Batson's Blog

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.

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...

This week I went to a new cupcake shop to Charlotte: Wow Factor Cakes . The business has been around for years, but they've only done weddings and private events. There wasn't a physical bakery location that was open to the public. It's located on Park Road, right by Toast, another restaurant I've been hearing a lot about, but that's another story for another day. There wasn't an incredibly large selection of cupcakes to choose from. There's a display case and a cash register near the front of the store, while a large velvet curtain and a few stackable shelves block the rest of the store, where several bakers are busy baking and designing, presumably wedding cakes. There's enough of a selection of flavors to choose from though. I picked out three cupcakes, but I was tempted by the Cake Pops that Wow Factor offers. They are cake chunks covered in chocolate or white chocolate and placed on top of a stick. Cake suckers! Who would've come u...

I went looking for The Blushing Bakeshoppe in Ballantyne, but I’m assuming it closed since I spent an hour walking around the Ballantyne Village looking for the shop. I tried calling the phone number that was listed on the Blushing Bakeshoppe Facebook page. It was still working, but I got the voicemail. Turns out, there’s a new bakery right across the street. I stumbled upon Decadent Designs Bakery . There’s a large display case of cupcakes inside, along with a couple of high tables in case you want to eat inside. I wasn’t sure which cupcakes to get as there were several flavors to choose from. Three of them caught my eye though: a chocolate-covered Boston Cream Cupcake, a Key Lime cupcake with light green frosting and a larger Strawberry cupcake that was intricately decorated.

Straight out the gate: if you want to go to Black Velvet Patisserie , you’d better have your GPS or be a Mooresville native. Black Velvet is actually right on Main Street, but I had a heck of a time getting to Main Street. Off the Interstate, around curves, and across railroad tracks to get there. It was my first time in Mooresville. I did have my GPS, but somehow I still ended up parking about 3 blocks away from the bakery. There are a couple of small cafe tables inside the shop. It seems like it would be a nice place to have a cupcake on a sunny afternoon. The day I went there were about seven different cupcake flavors to choose from. I ended up picking out three of them.

Making a trip along South Boulevard this week, I noticed a large cupcake sign sitting on the side of the road . I figured I’d better stop and check it out. Sure enough, there’s a small dessert shop called Kai’s Kookies and More . There are some small tables with two chairs each inside . While there are cookies and brownies and bars and other goodies, cupcakes certainly seem to be a staple of the shop. There’s an entire list of flavors. Not all the flavors are available every day though. I immediately noticed a strawberry cupcake that Strawberry Shortcake herself would have probably had in her house. They were supposed to have a Marble Cupcake and an Oreo Cookie Cupcake that day, but they were already out, so I settled for a Red Velvet instead.

After a week off last week, I was back at it again -- this time testing out Jewell Treats , located in SouthPark Mall. There's a small stand outside of Gymboree, near the Apple store. The first thing I noticed about all three cupcakes that I bought was how small they were compared to some of the others I've bought recently. They weren't mini-cupcakes, but they were far from mammoth. Strawberry When I was trying to figure out which cupcakes to get, the sales clerk told me that strawberry is one of their best sellers. After eating it, I can understand why. It had a very real strawberry taste. It wasn't smothered in frosting, but there was enough to make the cupcake work. There weren't any added extras on top of the cupcake, but, in this case, keeping it simple was just fine. Chocolate Diamond Sundae The Sundae cupcake was full of ooey, gooey chocolatey goodness. It was like a really good chocolate brownie in a moist cupcake form. With an edible c...