Whisked! DC’s All-American Bakery

Jenna Huntsberger grew up baking all of the classics – from apple pie and chocolate chip cookies to blueberry muffins and scones. By college, she’d graduated to pâte brisée and focaccia. Fast forward to this summer, and the Adams Morgan resident just celebrated her local bakery’s five-year anniversary.

Huntsberger started Whisked! with the motto “Let’s see what happens,” at first selling her all-natural products exclusively to the 14&U Farmers’ Market. Now, her self-funded business sells to more than 40 stores and four farmers’ markets in the DC area, and makes a line of custom desserts for Cava Grill. The baker and her team work out of a space in Northeast DC’s Trinidad neighborhood with a giant oven that can bake 600 cookies at one time, a perfect fit for her increasingly popular “handcrafted American classics.”

On Tap caught up with Huntsberger to talk about her all-American treats available this summer, what sets Whisked! apart from other area bakeries and how she likes to spend her time in the District.

OT: What patriotic treats is Whisked! offering for Independence Day celebrations?
Jenna Huntsberger: For the Fourth of July, we [make] all the classic [pies] – apple, blueberry, peach and cherry, along with our famous key lime pie with a graham cracker crust. We use fresh lime juice in the filling, and it has this great sweet and sour thing going for it.

OT: How do you switch things up in your baking repertoire each season?
JH: Because we work with seasonal produce, we update our menu every month with new offerings. We get really excited when peaches or strawberries come into season, because we don’t get to work with them all the time. And our customers get excited, too.

OT: What are your best-selling items?
JH: The salty oatmeal cookie is our most popular cookie. It has the perfect balance of sugar, oats, flour and butter, and the kosher salt we sprinkle on top is the perfect accent. For pies, the sea salt chocolate chess, another salty-sweet creation, is always on the top of the list – it’s a rich, fudge-like chocolate pie that we top with Maldon sea salt.

OT: In a city with a thriving baked goods scene, what makes Whisked! unique?
JH: I started this bakery because I wanted to make desserts that I loved to eat – handcrafted, unfussy, American-style desserts that focus on flavor. Customers love that we put flavor first. We make American-style drop cookies because they’re comforting, nostalgic and the kind of cookie people crave. And because we let seasonal produce guide our menu, our pie and quiche flavors run the gamut from classic to unique. Flavors like strawberry lemon pie, spring greens and feta quiche, and pumpkin chocolate pie really stand out.

OT: When you’re not baking, how do you spend summers in DC?
JH: Rock Creek Park is on the top of my list. It’s so amazing to have such great trails and nature walks right in the heart of DC. I also love to go to the farmers’ market on the weekend if I’m not working at one of our markets. The Mount Pleasant Market is closest to us, and I can see all my producer friends and pick up food for the weekend.

Find Whisked! cookies at area Whole Foods; pies, quiches and cookies at Yes! Organic Market; and a variety of treats at Glen’s Garden Market in Dupont and Shaw, Each Peach Market in Mount Pleasant, and Radici in Eastern Market.

Learn more about Whisked! at www.whiskeddc.com.

Photos: Tracy Conoboy and courtesy of Jenna Huntsberger