She drove an hour+ from her house in Charlotte for a $21 viral fruit pastry. Was it worth it?
A few weeks ago, I saw a TikTok post from a woman who was trying the viral fruit pastries at Daily Grind Coffee Bar in Waxhaw. I practically sprinted to my computer to send a Slack message to my colleague Tamia Boyd about it: I just knew she had to try them.
Tamia lives an hour+ away from downtown Waxhaw — she’s over in West Charlotte. Even so, she was as stoked as I was and was down for the adventure. It took a couple of weeks for her to coordinate to get down there — the coffee shop sells out of these quickly, and it takes a few days to make more.
Not your mama’s fruit cake
What are these viral “fruit pastries” anyway? I have heard them called “fruit cakes,” too but as a child of the 1980s, that inspires a whole different image. These are not the weird-tasting dried fruit cakes that no one ate at the holidays.
No, these fruit pastries are a true art: They are lifelike cakes that are decorated to look just like fruit (or coffee beans, nuts, etc.) — but once you bite into their crunchy exteriors, you find yourself enjoying a “super fluffy, moist and delicate” cake, according to Tamia’s experience. More on that in a moment.
French pastry chef Céseix Grolet is credited for making these desserts popular, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Where to get viral fruit pastries around Charlotte
A few local spots to try:
- 🍐🍌 Daily Grind Waxhaw, which is where we went. @tallmetelly’s TikTok review is what got our attention on these fruit pastries.
- 🥭🍓 Innescas Sweets of Europe in Matthews sells out of the pastries daily.
- 🍋🫐 LaBella Dora Patisserie often sells out at Concord Mills, too — here, the bakery recommends only trying a flavor or two at a time, so you don’t overwhelm your palate.
Getting to Waxhaw on a Friday morning
I really wanted Tamia to try Daily Grind’s pastries, since they look so lifelike on social media. I knew it wasn’t the closest drive for her, but she was a good sport.
She left her house at 8:50 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 10 to get her hands on these treats. GPS predicted a 50-minute drive, but she got there just before 10 a.m. after hitting a little traffic. “I parked immediately because I saw how many people were sitting outside and a tiny glimpse inside and saw that there was a line,” she said.
The line was shorter than we’d expected, but there was still a wait.
“When I got to the door, I waited outside for a bit because there was no room inside for me to get in. Three other women got in line behind me,” Tamia told me Friday afternoon. “There had to have been at least 10 people ahead of me, but also more people off to the side waiting for their food and drinks. I waited for about 25 minutes before getting my dessert.”
She met a new friend in line, Crystal Culp from Lancaster, who had been waiting for about three weeks to try a fruit pastry. “I really want to experience what it’s like, the taste and everything,” she told Tamia. “They made it look so beautiful on TikTok.”
When Tamia got to the counter, the only flavors that remained were pear and espresso. The cashier told her there were just a few fruit cakes left. She chose pear and forked over a whopping $21. Yep, for one pastry.
Crystal got espresso, for the record, and she took it home to enjoy it with her daughter, so we don’t know what she thought of hers.
By 11 a.m., Tamia said she saw people leaving empty-handed, so it’s a good thing she made the drive when she did.
How did it taste? Was it worth $21?
Here’s what Tamia had to say about her pear cake: “It looked like an actual pear, down to the glossy skin that looked like something candied. I almost didn’t want to touch it. The shell was delicate, like it would crack easily, and inside was this soft, cloudlike, mousse-layered cake with bits of fruit,” Tamia said.
“... Almost like it was soaked, like tres leches,” she added. “The flavor wasn’t in-your-face pear but more like cream with a soft fruity afterthought.”
But was it good? “Truly, before I could think about if I liked it, it was gone,” she told me. “Needless to say, I know why people were selling these cakes out now.” So, to wrap it up, Tamia spent an hour and 10 minutes-ish in the car one-way to spend $21 spent on a pastry that was gone in a blink. So, was it worth it? “I think so, at least for the experience,” she said.
I’ll add: Having an expense account probably didn’t hurt, either!
Daily Grind Coffee Bar
Location: 116 E South Main St, Waxhaw, NC 28173
Instagram: @daily.grind.waxhaw
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte region.
