Tag Archives: Columbia

Guest Review | Dessert Affairs Kiosk | Columbia, MD

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I couldn’t ask for a better co-worker than today’s Guest Reviewer (and fellow blogger), Deidre. She not only loves sweets as much as I do, but she often acts as a taste tester for my kitchen creations and never objects when I bring a cupcake in, hoping she’ll share with me so I can have a partner in crime. If you love fashion and sewing in addition to sweets, you should check out her blog, Sew Hot Mommi. Today, she has taken a break from threads and patterns to share her review of Dessert Affairs, a cupcake kiosk at the Columbia Mall located in Columbia, MD. Thanks Deidre!

One of the side effects of working with a cupcake blogger is a heightened awareness of the confection. When “cake-to-frosting” ratio is a part of the normal office banter, you can’t help but become hyper sensitive to their presence. And with the explosion of bakeshops specializing in the diminutive treats, I see them literally everywhere.

Now normally when out shopping at the mall, I’m on a mission, in and out as quickly as possible, mainly out of respect to my wallet. However, recently I was in the mall, with my power-walk going, when I’m stopped dead in my tracks by of all things…a cupcake kiosk. Who knew! Evidently Dessert Affairs did because they’ve taken up residence in Columbia Mall. Now as a self-professed sweet-aholic, I felt compelled to stop and was greeted by one of the friendliest bakers I’ve met. When I do a little blog name-dropping, i.e., that I’m pals with the Cupcake Crusaders, the red-carpet is rolled out and I get star treatment.

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So let’s start! For a satellite location, they’re pretty well stocked. Owner, Atiba de Souza, rattles off 11 flavors for starters and lists several more that are back at his store in Rockville. I decide on a half-dozen including: Cinnamon Caramel Apple, Strawberry and their signature Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake. Of course I go right for the signature cupcake and I must say, it was yummy!

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(Signature Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake)

The frosting was superior! Not too much and not too sweet. Even a sweet-aholic has her limits. The chocolate cake was moist, which is an absolute must in my book. My only comment would be on the filling. I was hoping for something more…hmm…homemade as the strawberry filling was more of a gel. Guess I was hoping for bits of fruit, but it wasn’t distracting so I enjoyed it all the same. Next to cross my palette was the Cinnamon Caramel Apple.

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(Cinnamon Caramel Apple)

Flavor wise, this was in the yum buckets category too. However, I would classify it as more of a breakfast treat as the cake was denser than anticipated, which wasn’t a bad thing. I could imagine sipping tea with this to the side. Frosting was a wee sweet for me though, but the texture was surprisingly smooth.

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(Strawberry)

Last tasting honors were given to the Strawberry cupcake. Decent enough, nothing that wouldn’t satisfy the urge for dessert, but wasn’t quite as memorable as the other two.

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Now because this is a kiosk, I’ll end on giving them kudos for décor. There were enough eye-catching props to invite you in. Final analysis, I would have to say, well done Dessert Affairs, well done.

MAIN STORE: Rockville, MD (by appointment only for design consultations)
MALL LOCATION:  Columbia Mall, Columbia, MD

– Review by Guest Crusader Deidre (Maryland)

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Favorite Cupcakes on the Outskirts of Baltimore City | Touché Touchet Bakery and Pastry Shop | Columbia, MD

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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)

Oh, What a Cake!

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Over the past month the Crusaders have been working hard to prepare for a series, which will be featured on our blog next month. Going along with our “Top 5 in Baltimore City,” featured on kimberlyloc.com last November, this series will be our Top 5 favorite places outside of Baltimore City (but still within a short driving distance). This means we have eaten A LOT of cupcakes. So, for February, we decided to share some of the new spots we’ve visit, but you’ll have to wait until March to see our final Top 5 picks.

While we were visiting a few bakeries in the Columbia area, we made a stop at Oh, What a Cake. Although it seems like they are mostly known for their custom cakes, they do sell some baked goods at their storefront, including cupcakes. The selection was fairly simple with vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, lemon, almond and maybe a couple of others. I decided that I didn’t want to go overboard, since this was going to be a big cupcake day for us. My cupcake selections only included the almond and lemon. Stacy also purchased the almond cupcake and Elisa got the red velvet. I also decided to try the red velvet cake pop.


(Top left to right: Almond & Lemon cupcakes. Bottom left to right: Red Velvet cupcake & Red Velvet cake pop.)

Our review for each cupcake is pretty much the same. They are good, but not great. We didn’t find any flavors or qualities that stood out and made us think, “Wow!” The cake was moist and light, with a texture similar to what can be achieved with a box mix. Unfortunately the flavors were the same.

The real star of this trip was definitely the cake pop. It was very moist and rich, almost truffle-like. This made me wish I’d gotten the two other cake pop flavors, vanilla and chocolate.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been disappointed with a bakery whose main purpose is for wedding and custom cakes. If you are looking for a cake, the reviews are fantastic, so I wouldn’t pass them up. However, if you are looking for cupcakes that make you say, “Oh, what a CUPCAKE!” I would suggest skipping them.

– Posted by Cupcake Crusader, Jenn (Westminster, MD)