black and white cookie | Cupcake Crusaders

Every Tuesday for the month of March (and the first week in April) we will be counting down our Top 5 favorite cupcake places outside of Baltimore City. In order to make sure we did the proper research and included places that would “qualify” we decided that any place that was within a 20 to 45 minute drive from the Baltimore City boundary would be included. If you don’t see a place that you think should have been featured in this Top 5 let us know! We do our best to research where the cupcakes are, but there is no better way to find out than a recommendation!

During our research to find our Top 5 places outside of Baltimore City, we came across Touché Touchet Bakery and Pastry Shop located in Columbia, MD. Touché Touchet creates beautiful cakes, cupcakes, sugar cookies and even makes savory pastries and delicious coffee for those who might be looking for something to go with their sweet treat of choice. Since it isn’t located in the shopping/restaurant hub of Columbia, we had never been there before.

On the day we visited Touché Touchet, we had the pleasure to be accompanied by my sister and her two adorable daughters. Our niece, Lylah, is 2 years old and already showing signs of being a little cupcake connoisseur.

(Lylah enjoying a basic vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. Her technique is still a bit questionable, but her enthusiasm makes up for it).

As you can see in the above photo, Touché Touchet has a great little seating area complete with table lamps and adorable cupcake table clothes. Seating areas are a great bonus to any bakery or cupcakery, especially when you’ve got the little ones with you.

While you probably don’t mind reading about the shop itself, I’m sure what you are really interested in is the cupcakes? Well, the ones we tried were great! Here are our reviews:

Peanut Butter and Jelly

I’m a big fan of PB&J cupcakes, but before trying this one at Touché Touchet I had only found one other that I really loved. To me, there is something special about taking two nostalgic foods and combining them together. The peanut butter frosting was rich, light, creamy, and not too sweet. Then, the dollop of tart raspberry jam you see on top was only the tip of the iceberg.

I’ve never seen so much filling inside of a cupcake before! Normally it’s just enough to give a little surprise, but the filling in this cupcake ensures you get the full PB&J experience with every bite.

Chocolate Raspberry

Like the Peanut Butter and Jelly, Chocolate Raspberry is another favorite flavor of mine. So much so, that I rarely encounter anything with this mixture that I’m not a fan of, but this cupcake makes others look insignificant. It may be a contender for my ultimate favorite Chocolate Raspberry cupcake. The filling was the same featured in the Peanut Butter and Jelly, but instead paired with decadent, moist, and chocolatey cake and frosting.

Peanut Butter Chocolate

Jenn ordered this cupcake and said that it uses the same great cake from the Chocolate Raspberry and the smooth, creamy peanut butter frosting from the Peanut Butter and Jelly to create a deliciously classic cupcake.

Key Lime

This Key Lime cupcake was one of Elisa’s two selections. She said that it was moist and sweet, with a subtle key lime flavor. Elisa typically prefers a citrus flavored cupcake which has the flavoring in the cake or the icing (or both) and not just in a filling, like this cupcake. However, once she got to the filling, it all came together for her and she thought the key lime flavor was very nice and worked well with the vanilla cake and the light, sweet, icing.

Black and White Marble

This was Elisa’s second selection and she really enjoyed it. She said, “the mixture of icings was playful and a delight, and the cake was a traditional marble cake, which I rarely see and absolutely love. The chocolate icing was really very good and stands out as the signature component of this cupcake.”

Overall we really enjoyed our time at Touché Touchet. The atmosphere and the cupcakes were both great and are the reason why this “new-to-us” shop has taken the #4 spot on our Top 5 list. While it might not be in a super convenient location for any of the Crusaders, I hope to return and enjoy more cupcakes with a cup of coffee in their quaint seating area. And who knows, after more visits, maybe they will move up our Top 5 list?

If you are in the Columbia area, we would highly recommend stopping by Touché Touchet the next time you are on the hunt for some tasty, large, gourmet cupcakes!

– Posted by Cupcake Crusader, Stacy (Baltimore, MD)

Recently, we’ve been surprised TWICE with cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake. Being a Cupcake Crusader definitely has its perks! The first set of cupcakes, reviewed by Crusader Elisa, were from her good friend, Laura. Because of Laura, we were lucky enough to taste the brand new New York City flavors! The second set of cupcakes, reviewed by Crusader Stacy, were a surprise from her boss who had meetings scheduled in DC. Both were great unexpected treats and we are happy to share our reviews of the cupcakes here!

Elisa’s New York City Flavors Review:

NYC cupcakes in DC! Or is it DC Cupcakes in NYC?! People had to have been cheering on Feb 11, 2012 all over NYC, because Georgetown Cupcake opened their doors on 111 Mercer Street in Soho. While the crusaders have loved Georgetown’s DC (and now Bethesda) location for years, our NYC friends have had to make the the journey to the DC area or be content with our write ups about them – until now!

To celebrate their grand opening, Georgetown Cupcake created some “Big Apple” inspired flavors that were available at all three locations through the end of February. And of course, the Crusaders HAD to try them. (Have we also told you that we are huge NYC fans too?) Luckily, a dear friend and fellow Georgetown Cupcake lover, Laura, was coming to visit me in Baltimore and stopped by the Bethesda location to pick some up! (Check out Georgetown Cupcakes Facebook page to see all the flavors that were available in NYC!)

The three flavors available to us are as follows:

NYC Cheesecake

While this might not be your traditional “cupcake,” because it was basically its own little mini cheesecake, it has all the flavor of a NYC cheesecake, with that special hint of citrus that makes NYC cheesecake stand out from all the rest. The taxi cab fondant topper was not only adorable, but tasty! And no one can deny the fantastic-ness that is buttery graham cracker crust!

Black & White Cookie

These cookies are more like cake for me and are always something I drool over when I am in NYC. This cupcake is just as drool worthy! The mix of vanilla and chocolate frosting was sweet and decadent. The cake was tasty and moist, all around, this is a cupcake I’d like to see make itself a spot on the permanent menu in DC!

Big Apple Crumble

By far the BEST apple cupcake I have ever eaten. The cake was full of apple pieces and was moist and buttery. The icing was a cinnamon and buttercream explosion of flavor, with brown sugar on top that created the flavor and texture of the “crumble” topping my mom puts on top of her apple pies. Even the fondant apple decoration was cinnamon flavored! I would pay very good money to have this cupcake again, and again, and again.

The three NYC cupcakes were all cute and tasted great! I’m so glad that Laura picked some up for us and that we could all enjoy them! (Next time, I’m not sure I’d be willing to share the Big Apple Crumble though!)

Stacy’s Surprise Cupcake Review:

Just a little while ago my boss came into the office with a dozen cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake’s DC location. I would have been perfectly happy taking all twelve flavors home with me, but being the kind co-worker I try to be, I shared with the office. (Okay, maybe I didn’t have much of a choice, but I PROMISE I would have shared if I did).

Luckily the office is small, so I got to have three flavors all to myself. I have never tried the classic flavors from Georgetown, so I decided this would be a good opportunity and selected a Chocolate2, a Vanilla Birthday, and one fun flavor – Coconut.

Chocolate 2

This cupcake with Valrhona chocolate cake and a whipped Callebaut chocolate frosting was any chocolate lover’s dream. While the cake was a bit crumbly, the frosting easily made up for it with its rich, creamy, and decadent wonderfulness. Normally I wouldn’t get a cupcake again if the cake wasn’t really nice and moist, but the frosting on this is worth every penny.

Vanilla Birthday

Although this cupcake with Madagascar bourbon vanilla cake and a sweet vanilla buttercream frosting wasn’t the best vanilla I’ve ever had, it was still pleasant. It was light and smooth, a classic that any cupcake lover would enjoy. The best part was the rainbow sprinkles. These aren’t any normal sprinkles, they have a fruity candy flavor that matches the “birthday” part of their name.

Coconut

I’m a big fan of coconut anything and this cupcake lived up to all my hopes. The cake was filled with coconut shavings and packed with flavor. The vanilla cream cheese frosting balanced it all out and stayed in the background, letting the coconut really shine. The abundance of coconut shavings on top might seem like a bit much, but it only sealed the deal for me. I think this might actually be one of my new favorites (along with the NYC flavors Elisa reviewed above).

I’m often reminded of how lucky I am to work with such great people, and this was one of those times. The fact that my boss made time in her day to get cupcakes and lug a big bag around DC is just awesome. And what could be better than sharing cupcakes with co-workers? I can’t think of a better way to bring a team together. 🙂

– Posted by Cupcake Crusaders Stacy and Elisa (Baltimore, MD)