The sweetest spot on Crystal Spring Avenue is Pastel Creative Confections. It’s located in the former Viva La Cupcake bakery right next to another Roanoke favorite, Fork in the Alley. Brunella Salazar-Gonti and her husband Levi Bach, owners of Pastel make all of their confections from scratch using fresh, high quality ingredients.
They’ve been open for three months and offer a variety of sweet treats every day including cupcakes, cookie sandwiches (Pastel customers rave about the peanut butter cookie sandwiches) and Japanese cheesecakes.
Brunella is originally from Peru. She and her husband have traveled extensively and enjoy bringing an international flair to this corner of South Roanoke. Their shop is sweetly decorated by Brunella and they welcome bridal parties and mom’s to be for bridal and baby showers (reservations required for parties).
Their vision is “to combine the best of all places we’ve been and lived in the world with the hometown feeling of our valley”. They’ve created quite a stir around the neighborhood and often participate in community events such as Big Lick Comic Con, food trucks and festivals.
When I visited Pastel, I tasted these confections:
Japanese Cheesecakes: Fluffier and lighter than other cheesecakes and not quite as sweet. I like a bit of fruit topping on my cheesecake, so I drizzled some Fragola Fabbri Wild Strawberries Syrup (available at Fresh Market or on-line) over my yummy cheesecake.
Cookie Sandwiches:
Just in time for fall – Pumpkin Spice – traditional snickerdoodle cookies are rolled in a blend of cinnamon & sugar before baking, but these are rolled in a blend of pumpkin spices & sugar instead- then filled with scratch-made pumpkin frosting.
Chocolate cookie filled with vanilla buttercream.
Red Velvet cookie filled with vanilla buttercream.
Cupcakes:
Strawberry – fresh bits of strawberry in a light white cupcake with strawberry icing.
Pastel is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Follow Pastel on Facebook to find out what the specialty treats they are offering that day. As I am writing this they are making Tropical Cupcakes with orange, pineapple, rum and coconut.
2123 Crystal Spring Avenue
Roanoke, VA 24014
Phone: (540) 204-3100
About the Writer:
Following her career in healthcare dining and nutrition management, Becky Ellis followed her passion to create Bubblybee, a champagne and food blog. Her motto is “Don’t wait to celebrate! Pop the cork now!” She loves to share tips for entertaining with bubbly. Find her creative recipes and champagne tasting notes at bubblybee.net and Instagram @bubblybeeboop.
