Nichelle, my best friend from college, and I, have a long-standing joke about our gluttony. It started with her saying, “You know you’re fat when… you sweat when you eat.” From there, it has of course, escalated, and spread through our friends. “You know you’re fat when… you get two bagel sandwiches, one for breakfast, and one for lunch, but eat them both in under five minutes,” and “You know you’re fat when… your friend passes out on the couch and you eat her Taco Bell nachos because she wasn’t going to eat them,” are two of the more memorable ones.
However, this statement has never been more applicable until my last trip to Red Velvet Cupcakery. My co-workers and I walk down to the Penn Quarter store on a regular basis for either cupcakes, or for TangySweet, the frozen yogurt shop next door, which is the sister of Red Velvet. On this said day, my co-worker and I each purchased two cupcakes. Before we even made it down the block, the delicious, heavenly, cakes of yum were gone, to which I promptly said, “You know you’re fat when… you eat two cupcakes in under a minute.” We tried to think of excuses for why we devoured them so quickly, such as “it was cold outside and no one wanted to hold the box” and “the cold will ruin the flavor,” but the real reason was because the cupcakes are phenomenal (and also because you know you’re fat when you make excuses for devouring food). I’ve been there at least fifteen times, and have never been disappointed. Ever!
I was lucky enough to sit down with Stephanie MacGlaughlin, Executive Chef at Red Velvet, and Lindsey Teaters, Assistant Chef, to discuss all things cupcake and more.
JS: How did you get into cupcakes?
SM: I just walked into it. I was working at another shop, and walked past this store. Turns out they needed a pastry chef. It’s been two years since then.
LT: Same way. I’m from Arizona, and walked past and became the assistant pastry chef. I’ve been with Red Velvet since June.
JS: How were the locations chosen? I saw online that two more locations are opening in northern Virginia… any chance there’s one in Arlington?
SM: Red Velvet is a family-owned business. Aaron (the owner) grew up in DC, and his mother, who lives in Arizona, wanted a part of it, so there are now two locations in Arizona. Both of those are Red Velvet only, not TangySweet. The one in Dupont Circle is mainly a TangySweet, so the cupcakes are baked here and driven up to Dupont. The one in Reston is just a Red Velvet, but everything is baked there. This one is the only full-sized Red Velvet and TangySweet. We are opening a location in Clarendon. It’s still under construction. It’ll be called Rabbit, and will serve upscale salads and sandwiches and stuff (including our cupcakes), and will be both sit-down and takeout.
JS: When I walked in next door, I noticed the menu had changed to include muffins. What’s going on with that?
SM: Our muffins will be launched on February 1st, and will include apple, blueberry, lemon poppyseed… whatever is in season, and what we can get locally. The store will now open at 8am during the week, instead of 10am.
JS: So what flavors are up next?
SM: For the Superbowl, we’re doing a chocolate covered pretzel cupcake. It’ll be pretzel flour with a chocolate topping. For Valentine’s Day, we’re doing one called “Hidden Desire”. It’s a flourless chocolate cake with brandied cherries inside and topped with white chocolate buttercream. For St. Patty’s Day, we’re doing a Black and Tan cupcake. There are always the standard flavors and one specialty. The specialty flavors run Fridays until Thursdays, and only for a week. We started with eight flavors and it’s gone from there.
JS: Great. I’ll be back a lot to try all of those! Is there anything you’ve done that you didn’t like?
LT: The mango ganache on chocolate cake one.
SM: If we don’t like something the first time, we’ll just keep adjusting it until we like it. Sometimes we just have to start from scratch.
JS: How do you guys come up with the flavors?
SM: We work with Ciji Russell, the chef in Reston, to develop new flavors. The chocolate covered pretzel one is actually Ciji’s recipe. We usually start with one thing we like, and then go from there. We did a chocolate habeñero one last year that turned out well.
LT: We did a caramelized onion batter cake with goat cheese frosting recently that did well, too.
SM: It smelled like onions in the shop during that time. It was a little strange. We also did a bacon one before using bacon in baking became popular. Sometimes our customers give us ideas, too. One came up with the Funky Monkey, a banana cake with peanut butter and honey topping.
JS: The website mentions that you do wedding cupcake-cakes. Is that popular in DC?
SM: We’ve done about twelve or thirteen, and we have a bunch coming up. We’ll work closely with the florist and everyone else, to get the colors matched and flowers incorporated or whatever. With the weddings, we’ll do a 6-in cake to be used at the cake-cutting ceremony, but that’s only for weddings, and we’ll do mini-cupcakes or regular sized.
LT: We do a lot of customizing, with company logos, showers, bachelorette parties.
SM: We get creative. We don’t use fondant, so everything is done by hand and with frosting (side note: we had an extremely funny conversation about their bachelorette party cakes. Contact me for details!).
JS: Are your cupcakes available anywhere else?
SM: We’re a member of the Concierge Association, so people in hotels can have our cupcakes delivered. We also provide cupcakes to the restaurant, 14K, and Marvelous Markets in Capitol Hill and Foggy Bottom.
JS: Do you guys bake at home?
LT: Generally no.
SM: Sometimes brownies. Usually from scratch, but I’ll doctor up a box. I like cooking, too, so when I’m home, I’ll cook a three-course meal for my roommates. They love it.
JS: What is your worst customer story?
SM: We had a customer who didn’t like her cupcake. She said there weren’t enough sprinkles on it, so she put it on the counter and shoved it at us, and it fell to the floor.
JS: All because of sprinkles? What did you do?
LT: We just gave her a new one with lots of sprinkles.
A huge thank you to Lisa Pinghera of Linda Roth Associates for setting this up, and thank you again to Stephanie and Lindsay for taking a break from their crazy schedule to sit down with me. When you go, be sure to try the specialty flavor, and the Summertime, and the Carrot Cake, and the Morning Call, and the Key West, and the Vanilla Bean, and everything else there. You won’t be disappointed! Be sure to take small bites and savor every little delicious crumb.
-JDS
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