I spent this past weekend in Washington, DC to visit my sister, Madeline, who is a senior at George Washington University (also my alma mater) and my friend, Sarah, who happened to be in town for a conference.  Having spent four years living in the District, making the trip always feels a little bit like going home, where you can expect to see the same people and do the same things.  This time, however, I had two missions: see the cherry blossoms and eat a Sprinkles cupcake.

Washington, DC, while only 230 miles south of New York City, is about one full month ahead of us seasonally.  Springtime comes earlier and so do the cherry blossoms.  My visit coincided perfectly with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which commemorates the 1912 gift of 3000 Cherry Trees from Japan to the United States.  Madeline and Sarah had never been, and I had only been once.  Here are some glamour shots.

Post Cherry Blossom ooing and ahhing, we headed to Georgetown for some shopping and eats, specifically, cupcakes from the newly opened cupcakery Sprinkles.  Sprinkles was started in Beverly Hills as the “original cupcake bakery” and is credited for started the cupcake craze that has swept the nation and is alive and well in New York City.  And while the other cupcake shops in Georgetown, Baked and Wired, and Georgetown Cupcake (which unfortunately stars in the Food Network show DC Cupcake) do offer gluten-free options, I was on a mission to taste-test the cupcake that would soon be arriving in the Big Apple (May).

Sprinkles feels very much like Pinkberry, modern, bright, clean, but in an appealing way that makes you want to sit and enjoy your purchase.  However, on a Saturday afternoon in busy Georgetown, the line was out the door and the space didn’t allow to relaxed seating and crazy lines.  As I approached the woman to place my order, I was nervous because I didn’t see any gluten-free cupcakes in the case.  There were, however, about 10 other flavors ranging from vanilla to peanut butter banana.  I inquired about gluten-free, and indeed it was available, but only in red velvet. Each cupcake is marked by the signature concentric candy circles to indicate flavor, and my gluten-free cupcake was marked with a red candy G.  It was cute and practical.

Even though I saw folks enjoying their Sprinkles cupcakes with wooden forks and knives, I decided to forgo this option for the traditional cupcake eating method and took a huge bite.  What I got, was a big mouthful of cream-cheese frosting.  It was delicious, but where was the cake?  I had to resort to cutting it in half with a fork, because without it, the frosting heavy cupcake would fall over.  That being said, I really, really enjoyed my cupcake.  The red velvet was moist and rich.  The depth of flavor was impressive for a cupcake; it actually tasted like chocolate devil’s food cake (which is what red velvet is, dyed red).  It passed my gluten-free baked goods test: no xanthan gum aftertaste, no crumbling when manipulated, and NOT DRY!

I left DC satisfied.  I had spent time with important people in my life, played tourist for a bit, and discovered a new, delicious, gluten-free treat that I can enjoy in NYC as well!