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| Almond cupcake at Alexandria Cupcake |
Olde Towne Alexandria is a haven for restaurants, so it stands to reason that one could find a good cupcake place, nestled between all the various antique shops and eateries. The newest, Alexandria Cupcake opened a little over three years ago at 1022 King Street (about where Olde Towne really starts to get interesting.)
Climb a few steps and you enter a tiny but well-kept space with limited seating and an attractive display case. I arrived relatively early (just after 11:00 AM) and had planned on eating in; but the window seats were taken by a job interview. I wasn't kidding when I said it was small. I was warmly greeted by a friendly cashier who took my order for an Almond cupcake (one of their special offerings.) Six bucks (and some change for tax) later, I walked out with two individual cupcakes (I picked up a Dark Chocolate for a friend) safely housed in eco-friendly, transparent containers.
I couldn't wait until after lunch, so I dove in to my cake right around the Alexandria Circuit Court. The almond icing was airy and delicious, topped with slivers of almonds. Unfortunately, the cake wasn't close to matching: It wasn't necessarily dry, but had no taste whatsoever. Almond cake should taste like almonds, shouldn't it? I barely tasted yellow cake (whatever that tastes like.)
Service was excellent, and I loved the icing; but the cake left lots to be desired. I'll have to try them again some day.
Appearance: B (Top looks great.)
Atmosphere: C- (Small and dark... not very inviting, but clean.)
Cake: D (Zero taste... strange.)
Icing: A- (Really, really good.)
Value: B
Overall: B- (Yet another place that pays lots of attention to the icing, and nada to the cake.)
