After the success I had in Cornelius last week, I figured, why not try and make it two for two.
When I Googled 'cupcake shops cornelius' a shop called SweetCakes showed up -- just off I-77 at Exit 21.
It's located in a shopping center that was surprisingly crowded for my mid-week trip during the middle of the day. After navigating through a bit of congested traffic, I stepped inside the shop.
It looks exactly like it does on the website. The cupcakes look the same too.
Cookies & CreamIt seems like strawberry is one flavor that every cupcake shop has. The other flavor is cookies and cream. This version -- all of the cupcakes at SweetCakes for that matter -- looked different than any other cupcakes I've run across. They have a square, block-ish type of look to the frosting. It's almost like the head of a hammer. I was worried there would be too much frosting, but that wasn't the case at all. It was balanced very nicely.
This cookies and cream cupcake was vanilla cake -- also unusual. In my experience the cookies and cream cupcakes have always been chocolate. While I like chocolate cupcakes, I think I like vanilla a smidgen better, so it was a nice surprise.
SweetCakes describes their cookies and cream as having, "crumbled cookies and cream baked in." It was topped with cookie butter cream icing and more crumbled cookies.
Very tasty and reasonably sweet.
Salted CaramelI've quickly realized over the past couple of months that I love me some salted caramel! This version was a chocolate cupcake filled with caramel. It was topped with cream cheese icing and had some caramel drizzle on top.
It didn't even need the caramel drizzle, but I'm sure glad they added it because it made the cupcake that much better. According to the SweetCakes website there was some Celtic sea salt added as well, but I didn't notice it. The caramel drizzle was more than enough to make me happy. Unlike some of the cupcakes I've had in the past, this one truly did have a caramel taste.
Maple & BaconI'd only had a bacon cupcake once before and I really enjoyed it, so I had to give this one a try.
I wanted to save the best for last, though, and I wasn't disappointed. They nailed the maple taste with the frosting. The bacon tasted like it'd been dipped into some maple syrup.
I enjoyed the Vermont Jemima cupcake from Cupcake Delirium, but this one was just as good -- more authentic actually. The butter cream icing and the crispy bacon really did taste just like Sunday Morning breakfast.
The positives: I know it doesn't have an affect on the taste, but I really liked that these cupcakes had a different shape to them. I've had a few of the cupcakes with the icing piled up on top of the cupcake, that I forgot how good cupcakes can be when they are proportioned properly.
The negatives: the cupcakes tasted great, but weren't extremely moist. Personally, I enjoyed them a lot, but if you're looking for a cupcake that melts into your mouth, keep looking -- these aren't it. There's some substance to these cupcakes.
Cost: $3.00 a cupcake. It's more expensive than the cupcakes I've gotten the past several weeks actually, but they tasted great, so it's hard to complain about the extra $.25 or $.50.
SweetCakes Bakery
20601 Torrence Chapel Rd.
Suite 106
Cornelius, NC 28031
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