Sunday, September 15, 2013

Charlotte Cupcakes - Novel Sweets

This week I tracked down Novel Sweets, a cupcake shop that strictly bakes vegan cupcakes.

I felt a bit like a detective trying to find a location with their cupcakes. I heard that Eco-licious carried the cupcakes, so I made my way to Commonwealth Ave.

It's the first time I'd been there, so I was in for a rude awakening when I tried to park in a parking spot along the street. They only allow backwards, angled parking. They had a sign that diagrammed how this should be done. It did look fairly easy. Nonetheless, I was irked that I had to re-park in the first place and that there was a fine for not parking the proper way, so I ended up leaving my car in the parking lot of a nearby diner.

After that mess I stopped into Eco-licious. They were all out of Novel Sweets cupcakes. They did have some healthy Twinkies, vegan Samoas cookies and other treats, but I was there for the cupcakes. The shop worker at Eco-licious told me that Novel Sweets has a stand at 7th Street Market and that parking for the first 90 minutes is free. Had I checked the Novel Sweets website, I would have known this.

I went to 7th Street Market and paid $4 to park in the ramp ($2 for every 20 minutes). Evidently I didn't park in the right place to get the first 90 minutes free.

After all that mess, the Novel Sweets cupcakes had a lot to live up to.

I found the stand, which was empty. The shop owner arrived within a minute though -- she was stuck in traffic. She asked if I wanted to wait until all the displays were set up or if I was okay with just getting some cupcakes. I happily took the cupcakes and saved myself another $2.00 in parking fees.

I chose three cupcakes out of their daily selection: a berry cupcake, a chocolate-peanut butter and a chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing.