Cupcakes are the new Cocktails

When a friend, who had recently announced she was pregnant, came for dinner last week I wondered what could serve as a stand-in for cocktails?  Hmmm...cupcakes?!

This is not too bad of a trade-off.  Calorie-wise cupcakes are comparable to many if not most sugar-laced cocktails.  And while cupcakes mean lingering over small bites instead of sips, the ensuing banter, gossip, and bonding remains the same.  Plus serving cupcakes requires no lessons in mixology--a variety of styles are readily obtainable from the myriad of cupcake eateries that seem to open monthly in the DC area.

Crumbs, the New York City based cupcakery, descended on DC a few months back.  In order to maximize the shared experience, I went for their signature variety pack, which gets you 12 mini cupcakes for $18.  The unique, fabulous sounding flavors included cookie dough and grasshopper.  And before you judge, please note that we did not eat the whole variety pack by ourselves-- our husbands gladly helped us out.

And while the ensuing conversation was memorable, the cupcakes were entirely forgettable.  All tasted of variations of the same blandness.  If I had my eyes closed discerning between any two would have been a challenge.  While the raspberry swirl and red velvet were the best in the pack, neither measured up to any of the available flavors I've tried thus far at Baked and Wired and even Georgetown Cupcake.  While Crumbs has a seemingly endless variety of visually appealing softball sized cupcakes, they are going for quantity over quality in their franchising.