Novel Sweets
In my former life as a healthy living blogger, and just as a person who prefers lighter fare, I developed an interest with testing out “healthy” desserts. I baked everything from sweet potato brownies, date truffles, and Cannellini bean cookie cake to protein-ified anything. Some recipes were a little too reminiscent of their primary ingredients (anything bean related has the tendency to have the texture of refried beans), while others just tried too hard to be healthy (don’t combine a banana with oats and tell me it magically becomes a cookie when baked). However, there are a few lighter dessert options with sneaky substitutions that I will always drool over (How does mixing tofu and a chocolate bar yield such tasty results??), and I truly admire anyone who can make something delicious without a ton of butter and refined sugar.
As such, I keep my eyes open for business establishments that share my dessert ideals. Just like the recipes I attempt, many are a swing and a miss, but, when I find one that is consistently delicious, I feel obliged to share.
Novel Sweets is a vegan cupcake shop operating in a cute stand inside 7th Street Public Market, complete with a bookshelf. The owner and baker, Kiersten Trismen, features several gourmet flavors each week. We have sampled much of her selection, and find that the Dante’s Inferno, a spicy Mexican chocolate cupcake with cherry icing, tops our list.
This past weekend introduced the market to a friend of ours who recently moved to Charlotte by going for a late lunch. We ate at Local Loaf, and finished the visit with dessert from Novel Sweets and a cortado at Not Just Coffee. Unfortunately, our late lunch reduced the cupcake selection because treats this good go fast. On the plus side, however, we ordered the whoopie pies, which we might have otherwise overlooked. I took the last cupcake, red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting named after the fair Juliet, while JZ and our guest had whoopie pies. His was chocolate on chocolate, and she went with a vanilla center.
The whoopie pies were rich and decadent, filled with deliciously light and creamy frosting, allowing the chocolate flavor of the moist cake to really shine. Each bite was a delectable combination of chocolate indulgence, augmented by the ever so subtly sweet frosting. I snuck a couple bites in while JZ waited for his cortado.
Lucky enough to enjoy the best of both worlds, I returned to my red velvet cupcake and its perfect icing to cake ratio (about 1:2, in my book). Each creamy bite of icing and red velvet glory was made all the sweeter as I watched JZ realize he was missing half a whoopie pie. Our friend was also very happy with her whoopie pie, not to mention, entertained by JZ’s exaggerated response to my thievery.
Read about more of our favorite Charlotte eats!
Local Loaf
Your Mom’s Donuts
Lenny Boy Kombucha Tap Room
Maryland Crab Co
Fern, Flavors from the Garden
