Batson's Blog

A large part of my 2013 was going to 42 different cupcake shops in the greater Charlotte area, sampling over 60 different cupcakes and somehow preventing a sugar overload. The result of all of that (besides a lot of exercise ahead for 2014) is an end to my search for Charlotte's best cupcake. Actually, I got more than I bargained for. 9 different cupcake shops had cupcakes that I gave over 4-and-a-half cupcake star ratings to. Cupcake Delerium’s Aunt Jemima cupcake (complete with bacon on top) was incredible! Big View Diner’s amazingly delicious chocolate cupcake is any chocolate lover’s dream come true. Cupcrazed has a lot of amazing cupcakes, but I enjoyed the maple bacon quite a bit. Maddy’s Fatty’s cannoli cupcake brings a bit of New York City into the Queen City. And then there’s The Polka Dot Bake Shop’s red velvet cupcake (pictured on the right), the cupcake that got my 2013 cupcake obsession going. Of all the cupcakes I sampled, I think Granny Mac's...

There’s one more to review before I’m wrapped up with my year-long search for Charlotte’s best cupcake. It was back to Rock Hill to try out one more bakery: Carswell Bakery . It's a small shop located in a strip mall on Mt. Gallant Road. It looked like there may have been some remodeling going on when I went inside. There was a small display case with a variety of cookies available. There was also a table with 6-pack cupcakes. The shop had your three standard cupcake flavors: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. I wouldn't have gotten any if they only came in 6-packs, but thankfully they were available as singles too. I passed on the chocolate, but bought a strawberry and a vanilla.

All year I’ve been trying to track down Southern Cake Queen . Since there’s no actual location, it’s hard to track them down. There is a food truck and they update their Twitter account with whatever location they'll be at, but whenever they are out serving cupcakes I seem to be busy or on the other side of the city. Thankfully I was at Charlotte Douglas waiting for a flight recently. See, Southern Cake Queen doesn't have an official shop in Charlotte, but their cupcakes are sold at Phipps Bistro's location at The Charlotte-Douglas Airport in Concourse A. Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcake There weren't an entire slew of flavors to choose from, but there didn't need to be. If you eat Southern Cake Queen's Peanut Butter cupcake, you don't need much else. It had buttercream frosting on top and a Reese's chocolate as well. The cupcake was soft and had a great, fresh Peanut Butter taste. The woman working the counter did offer to warm the cup...

As the search for Charlotte's best cupcake winds down, it's time to take a look at another candidate. This time I went to Pat-A-Cakes Bakery in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It's a nice little bakery that has Tuesday price specials, so make sure to stop by on a Tuesday. Samoan Cupcake I typically don’t like coconut, so this cupcake had me a little nervous. For whatever reason I do like Samoas though. I figured I’d give this cupcake a shot, but I didn’t have very high expectations for it. There was a giant glob of coconut on top. The woman who helped me told me it tasted like the cookie. I was skeptical, but without good reason. She was right. This Samoa cupcake does taste like the Samoa cookie. This giant glob of coconut doesn’t make the cupcake taste like your typical coconut-covered baked good. The caramel they mixed with it helped create an authentic Samoa taste. That cupcake didn't last too long.

I went to Big View Diner after reading something online that mentioned them having a pretty impressive dessert section. Sure enough, they did have a nice collection of desserts. Problem is: they only have one cupcake. It's an awesome looking chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting on top and chocolate candy baked inside. It was all or nothing with this cupcake though. One chance for Big View Diner to make an impression. Chocolate Cupcake I got the chocolate cupcake, brought it home and ate it later that night. It was amazing! Seriously, it was probably the best chocolate cupcake I've had all year long. The frosting was incredible rich and creamy. The cupcake was moist and chocolatey. The chocolate kisses that were baked inside the cupcake in melted form were like a delicious finishing touch on an already superb cupcake. I think the thing that really stood out and made this cupcake so good was the mixture of chocolate flavors. You had it in cake form, fros...

Wow! I almost didn’t stop at Bowtie Bakery . That would have been a huge mistake. I was up at Concord Mills Mall and I decided to check out Purple Cow Bakery . I arrived at the address I had for Purple Cow, but there was no bakery there. I Googled the store and one of the search results that came up was “Bow Tie Bakery.” It looked like Bow Tie Bakery was near the Carolina Place mall. Frustrated that Purple Cow evidently moved or went out of business, I was going to call it a day and head home. While driving towards Interstate, I passed the mall. I did a u-turn and found Bow Tie Bakery – located next to Sogo Japanese Seafood and Steakhouse in a strip mall. I’m not sure what I was expecting, if anything, when I walked inside. What I got was a huge selection of cupcakes. Each one was a different, enticing flavor and was visually impressive. I probably spent 10 minutes trying to decide which cupcakes to get. I ended up choosing five of them. I ended up sharing them sin...

I'd been to Charlotte Cupcakes - Cupcrazed">Cupcrazed before, located right off of I-77 in Fort Mill, but I'd never been to the actual heart of the town. I decided to change that, so I sought out the only other cupcake shop I could find in the entire town: Savannah's Dining, Bakery and Catering . Taking the back roads into Fort Mill on a sunny Fall day? Very relaxing. Well -- except for taking a couple of wrong turns and then my GPS telling me I was at Savannah's when I was actually three blocks away. Other than that -- very relaxing. Savannah's is house-turned-cafe, located in a brick home on Confederate Street. When I went they didn't have a very large collection of cupcakes. Like a lot of bakeries I've been to, the focus isn't just on cupcakes, so the selection seems to be smaller. With a smaller selection, there obviously wasn't a lot of unique or interesting flavors either. There were actually only two options to choose ...

It's back to Concord this week. After trying DOUGH Bakery last week, I went closer to the downtown area and found The Sweet Life . I had to double check the address. My GPS said I was at 196 Church Street, but it the building didn't look like a bakery from the outside. After getting out of the car I realized there were two large banners with a cupcake and the words, "The Sweet Life," on it. However, when driving by, trying to pay attention to traffic (minor details, you know...), the sign didn't jump out at me. The Sweet Life is located inside an old house-turned-business. Apparently there's an invitation/graphic design business inside as well. I'm not sure if it's run by the same people as the cupcake shop or not. When I went inside, the only thing I spotted was the bakery. The first thing I noticed was the interesting choice of flavors. They had banana pudding, vanilla chai, peanut butter and jelly, and caramel apple. Each cupcake lo...

It's a double dose of cupcakes today since I missed posting last week. I'd heard about DOUGH bakery several months ago. I was at an event they provided treats for and ended up with one of their business cards. I went online to the DOUGH website , but it didn't list cupcakes as one of the goodies they bake. That left me with the old fashioned option: I called them. I asked if they had cupcakes and the man on the other end told me they did. They had chocolate, vanilla and, the new standard, red velvet. Obviously, they didn't have the selection of a shop that's dedicated specifically to cupcakes. I figured I'd give them a shot. When I got to the store, it was just as the man on the phone had said. There were a handful of cupcakes available in three flavors: vanilla, chocolate and red velvet. They added some variety by mixing up the frosting. Some chocolate cupcakes had chocolate frosting while others had vanilla. Some vanilla cupcakes were topped ...

This week I made another stop in Cornelius. I’d been to Just Baked and Maddy's Fatty's , but somehow I missed BW Sweets Bakery . The funny thing is: it’s right on Catawba Ave., one of the main streets that goes through the town. Free parking is available on either side of the street, though crossing the street proved to be difficult because there’s no stoplight nearby. Thanks to a driver who slowed down for me, I made it across the street after about a minute of waiting for the traffic to break. It's a small shop inside, but there's a decent selection of cupcakes available. It wasn't hard to choose three different flavors to get. Cinnamon Roll Cupcake I’m pretty sure Granny Mac’s forever ruined me with their massive cupcakes. What this Cinnamon Roll cupcake lacked in size, it made up for in flavor though. I love cinnamon, so the abundance of cinnamon flavor on and in this cupcake made it an exceptional treat for me. The frosting was probably the ...

So, when I was on my way to Granny Mac's Bake Shop last week , I noticed there was another bakery in the strip mall right next door: Cake Makin' Sisters . Why not stop in and check it out? It's a new shop that opened up in the past few weeks. Apparently the owners took over the shop from a friend who wasn't able to operate the store anymore. It used to be Sweet Bliss Cupcakery. There was a nice selection of cupcakes to choose from -- nothing too innovative, but enough to give the customer a few choices. The first thing I noticed when I looked at the cupcakes, however, was how small they were. I've seen cupcakes that small before, but being right next to Granny Mac's? I don't know how they're going to make a profit. Competing with Granny Mac's is their problem though. My task was picking out two cupcakes to eat. I settled on a strawberry cupcake and an oreo cupcake.

Thousands of people were in Concord for the Bank of America 500 this weekend. I made a stop, just south of the Speedway, at Granny Mac's Bake Shop . I wasn't really sure what to expect going there. Had I checked out their website, I probably would've had a better idea. Once you walk in, there are donuts, cookies and other goodies to the right. The cupcakes are to the left. I started walking to the display case and quickly noticed that these cupcakes are huge! They’re Perkins Mammoth Muffins huge or Sam’s Club huge. One thing's for sure: you don't need too many of these cupcakes to make a hearty dessert. Strawberry Cupcake This cupcake was potent! I could smell it in my car on the way home even though the cupcake was securely packed into a plastic bakery box. There's a nice strawberry flavor to it. In searching for awesome cupcakes this year, I've realized that some strawberry cupcakes have a really strong strawberry flavor (almost to t...

I’m going to guess that Daphne’s Bakery probably dominates the central part of East Charlotte. If you “Charlotte cupcakes,” you’ll see that there aren’t any other cupcake options in that area. Daphne’s is tucked away – off some of the main Interstates, but still easy to access, as it’s off of Matthews-Mint Hill Road. I hadn’t made my way to Daphne’s until last week. I was surprised to see there were a handful of people in there – some ordering treats and others eating lunch in the conjoined Tia Rose café area. As far as a cupcake selections goes, there wasn’t an overwhelming amount, but there were eight different flavors to choose from – including vanilla, red velvet, key lime, funfetti, chocolate and pink lemonade. I picked three cupcakes: chocolate, key lime, and funfetti.

Earth Fare, in addition to being a grocery store, has its very own bakery, complete with a selection of cupcakes. Earth Fare is known as the healthier grocery store. I don’t know if that applies to their cupcakes, but I’m assuming it does. The entire list of ingredients is listed underneath the name card that’s on display. There were four different cupcake flavors available – chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and carrot. I passed on the chocolate and went with the other three. Carrot Cupcake I’m generally not a fan of fruit bits and chunks, but the cupcake looked so good that I decided to take the chance. The cupcake was moist, with a good taste. The frosting was really creamy. The orange sprinkles on top added an extra element to the cupcake. I could have done without the carrot chunks. There were a lot of them in there. The taste, however, made up for it. Shockingly, I'd have to say I'd order it again. If they could just blend up those ingredients a litt...

In addition to Novel Sweets, you can find Cloud 9 Confections at 7th Street Market . It seems they have more of a permanent set up that Novel Sweets does. While Novel has a stand that is set up each day in the middle aisle, Cloud 9 has a spot along the wall, complete with a display case and kitchen. I’d stumbled upon their website a while ago, but it seemed they only worked weddings and other large-scale events.

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 ...

This Sunday I tried Sweet Lorraine’s cupcakes. Sweet Lorraine's is a cupcake shop on East Blvd. in Charlotte. First things first though. Don't judge the cupcakes by their somewhat sloppy appearance! They looked much nicer before spending three hours sitting in my car on a 90 degree day. For what they went through, they held up pretty well actually.

Even though I was in Cornelius months ago, specifically looking for a cupcake shop, I somehow missed Maddy’s Fatty’s . It’s located a mile or two west of exit 28, off I-77. When I walked in I noticed, right away, that they were the creative type. There were a variety of flavors that weren’t the usual suspects you see when you go into a bakery. I can see why they made it onto Cupcake Wars, which reminds me. I said in one of my earlier reviews, that Cupcrazed was the only bakery in the Charlotte area featured on Cupcake Wars. That’s evidently not the case. Maddy’s Fatty’s can be added to that list. Besides the several cupcake flavors, they have a variety of other treats. I’m not sure exactly what this is in the photo to the left, but it looks delicious. It appears to be some kind of cake/cracker sandwich with filling and frosting on top. I was there for the cupcakes though, so I passed on the other goodies.

Of all the cupcake shops I've been to this year, I think this week's business has the most creative name: Splat! Cakes n Such . The owner of the shop says the name was inspired by her kitchen: "Well, it is simply a fun word that colorfully describes what my kitchen looks like while I'm baking..." Splat is located right on the main street in Lowell, North Carolina. Of all the cupcake shops I've been to this year, this one also had one of the largest selection of flavors -- or at least the most unique. Every flavor isn't offered every day -- that's how they keep you coming back -- but there were about a dozen different flavors to choose from on the day I went. With so many choices to choose from, I had no problem picking out four different cupcakes. Bubble Gum Cupcake They nailed the taste on this cupcake! It seriously tasted exactly like Bubble Yum – both the cupcake and the frosting. They got the taste dead on -- unfortunately. It ...

It was kind of deceptive. Even though the store was, more or less, sparse, there were several options to choose from: a lemon cupcake, a vanilla cupcake with white frosting, a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting, a vanilla and chocolate cupcake with white and chocolate frosting, a chocolate cupcake with white frosting and a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. Get all that? I went with a lemon cupake and a vanilla/chocolate cupcake. I was going to stop there, even though the cupcakes didn’t cost much, but I was told there was a $5 credit limit. So, I got another cupcake and a slice of cake. For five dollars, you can get quite a few cupcakes at Berry’s Bakery.