Pearl’s Bake Shoppe

Came in while i waited for a train from Amtrak that was late 2 hours and we were pleasantly surprised. Dessert are yummy and they even have gluten free options. Would come back

Pearl’s is easily the best bakery in Charlottesville. My husband ordered a specialty cake with a serious complexity of design and decoration. It could not have turned out more beautiful or more delicious, and all for a price that was shockingly inexpensive. Not only were we delighted by the baker’s incredible artistry and attention to detail; we and our guests also agreed that it was easily one of the best cakes we’ve ever tasted (chocolate stout cake, with chocolate stout frosting for the win!). We’ll back again, and again, and again… Can’t recommend them highly enough!

Best cupcakes with the sweetest service! They were able to fulfill a late morning order for that afternoon. Even the cookies on top were scratch made! Fabulous moist cupcakes. Just enough icing so that it wasn’t out of balance with the cake.

I cannot say enough good things about Pearl’s! I ordered 3 dozen cupcakes for my cousin’s bridal shower. She can’t have gluten, so they were all gluten-​free, though I was nervous about how they would taste. I scheduled the pick-​up for 11am and arrived maybe 5 – 10 minutes early. They were frosting the cupcakes when I came in, so I know they were super fresh. I got one Raspberry zinger vegan cupcake for one vegan guest.
These were literally the best cupcakes I’ve ever had.
Punch Drunk Love — SUPER rich. Too rich for some, but great if you just want to have a bite or two.
Hummingbird — Pineapple on top was great.
Sunshine — light and delicious.
I can’t even imagine how the cupcakes could be better when they have gluten. Most amazingly, my aunt is vegan and eats a very healthy diet. She doesn’t eat many desserts or sweets or junk of any kind, but she ate the entire vegan cupcake and RAVED about it.
For 37 cupcakes the total cost was $ 91 and worth every penny.

I have tried a large sampling of baked goods from Pearl’s – cakes, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, you name it, and I’ve probably tried it. I’m not the biggest fan of cupcakes, but I do love the ones from Pearl’s. Their brownies are also so decadent and amazing. They are massive, so normally less than a quarter of one goes a long way for me! My friends and I have always ordered cakes for special occasions – birthday parties, showers, and engagement parties. They are very reasonably priced, and you can order just about any flavor from their cupcake menu in full cake form. I ordered a chocolate bourbon cake for my boyfriend’s birthday party that I was super impressed with. The latest cake that I ordered was for a friend’s engagement party. They offered to inscribe it with Happy Engagement and our friends’ names. We were a little disappointed to see though that the frosting was a light pink when we thought it would be white, and the writing was done in pink as well, which wasn’t very fitting for an engagement. Next time I order something with writing, I’ll be sure to ask what color they plan to use.

Whoa!!! Easily the best chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting that I’ve had from a bakery. Usually buttercream is a stiff, overly sweet disappointment, but this frosting was perfect. The sugar cookies are also soft and chewy with great flavor. I’d pick Pearl’s over Sweethaus any day.

My husband and I stopped in Pearl’s Bake Shoppe on a whim and were so pleasantly surprised! It was our first time in the bakery, but definitely not our last. The four cupcakes we tried — Raspberry Champagne, Chocolate Coconut, Bourbon Cake with Lemon Curd, and the Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting were all amazing! The two associates we met were so kind and helpful. What a great experience.

I am from out-​of-​state and was looking for a local bakery to deliver treats to a partner of ours in Charlottesville. Kristianne answered the phone and was sooooo accommodating! She was able to get a delivery driver within the hour (for free!) and customized a message on the box. She went an extra mile when I asked for a copy of the receipt: she was willing to text an image of it to me from her own cell phone. Talk about GREAT customer service! I hope to visit VA soon and make a stop by Pearl’s Bake Shoppe.

Since my first review, I’ve been back to Pearl’s multiple times and I am just in love. Everyone, behind the counter anyways, are so nice and understanding. The cupcakes have gone down in size just a little, but that’s not really a problem because I know I now I can finish it. Still very pretty inside, very cute. If I ever go back up to Richmond I am defiantly going to Pearl’s up there as well.

Amazing AMAZING cupcakes. So moist, amazing flavor, so yummy. Service great, friendly employees, knowledgable about the products, cute shop. I’ll be back for sure!

I prefer the cupcakes at Pearl’s Bake Shoppe over Sweethaus, for a few reasons:
–The cupcakes are larger
–The cake is moist
–There is more variety (their specialty cupcakes all look divine)
–The flavors are more complex
One issue that I have with Pearl’s though, is the fly I saw flying & landing around in the cupcake case today. I had read a previous customer review about flies in the cupcake case, & did not want to believe it. However, it is a MAJOR problem that should be solved. I had to order a cupcake from a different case instead.
Overall, the cupcakes are worth 5 stars, but I’m docking two stars off for that fly issue.

I am a huge fan of Pearl’s cupcakes! One gripe and I can’t believe I am going to say this… some flavors are too sweet! I love sugar and all things sweet, but with Pearl’s I have noticed the sugary sweetness can overpower the cupcake flavor. This past visit I had the Peach Melba (a peach cake with a raspberry compote filling and peach buttercream) and you couldn’t taste the peach over the sweetness. They did have a new (or new to me) flavor, Grandma’s Garden (a fresh corn, nutmeg, cornmeal and vanilla bean batter topped with a rosemary brown butter frosting, garnished with a sprig of fresh rosemary) and it was delish! It was a moist corn meal cupcake with sweet rosemary icing. Not my normal thing, but I am glad I gave it a try — YUM!
This was my first visit to the C’ville location — just like RVA, nice staff, clean and a fun place to visit for a sweet treat!
Cheers!

Our friends used Pearl’s to get the cupcakes for our bridal shower– they were DELICIOUS!!! We had some kind of red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting– they were truly amazing.

So good! They have gluten free and vegan cupcakes plus cake pops and coffee. So much icing and so so so creamy! Huge cupcakes– the service was great and the Plain Jane and gluten free coconut was divine!!! And the chocolate was good too! We didn’t go on a busy day so we found street parking directly across the street for free. But there’s lots of places and plenty of cute shops and whatnot all around the area. Go here!!! They also bake cakes and cobblers!

We ordered a birthday cake for my child’s birthday and were very disappointed by the cake. It did not resemble the animal shape we were shown when placing our order, it consisted of about 75% frosting, and the cake itself was mediocre at best. Not nearly as good as Hot Cakes, Whole Foods, etc.

When I heard a Richmond cupcake shop was coming to Cville, I didn’t think there was any way they could compete with our awesome cupcake shops. Well, they do. Pearl’s has the best cupcakes in town (though Sweet Haus is close behind).
They always have the standard flavors along with some fun specialty cupcakes. The cake is fantastic and could be eaten alone it is so good. The frosting is traditional — sweet, but flavorful. They don’t need to embellish their cakes with sprinkles and gold dust. There is no need because they are so good.
The staff is quirky and charming. They are always enthusiastic about their flavors. We love stopping in!

I feel horrible giving only two stars but the quality of these cupcakes where not good! The staff and atmosphere is of a première cupcake shop but my oh my what a disaster they all turned out to be!
Lemon– WAYYYYY to sweet and gritty
Vanilla cake chocolate frosting– I swear the frosting is NOT Belgium choc as they claim. It comes out of s Duncan Hines can. Bleh!
Carrot Cake– DRY DRY DRY DRY… like biting into powder so bad…
Please just take the time to go down the street to the SweetHaus for much better cupcakes.

I like to think of my self as a cupcake expert. I travel quite a bit for work, and I try to find great cupcake places every city I go. After reading reviews on Unilocal,I figured that Pearl’s Bake Shoppe would be great… Not the case. The place was cute… they had a decent selection of cupcakes (nothing special). Their flavors were quite regular. The most of a stretch to a cupcake was one baked with M&Ms inside. Either way I purchased two (lemon and carrot cake). If you can make a lemon cupcake you can make anything… Well this was terrible. It smelled funny, and was dry. I didnt even bother to try the carrot cake cupcake. The best part was the 7 minute frosting that the lemon cupcake had on top. It tasted like marshmellows… annnnnnnd I love marshmellows.
All in all I would find another place to go.

**Stop 6 of 7 on the Taste of Virginia Charlottesville Food Tour**
The best cupcakes in Charlottesville, and it’s not even close.
You really don’t understand the difference between a good cupcake and a great cupcake until you’ve had both. After all, anybody can make cupcakes, right? While it’s true you can make good cupcakes, even really good ones, when you have that spectacular, melts-​in-​your-​mouth, I’m-still-dreaming-about-it cupcake you understand that cupcake making is an art form you can’t capture in a box from your local grocery store. Pearl’s Bake Shoppe produces some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted (sorry Georgetown Cupcakes).
My girlfriend and I tried the Red Velvet and the specialty Milkshake. The cupcakes themselves are MASSIVE — easily split between two people. Both cupcakes were delicious, flavorful and moist. The Milkshake flavor had all sorts of chocolate going on in it, and I highly recommend it if it’s available. We also met one of the owners, whose Grandmother was the original Pearl. They use the same, handwritten recipes she wrote decades ago, and you can taste the decades of perfection with each bite.
In sum, stop reading and go get a cupcake. Yes they have gluten free and a bunch of other options if you have dietary restrictions. No excuses.

Next door to my hair salon so I can stop in to get a treat after getting a cut. I live in Richmond so I am familiar with Pearl’s, which has a shop at Libbie and Grove.
Lovely shop with lovely treats. My favorite is the Plain Jane.