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Great vegan desserts
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Art Smith, this post is for you.
On this summer's Top Chef Masters, Oprah's personal chef, and owner of Capitol Hill's Art and Soul, completely fell to pieces when he had to make dessert for actress and singer Zooey Deschanel, a vegan with a gluten intolerance who also does not eat soy. To say he failed miserably is an understatement. Deprived of butter, eggs, and milk, the best thing he could come up with was a store bought rice ice cream, which he enhanced with a ribbon of strawberries and a piece of brittle. (Art: why not turn the brittle into a topping for a fruit crumble?) He went home that week.
Contrary to popular belief, vegan desserts are not the scary, dense, tasteless things barely deserving of the name "dessert" and some great ones can be found in our nation's capitol.
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Vegan chocolate cupcake from Red Velvet Cupcakery
A list of places with great vegan desserts would be remiss if it didn't mention consistently award-winning Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights. Not exclusively a bakery -- it also serves vegan entres, sandwiches, and soups -- Sticky Fingers offers cupcakes, cookies, scones, muffins, sweet rolls and buns, and even caters wedding cakes, and at an average price of $2.00 per dessert, a fairly inexpensive option.
Sticky Fingers isn't the only place in town with great vegan cupcakes. If you find yourself in Penn Quarter, head over to Red Velvet Cupcakery. Their vegan option is a moist chocolate cake with a dense and decadent chocolate ganache, topped with a crunchy candy ($3.25/ea). Dupont Circle's Hello Cupcake changes their vegan selection frequently, but on the day I went, it was a light and moist vanilla cake with strawberry -- made with actual strawberries! -- icing ($3/ea).
Incredible vegan baked goods can also be found at such locations as Java Green and Busboys and Poets, thanks to Pennsylvania-based Vegan Treats, an exhibitor at last month's fantastic DC VegFest.
Ice cream more your thing? Try Summer Delights in Takoma Park, where they make their own soy ice cream in house. Sticky Fingers also serves the cold stuff, courtesty of Temptation Ice Cream, and Vegetate offers vegan gelato and sorbet from Dolcezza.
Bottom line: This is just a small sampling of what DC has to offer vegans for dessert. The best way to discover other sweet vegan treats is to get out into your neighborhood and explore. If your favorite restaruant or bakery doesn't have a vegan option, mention it to the management, or ask if there's a way for the chef can accomodate your dietary needs.
Where to find:
Sticky Fingers Bakery: 1370 Park Road NW, near the Columbia Heights stop on the Green/Yellow lines.
Red Velvet Cupcakery: 675 E Street NW, between the Archives and Chinatown-Gallery Place stops on the Yellow/Green Lines
Hello Cupcake: 1361 Connecticut Avenue NW, near the Dupont Circle stop on the Red Line
Vegan Treats: available various locations; for a full list, please visit their website
Summer Delights: 6939 Laurel Ave, Takoma Park, MD, near the Takoma stop on the Red Line
Vegetate :1414 9th St NW, between the Mt. Vernon Square and Shaw-Howard University stops on the Green/Yellow lines
Dolcezza: carious locations; for a full list please visit their website
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