The LOVECafe

While walking around U &13th street I came across quite the block. What is this: Cakelove and the Love Café? How can two opposing bakeries survive on the same block, with roughly the same name? Turns out I was dead wrong; Cakelove and the Love Café are the same bakery with the same owner, Warren Brown that guy whose in the American Express ads for small businesses.


I was lured into the Love Café by the sight of dozens of plump cupcakes sitting pretty in their case. Immediately I went in and had a Red Velvet and German Chocolate cupcake boxed up, to be consumed after dinner. But after a filling meal at Dukem I resolved to have them for breakfast leaving them in a seemingly safe spot in the hotel room I was sharing with my mother. Well, in the morning all that remained were a few crumbs, to which my mother replied that the squirrel who snuck into the room the evening prior wanted to leave me a message saying they were moist and delicious. Thanks Mom.

So, on my next visit to U Street I was determined to have some cupcakes for myself. I went back into the Love Café and took the time to look around while waiting in line. The walls were rough brick and the dining area was filled with cozy little nooks with dim lighting. “Too bad I’m in a long distance relationship,” my guy friend who accompanied me remarked, “this is like the perfect place for a cupcake date. I would score major points for bringing her to a place like this.” If we could all have a boyfriend as smart as him, the world would be a better place, and there would have to be a Love Café on every corner.

I finally got to sink my teeth into a Strawberry on Chocolate cupcake and was quite surprised by the chunks of real fruit in the frosting and the deep chocolate taste and relatively fine crumb of the cake. Perfect cupcake, but then again for $3.25 it better be. This is not your everyday cupcake place, but rather that treat at the end of the week, or the end of the semester depending on your disposable cupcake income.

Since that first cupcake, I have tried the Elvis Cake, a banana cupcake lathered in peanut butter buttercream dipped in chocolate ganache; Cookies & Cream, a vanilla cupcake topped with Oreo buttercream, Vanilla & Caramel and Raspberry on Vanilla. I cannot decide on which I like better the fruitier flavors or the full on fatty peanut butter and chocolate. It’s tough but I would recommend that after a night spent on U Street you should never go home empty-handed, get a box of these instead!