Chocolate Cake or other Dessert Rec for Mother's Day - Virginia

[Sasha360]

Hi,

I'm going over to my Aunt's house for Mother's Day and she has requested that I bring a Chocolate Cake or other sweet dessert.

I would like it to be...

1) Something that will travel well
2) Really good quality or special in some way
3) Located in Virginia reasonably close to either Centreville (where I live) or Vienna (where she lives)
4) Not huge as there will only be 6 of us at dinner

Also, I doubt this will narrow down the field much, but my Aunt has mentioned to me before that she doesn't think the cakes etc. from Wegman's are anything special...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[chowser]

For convenience, you could swing by Shilla's bakery in Centreville. It's on 29, near 66. It's a Korean bakery with some fun desserts/cakes. They are Korean style, though, so more on the lines of light fluffy sponge cakes. My favorite bakery is Victoria's Cakery in Fairfax City, on the way for you but I'm not sure you'd be able to get something at this point. In Vienna, I've had luck at Cenan's on Main.

[Sasha360]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the Korean style baked goods when it comes to cakes or "fancier " desserts. I did however find the website for Victoria's Cakery in Fairfax City...so I'm glad to hear they are good. I'll have to try them next time. I'll check out Cenan's tomorrow on my way. Thankfully my Aunt called today to tell me she is making a dessert. So now if my choice tomorrow isn't so great at least I know there is backup.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Steve]

I tried Victoria's Cakery. The frosting was the showy kind: super-duper sugary to mold prettily, but icky to taste. I didn't think much of the cake either, so I struck out.

Cenan's makes some nice pastries, it's a good place to know about, but again is pretty weak on cake.

I've had more success doctoring box cakes.

[chowser]

Interesting, I've found the opposite at Cenan's. The pastries have been on the dry side (although croissants and other flaky pastries only taste good for a short time after being baked, imo) but we had a key lime cake there that was very good--maybe it was the simple syrup that kept it moist and it had a nice tang to it.

I did try (Crumbs) Bakeshop in Arlington today. It was a light cake, moister than other cupcakes I've had. The frosting is still too sweet for me, though much lighter than the dense overly sweet Victoria's cakery. I had the Elvis which had an odd banana taste to the frosting. I do prefer the buttery dense cake from Victoria's over light fluffy cakes which remind me too much of box cakes. I've never had a decent doctored box cake.

[Steve]

Crumbs is a big chain. Not to be confused with Bakeshop on N. Fillmore St.

If it was Elvis, I'm guessing it would have had some peanut butter in with the banana flavor.

When I'm near Cenan's again, I'll try the key lime.

[chowser]

Thanks for the heads up. We drove by it, unplanned and I saw the "Bakeshop" with "Crumbs" in smaller letters and thought that was it. I've never heard of Crumbs but just looked it up. The Elvis was a yellow cake w/ banana frosting and mini peanut butter chips dipped on the side. We also tried the cookie dough. They weren't bad but I wouldn't get them again.

[Mulan]

I am a big fan of Tivoli Bakery. They are associated with the Watergate Bakery. Unfortunately they are at Ballston and Rosslyn so doesn't fit your location criteria.

[Sasha360]

I actually used to work right near the one in Rosslyn. Definitely went there a few times to get office birthday cakes. But yeah, farther than I wanted to drive for this occasion.

[Steve]

"Other sweet dessert" in my opinion would include a tiramisu cake from Pastry Xpo. Nice stuff. I have had so much trouble finding any kind of decent cake in NoVa, that I have mostly turned to making them myself - and I am not particularly good at it.

www.pastryxpo.com

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Pastry Xpo
8190 Strawberry Ln, Falls Church, VA 22042

[Sasha360]

Never heard of them, the website looks promising though. Thanks for the suggestion. I had thought of just making a cake to bring...your right, finding good cake in NoVa is no easy task.

[Steve]

They sell most of their cakes as individual pastries as well, so you could always 'test' drive' one to see if you like it. The tiramisu was the only one I really liked, though.