Jefferson Market and Cakery celebrates its 3rd birthday with free cake and cupcakes

Contributor | Kim Bayer

For the third year in a row, owner Mary Rasumussen is celebrating Jefferson Market and Cakery's April 1 birthday with free cake (including chocolate caramel, champagne with raspberry buttercream, and chocolate and Bailey's) and a series of trompe l'oeil cupcakes.

Baker Alli Bila says that her one of favorite things about the anniversary is that every year they do something new.

Starting with an idea they saw on the TV show "DC Cupcakes," this year they've created their winged Mercury logo out of 256 cupcakes. Bila says the technique involves creating a grid and mapping out each cupcake individually. She says, "The hard part is piping one cupcake at a time and wondering is it really going to work."

Chinese takeout trompe l'oeil cupcakes

Contributor | Kim Bayer

By 9 a.m. this morning, the other 100 trompe l'oeil cupcakes they had made, imitating Chinese takeout, chicken legs and spaghetti and meatballs, had already been gobbled up. One mom said she was planning to serve them for an April Fool's dinner before heading off to the Fool Moon event downtown.

Contributor | Kim Bayer

After school lets out this afternoon, the rest of the cupcakes will be flying out the door. Rasmussen says, "It's going to get crazy in here!"

Kim Bayer is a freelance writer and culinary researcher. Email her at kimbayer@gmail.com.