The Happy Tart

They make very delicious Petit Fours. My favorites are rasberry flavor and almond flavor… definitely recommend this place. From the outside the store looks very small. but the goodies are delicious… that’s what counts…

My husband ordered me a gluten-​free chocolate torte cake from this bakery while we were in Alexandria for my birthday. It was a little difficult to find this place because it’s tucked away, but when I walked in, I was so pleased with the gluten-​free and soy-​free options! Having food intolerances is a pain, and bakeries like this are really awesome to find because I don’t have to worry about getting sick after eating a product. I wish there was a location for us down here in Cary, NC!

Delicious variety of pastries. The chocolate raspberry volcano is one of the best deserts I’ve ever had.

Ordered a gluten-​free pecan pie as a birthday surprise… To say the pie was delicious would be an understatement. This pecan pie was AMAZING… Per the pecan pie loving birthday man, «one of the best pecan pies» he’s ever had. Such great flavor! I also snagged a couple macaroons when I went to pick the pie up — equally delicious. Can’t wait to go back to try more of their sweets!

We have been getting cakes from this place since a year and finally I’ve had the last straw and decided not to get anything from here anymore. Their best cake is the opera cake. However, despite our numerous feedbacks and complaints, this place does not seem to get their act together and find appropriate boxes for their cakes. Their boxes are too small for their cakes. As such, when you have a couple of opera cakes to go, when you come home, half of your cake is missing because it got stuck on the top part of the box. If you want to pretend to be a French bakery, start respecting the cakes you bake and pay attention to presentation. Putting two words of French on the walls does not make you European. You would go out of business in Europe in no time if you tried presenting your cakes the way you do here.

I have said it once before, but The Happy Tart is truly amazing! I hosted a shower this past weekend and the colors were pink and gold. I sent them a copy of the invite and they matched it perfectly, better yet none of the guests even noticed that the cupcakes were gluten free! They tasted delicious and were a hit!

My favorite gluten-​free bakery in the area! The storefront is a little difficult to find because it is not exactly on the street as you would expect. Nevertheless, their cupcakes, cookies and pastries are all amazing. I found the texture of their products to be pretty consistent with traditional baked goods, which is always impressive. Their english muffins are also a good staple to have in the kitchen. Just be sure to visit the bakery early enough in the day, otherwise some of the baked goods run out and you leave disappointed (as I have done a few times)!

This place is great, very friendly and accessible. I take a non verbal child with autism and they patiently wait for him to use a program on his iPad to communicate. I’ve never personally eaten here but he loves that he can pick out almost anything in the store.

This place is so so. It’s very small with a good selection of gluten free items. All items are gluten free. The owner is GF as well. It would make sense she’d create a GF bakery. It’s quaint, but a little pricy for what you get. Their tarts are good and their cupcakes are mediocre. They run $ 3.50 a pop.

I’ve been dreading writing this review since I picked my cake up a few days ago. Heard about this spot from a friend who is gluten intolerant. She convinced me to bookmark this place just a couple days before her birthday. I gladly took her advice and promptly ordered a chocolate cake with cream cheese filling for her big day.
Ordering over the phone was a breeze and it was nice to receive the email as confirmation. The young lady who took my order was energetic and pleasant over the phone, made me look forward to the in person visit. Upon arriving, I was told I earned a free pastry just for walking in. Seems that first timers get this treat as incentive to return. Once my treat was bagged, this is when the fun stopped.
I pointed out the beautiful, however, lonely birthday cake sitting in the carousel. I was immediately suspicious when the two associates threw puzzled looks at one another. There was some mumbling about not having a box. Wait. What? I asked to clarify and was told, after one of them disappeared to the back to confirm, «no we don’t have a box». I held my ground, as one might do if someone tried to cut you in the movie line. Surely they weren’t suggesting I hand carry this naked chocolate cake to my car and set it on my leather seats. All of a sudden one of the associates gets wide eyed — she had experienced her «aha moment» if you would.
The bright idea was to place this small cake in a box that was three times its size and put tissue paper around it. Shouldn’t get messed up they said. They even had the lady balls to ask if that was okay… What other choice did I have?
The explanation came out that they are moving the bakery to Falls Church and the other store had most of their supplies — to include small cake boxes. Needless to say the paper stuck to the cake and when pulled away, the cake then went with the paper. Tried my best to «smooth» things over but all in all, extremely disappointing for my first (and last) visit. Two bitter thumbs down…

I scheduled an appointment for a wedding cake tasting and was looking forward to it.
By the time my fiancé and I got there for the cake tasting, we were never greeted by 2 young employees once we walked in. I greeted and said hi and they just kept talking over me and continued their conversation while I’ve maintained eye contact with one of them. I said hi again and one of them finally said hi and asked how they can help me. I told them that we had an appointment for a wedding cake tasting at 4 and they mentioned that their manager who does the tasting was out. One of the employee called the manager and handed the phone to me. The manager explained that there was something wrong with someone’s wedding cake and will be an hour late. I told her that I’ll just reschedule…
I understood the crisis but it would’ve been nice if they called me ahead of time to reschedule and shouldn’t have wasted our time. It was a horrible experience.

This one will be short and sweet.
Review only pertains to their macarons, by far the best tasting macarons in the area.

Really cute & boutique style pastries. Hidden almost out of sight, but definitely NOT out of flavor. I was super indecisive when trying to pick my sweet for the evening, luckily I made a wise choice with The Opera… if you’re a chocolate lover & like becoming addicted to things, this will become your jam. TRUST ME. I can’t wait to explore more of this old town area, really great place :)

I called asking for a Komodo dragon gluten-​free, dairy free birthday cake to be ready in two days. The cake is a work of artistic genius, and delicious as well. It’s legend… wait for it… dairy-​free. Thanks, Happy Tart – you put the art in Tart!

The cake was exactly how I wanted it to be. Emma was a pleasure to talk to. She replied promptly to my emails. I placed the order just 2 days before. The cake was ready on schedule. I wanted a fondant cake with decorations matching the birthday theme for my son and they did a perfect job. I sent the picture of the theme to her and they even made the little cars look exactly the same. It was so neat and clean and a job well done. The cake itself was very very tasty. The only thing was the cream was not for adults. Maybe kids like those kind of stuff. So we ate just the cake leaving out all that cream. She suggested to add jam though which was a perfect idea. I posted a picture –the light blue number 1 shaped cake! Thank u so much guys! Surely recommend!

I became interested in gluten-​free baking when I contracted a stomach bug that caused my body to completely reject all things dairy, gluten, soy, and sugar-​related for two months. (It was exactly as fun as it sounds.) This experience opened my mind to alternative ways of baking — ways that I discovered could be just as good as their traditional counterparts. (I also moved to Alexandria and this is the closest bakery to my house, so there’s that.)
The Quiche Lorraine from The Happy Tart is far and away the best quiche I’ve ever had in my life. The flavor it packs is unbelievable — savory and rich and gorgeous and balanced in every way, especially if you stick your slice in the oven at 300 for 10 minutes when you get home. The crust on the quiche is actually slightly sweet — this is the perfect foil to the saltiness of the quiche filling as a hint of sweet is exactly what you’ll be craving in the last few bites.
Then there are the sweets on offer, which is a mixed bag at best. The Smores cupcake was solid but nothing to write home about. The lemon and lime mini-​tarts were good but again, nothing special. All the macarons we tried (three) had lovely textures but the taste of all of them could be summed up by «Meh.» The chocolate chip cookies, however, were amazing. Perfectly gooey and not too cloyingly sweet, they were the perfect size to be satisfying. The opera cake is much improved by being served at room temperature or slightly warmed. I loved that it wasn’t too sweet and you could really taste the coffee liqueur.
The thing that makes The Happy Tart for me is the service. It’s easily the best part of the whole experience. The staff behind the counter are SO sweet and playful and fun. We’re always very enthusiastic and they reflect that enthusiasm back to us, which I really appreciate. I’d recommend coming here just to joke around with them.
Tl;dr: This is a great little place and a huge boon for all DMV-​area Celiac and gluten sensitivity sufferers, so go and support a local business offering something unique to the community.

I super-​duper love this place – whenever I’m in Alexandria I always pop by to see what they have. I also really love that they offer holiday pastries, like Stollen during Christmas (chock-​full of delicious marzipan) and Irish soda bread for St. Patrick’s day (very chewy and filling!). I also really like when their 50% discount section, because usually the goods there are still pretty tasty.
Here’s a run-​down of what I’ve ordered over the past few years (I think I’ve gotten the flavors right)…
Apple fritter — flaky on the outside, warm and tasty apple on the inside!
Lemon cookie — I LOVE. Chewy and moist and oh-​so-​lemony.
Chocolate chip cookie — delicious! also chewy and moist
Dark chocolate cookie — I think you’re getting the picture now…
Ginger spice cupcake — from 50% section. pretty dry, but spicy gingered candy on top and a good cheesecake frosting.
Vanilla cupcake with seasalt and caramel — from 50% section. still managed to be moist and tasty, and the buttercream frosting was really good.
Brioche rolls — love these! I usually put them in my freezer and eat them over the course of a few months. They stay good for quite awhile.
Baguette — good, but you have to eat it very quickly because it’ll get hard by the next day.
Misc macaroons — usually from the 50% section. The texture isn’t great because they’re old (crumbly and broken), but they still taste pretty good flavorwise.
Stollen — (see above)
Irish soda bread — (see above)
Éclair — okay, the only dud I’ve had with them. I bought a FRESH éclair here and it tasted like it should have come from a 90% bin. The pastry itself was dry, stale, and didn’t taste like any sweet thing should — filling was all right but spilled all over when trying to eat the rest of the cake. I honestly couldn’t finish this.
Bottom line: The majority of goods here (95%) are pretty excellent, even from the 50% off section. I recommend the holiday pastries and brioche rolls — stay away from the eclairs!

I stopped here after the Del Ray Halloween parade. Everywhere was quite busy, but because The Happy Tart is tucked away at what looks like the end of an alley. It’s right next to a construction site (that I was told is going to be the new The Happy Tart location, but I cannot confirm). Because it’s somewhat out of the way, it wasn’t as crowded as a lot of other shops in the area. The outside tables were full, as there’s no seating on the inside, but I opted for a take-​out snack instead.
Upon entering, I was surprised by how small it is here. I wasn’t expecting a huge bakery, but I wasn’t expecting such a tiny area either. The service area was smaller than half of my bedroom. Right when you walk in is a single display case showcasing their current selection of sweets. To your right is a freezer with some baked breads.
The selection of sweets was pretty mediocre, in my opinion. They had the standard fare: cupcakes, tartlets, etc. I was expecting a little more variety in terms of cakes, though. However, the entire area was pretty busy so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. This is especially true because their online menu features a lot more than what I saw. There were a few empty spots in the display case that could’ve held more delicious confections. Perhaps they rotate their goods (because I don’t think there’s any possible way they can fit everything listed on their menu in their display case).
The cupcakes were super cute and I was almost going to get one, but I decided on the éclair at the last minute. There was only one left, so I figured it had to be good. At $ 4, it was a bit steep but it looked like it would be quality. I wasn’t wrong. It was delicious! The diplomat cream filling was delicious. Light, but so much so that it couldn’t compete with the pastry itself. The pastry was a bit harder/​chewier than what I was used to, though. I’m not sure if I prefer a harder (it wasn’t rock-​hard or anything) pastry. The chocolate coating on the outside was really yummy too. Usually that’s my least favorite part of eclairs, but I couldn’t stop myself from licking my fingers this time!
I will definitely be back to try more of their sweets. I’m so curious about their other desserts! I feel like I only got a very limited preview of what they had to offer and I definitely want to see more.

I had a great experience with Happy Tart! I ordered a custom cake for my engagement party and it was everything I wanted! The staff were super patient and made it very easy for me to share my cake design. Nikki, the cake designer, was wonderful and took the time to call me to make sure I got everything I wanted. The cake was the best surprise for my fiancé and we both really loved it! Although I don’t recommend eating an entire fondant figure in one bite, we may have gotten too excited.
My only comment is the cake was way too sweet for me and family, we generally feel that way about most cakes and I should have mentioned it to the happy tart team to see if they can reduce the sugar amount.
Other than that, great service and great product!

Thank you Unilocal for this wonderful find in Del Ray!
I was on the hunt for something sweet and wanted to try a different place in Del Ray. Using my handy dandy Unilocal app, The Happy Tart came up when I typed in dessert. Their shop is around the corner behind another building so you have to look for it. But it’s worth it! It’s a small shop that specializes in dessert. When we were there, they had cupcakes, mini tarts, macaroons, and pastries all on display. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day weekend, they also had Irish Soda Bread, which they were offering samples.
Everything looked delicious but we decided on macaroons (we were saving room for dinner. We chose the Lavender Cream and Blueberry-​Lemon Macaroons. The Happy Tart does not have inside seating but they had an adorable sitting area right outside their shop. This is where we sat and enjoyed our macaroons. We didn’t even ask them to wrap them up, we dove right in. These macaroons were pillows of sweet goodness. Light and baked perfectly and they had a good ratio of cookie to filling. Just writing about them is making me crave another one.
The staff was friendly and did not rush us while we were deciding what we wanted. Note– they are a Gluten free bakery which I will be recommending to my friends who are gluten free. But really, I’ll recommend The Happy Tart to anyone