6 mega desserts in Charlotte for your best Valentine’s Day splurge in 2023
It’s officially sweets season, with Valentine’s Day marking the Hallmark holiday that many love to hate — but it’s also a good excuse to turn our attention to Charlotte’s dessert makers.
And while there are a million great bakeries in town — and we love to celebrate them all — sometimes, a dessert is so over the top that it needs its own fan base.
Here we present to you: The 6 best mega desserts in Charlotte for your 2023 Valentine’s splurge. And for this article especially, we are not even going to try to guess at calorie counts:
Carolina Scoops
Location: 105 Dover St, Pineville, NC 28134
Dessert: Queen Shake – Red Velvet Cake
What to know: This extreme sweet is available during the month of February — so don’t delay! The red velvet milkshake with a piece of red velvet cake on top has a vanilla frosted edible rim with heart shaped sprinkles, marshmallow drizzle, whipped cream and pink sprinkles on top. And most importantly: the red velvet cake icing is cream cheese, of course — no buttercream wannabes here.
Price: $12.75
[READ NEXT: Find extreme milkshakes, creative ice cream flavors and more at Carolina Scoops.]
Mama Ricotta’s
Location: 601 S Kings Dr AA, Charlotte, NC 28204
Dessert: Mama’s Giant Chocolate Cake
What to know: We couldn’t include a dessert menu without a giant slice of chocolate cake, and Mama Ricotta’s fits the bill so well it even includes the word giant in the name. It’s made of layers of chocolate cake and rich fudge frosting. It’s served with salted caramel sauce, chocolate crunch and whipped cream.
Price: $13
Ninety’s Dessert Bar
Location: 9009 J M Keynes Dr #4, Charlotte, NC 28262
Dessert: Magical Unicorn Specialty Milkshake
What to know: Charlotte unicorns and transplants alike should check out this uniquely fun and quirky milkshake with a white chocolate horn. The colorful treat is truly magical! ✨
Price: $8.95
Open Rice
Location: 1100 Metropolitan Ave suite 100, Charlotte, NC 28204
Location: 9882 Rea Rd suite f, Charlotte, NC 28277
Dessert: Bubble Waffle
What to know: Call it what you want — bubble waffle, egg puffs or Hong Kong egg waffle — but with this Open Rice dessert, you’re in for a popular Hong Kong street snack. Choose two toppings, two drizzles and an ice cream flavor, then you’re set for a taste explosion. Go for the Nerd Alert, with rainbow Nerds, sprinkles, whipped cream, raspberry drizzle, condensed milk and vanilla ice cream. Because even Vanilla nerds deserve love on Valentine’s Day (Yeah, we groaned writing it, too).
Price: $7+
[MORE INFO: A second location of this modern Asian restaurant is open at Metropolitan in Charlotte.]
Steak 48
Location: 4425 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211
Dessert: Beignet tree
What to know: Simply serving dessert on a tree makes it elaborate, right? Steak 48 is known for being one of the most romantic spots in the entire country, and to hold that honor, you’ve gotta have the desserts on lock. The beignet tree is actually a secret menu item, so shhh, don’t tell them we told you.
Price: Secret menu pricing
Stoke
Location: 100 W Trade St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Dessert: One-pound doughnut
What to know: Yes, you read that right — this doughnut is a whopping one pound heavyweight and thus we could not make a list like this without including it. It’s a brioche doughnut topped with diplomat cream, Heath bar crumbles and powdered sugar. Make sure to ask for a lot of forks.
Price: $18
[MORE DOUGHNUTS: Your ultimate, interactive guide to the Charlotte region’s doughnut shops.]
Heidi Finley and Tamia Boyd contributed reporting.
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
