hello cupcake (Washington, DC)

I've been to so many places last week but I haven't gotten to blog about any of them (including a DIY oatmeal post) because I've been kind of busy. Anyway, I visited hello cupcake, Dupont Circle location, on June 17.


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Premise:

One day, out of the blue, a participant of the Cornell in Washington program brought in two dozen cupcakes from hello cupcake to share. They were so pretty, so I wanted to visit the store itself. I can never get enough sweets... Yelp gave the store a 3-star average rating. It is right across from the Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread walkway (which I visit... very often)

My Experience:


I walked into the store, and I realized that it was kind of small. I visited Georgetown Cupcake (DC Cupcake) a few weeks ago and their store was bigger and, in my opinion, had better display of the cupcakes.

I ended up buying three cupcakes, at $3 each.

By the way, I just want to say that I hate Blogger. WHY CAN'T I ADD CAPTIONS???! Wordpress has been doing that for years.

Anyway, the cupcakes were packed in cute boxes with a sticker to close off the box.

And inside, the cupcakes are nicely stored by a cardstock separator. The flavors I purchased were "Heart of Darkness," "Prima Donna," and "Peanut Butter Blossom".

*OKAY people I might switch back to Wordpress because it is just plain annoying having to use Blogger's outdated system. I can't even edit my photos??! Wow. Lame.*

The cupcakes do look very cute. Oh all right - all cupcakes are cute! (Above: peanut butter blossom; below: heart of darkness)

Rating:

Price Range: $$

The cupcakes were all for $3. I gave this one two money signs because the store is on the more expensive side of cupcakes (well, compared to how much I would normally spend on dessert).

Environment: 3/5 - average

I didn't find the store to be very "cute". I think it was too sparsely decorated, and the seating (of which I neglected to document) was too open. The tables and seats were in plain view of the cashier's station, so I didn't feel that the setup was cozy enough. Good thing is that the store is in Dupont Circle, which is easily accessible.

Food: 3/5 - average

I don't know if it was because I went to the store in the evening (8pm), but the cupcakes I had from there were always too dry. The sides of the "muffintop" were definitely too dry and hard for my taste.
The icing was pretty good - fluffy and nice, not grainy and overly sweet. I appreciated that hello cupcake understood the aesthetics of food, because the packaging and decorations were done correctly.
I liked the cupcakes, but they weren't all that special.

Overall: 3/5 - average

Why average? Well, for one, the cupcakes weren't amazing. I had cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake (DC Cupcake) that were better than the ones here, and the ones at Georgetown Cupcakes were cheaper ($2.75), too!
To get the most bang out of your buck, go to Georgetown Cupcake where the atmosphere, display, price, and taste of the cupcakes were much better than hello cupcake. I guess DC Cupcake had its own show for a reason.
I would visit hello cupcake if I have an intense craving for cupcakes. Otherwise, I would much prefer to get cupcakes from Georgetown.