcakes. The new vanilla cake is absolutely divine! It’s fluffy, moist and has a homemade flavor that is unmatched. Their red velvet cake is also moist however, flavor wise, it fits neatly into the category of “adequate” when compared to its competitors.

Tiramisu Cupcake

CakeLove has also added more alcohol-infused cupcakes to their offerings:  the lemon blueberry cream (a vanilla cupcake soaked in blueberry schnapps and topped with lemon Italian buttercream) and tiramisu. Both were outstanding and may leave you feeling a bit buzzed. In addition I had the pleasure of tasting their strawberry cheesecake cupcake which may be competing with the toffee crunch cupcake for the title of my “Cupcake Boo”.

L-R: Strawberry Cheesecake, Strawberry, Lemon Blueberry,
Salty Caramel, Tiramisu, Red Velvet 

Overall I’m a huge fan of the new changes and highly encourage you to try them out again. I’ve already been back- twice.

The Downtown Silver Spring CakeLove Crew

                        

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Cakelove (Silver Spring)

Cakelove (8512 Fenton Street Silver Spring, MD 20910)

Flavors: Toffee Crunch and Strawberry Lemonade
Cost: $3.35
Score: 4.5

Toffee Crunch Cupcakes 

I have to be honest...I've been avoiding a visit and subsequent review of Cakelove for some time now. My previous experiences with their cakes were less than stellar. Whether fresh out the box, fresh from the fridge or thawed, eating a slice of their cake reminded me of eating raw sticks of butter from the refrigerator. Nonetheless I've always enjoyed the success story of Cakelove owner and former attorney, Warren Brown.  

Over the past decade Brown has authored 3 cookbooks, hosted a show on The Food Network, and gotten nods from Oprah Winfrey, CNN, MSNBC, American Express and numerous others. Not to mention that Cakelove has grown to six locations throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. On this day, I would be visiting their Downtown Silver Spring location; only minutes from Silver Spring's red line station. If you can manage the chaotic downtown traffic, there is a parking lot within walking distance that is free after 7PM. 

When I walked into the bakery I was greeted by two ladies who were a sheer and utter delight. One young lady wore a Wu Tang Clan shirt listing every member of the group in alphabetical order- gotta love that. In addition, their knowledge of each cupcake flavor (about 12-13 in total with flavors ranging from salted caramel, s'more, and lemon coconut) was impressive. After a long deliberation on my part, I ordered one toffee crunch and one strawberry lemonade cupcake for a total of $6.70+tax. Little did I know that I'd be meeting my destiny.

L-R: Toffee Crunch and Strawberry Lemonade

After some shopping and a quick train ride home, I reached into my box and  pulled out the strawberry lemonade cupcake first. The cupcake's frosting was heaven in a cloud! It reminded me of a light and fluffy strawberry milkshake. The cake was a bit dense but complemented the frosting nonetheless. I kept licking the frosting in amazement like, "This is so flavorful! Give me more!"

I held my future in my hands: Cakelove's packaging

Eager, I reached into the box again and pulled out the toffee crunch cupcake  only to find myself in love! Topped with chunks of caramel-brown toffee, I couldn't keep my hands off of the chocolate delight with its fresh and fluffy cake coupled with a lightly whipped vanilla frosting and drizzled in salted caramel. Afterwards I affectionately nicknamed this cupcake 'My Boo' and seriously contemplated if cupcake marriage should be legalized...then I realized that it was the sugar talking. 

                                                       

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Cupcake Project #38 : CakeLove's Italian Meringue Frosting

CakeLove, and its owner Warren Brown (a former attorney), have been a D.C. darling for sometime now. Brown pursued his passion of professional cake-baking over a decade ago and has gotten head-nods ranging from American Express to Oprah. His passion has ballooned into a gig on the Food Network, three books, and six stores located in the finest DMV locales. I recently happed upon his podcasts and I am hooked! He's like the Bob Ross of cake-baking! Check out his calm demeanor as he shows you how to make CakeLove's signature Italian meringue frosting. Enjoy!

                                   

Meet CakeLove's Warren Brown

Photo courtesy of Cake Love

Meet Warren Brown, owner of CakeLove and author of  Cakelove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch, this Thursday, August 2, 2012 at their Shirlington location from 5PM-8PM. He will be signing copies of his new book, Cake Love in the Morning, which will be available for purchase while supplies last.                          

                      

                        

Cookbooks for Critics

The Critic's Bacon Maple Pancake Cupcakes

It's no secret that The Critic isn't a baker. Primarily because I am culinary challenged despite being an awesome cook. Daily I scour the internet searching for products that will either make me better or mask my infamous fake and bake (homemade frosting on top of box-mix cakes). I'm thinking if I had the culinary prowess of the Georgetown Cupcake sisters or the ingenuity of Doron Petersan of Sticky Fingers Bakery, I could be better. Welp, ponder no further Cupcake Lovers- these culinary conquerors have books! Here are some of the books in The Critic's library that are helping her improve her *ahem* whip appeal. Enjoy!