There is only one cupcake so special that it needs its own day, and that is chocolate. Yes, Oct. 19 is Chocolate Cupcake Day.
Vegan cupcakes are not easy to make at home, but they happen to be springing up all over Vancouver, so you never need to go without.
Fraser Street is an up-and-coming neighbourhood with lots of opportunities to find unique shops. For Chocolate Cupcake Day, I decided to seek out a shop called Fairy Cakes near 20th Avenue. This shop shares space with a vegan eatery called Chomp (in case you are one of those people who prefer to eat a meal before dessert.)
The cupcakes are dairy, egg, peanut and nut free, and gluten-free is available. The website also says they try to use organic and fair trade when possible.
This was not an overly chocolatey choice. There are really only two bases, chocolate and vanilla and the greatest flavour is in the icing. Naturally, I chose a cupcake with chocolate – the Pumpkin Spice. This was in October. If you look for the Pumpkin Spice at another time of year, you might be disappointed.
Although I went late in the day (one hour before closing), the cupcake didn’t show any signs of staleness. The icing was quite sugary, but the flavour of the spices were undeniable. Although the icing is extremely sweet, the base is understated and makes a good vehicle for the icing. The base was moist, and didn’t have a strong chocolate taste. This was not an oozing with chocolate, decadent choice.
However, the cupcake was definitely delicious and the plus is that you can eat it with a clear conscious knowing it’s free of animal products.
Fairy Cakes is located near Nice Shoes, a vegan shoe store on Fraser Street. There’s a few tables for eating in, though it doesn’t have a coffeeshop atmosphere. I went late in the day, so I can’t tell you how the display case looks in the daytime, but there was plenty when I arrived, including many gluten-free options, mini-cupcakes and other confections.
Check out this vegan shop if you are ever in the neighbourhood and need a quality pick-me-up.
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