Dine & Dish: Dolce Darlin’
When your daughter loves Harry Potter, you buy her a wand. And when your local bakery has a Harry Potter weekend to celebrate his birthday, you take her—and you go early.
Maybe a little too early. When we pulled up in front of Dolce Darlin’ in downtown Augusta at 9:30 on Saturday morning, we were only the second car there. But by the time they opened at 10, a line about 30 strong were waiting, many with wands aloft, ready to enjoy Harry Potter-themed treats and more.
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Dolce Darlin’ opened downtown in late 2020 in the pink house that once was La Maison on Telfair. Longtime baker Ms. Darlin’ (as she calls herself) posts videos just about every day she’s open, talking up that day’s menu, often cupcakes, cake pops or macarons (“We’re all about family, cupcakes and Southern hospitality!” according to the website), along with her signature chicken salad, pimento cheese, charcuterie lunches and banana pudding.
Dolce Darlin is located on Telfair Street. Photo by Danielle Wong Moores 
Dolce Darlin is located on Telfair Street. Photo by Danielle Wong Moores
“It is a special week here at Dolce Darlin’!” she announced that Thursday. “This week is the birthday of the one and only boy who lived. [And] we’re doing Harry Potter here in true Darlin’ style.”
As we walked inside, the bakery had gone full Hogwarts, with a huge mural of the castle at night, and plenty of photo props, including the Sorting Hat, Hedwig, wands and a huge assortment of cardboard cutouts. Nagini was curled up on a chair, house flags graced a fireplace, the Hand of Glory curled menacingly from inside its glass enclosure, and the Marauder’s Map was fixed to a wall.
Meanwhile, the glass bakery case was filled with Harry-themed treats including Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean cupcakes, chocolate chocolate frogs, topped with a chocolate frog and Butterbeer cupcakes complete with a straw.
For the Sorting Hat cupcakes, you could bite into one and be “sorted” into a house: red icing for Gryffindor, green for Slytherin, yellow for Hufflepuff and blue for Ravenclaw. There were also Fizzy Wizzie (Fizzing Whizbee) cupcakes in sherbet colors and flavors, a chocolate peanut butter broomstick cupcake, pretzel wands coated in chocolate and house color sprinkles, Sorcerer’s Scones in a variety of flavors, a meringue Hedwig, Golden Snitch cake pops, adorable macarons decorated to look like Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore, and cookies shaped and decorated like Harry and Ron’s Weasley Christmas sweaters.
It was incredibly hard to decide what to get, but we ended up choosing a cupcake assortment, Ron’s sweater cookie, a pretzel wand, a snitch and some of the chicken salad for lunch.
My daughter and I dug in as soon as we got to the car, sharing bites. We were sorted into Hufflepuff, according to our cupcake, which was a plain vanilla wedding cake, slightly dense and a counterpoint to the sweet icing and the chocolate sorting hat, which was slightly minty. The cake pop was gorgeous with its dusting of gold, but very sweet, with a thick layer of white chocolate and a soft interior.
Harry Potter themed baked goods at Dolce Darlin. Photo by Danielle Wong Moores Harry Potter themed baked goods at Dolce Darlin. Photo by Danielle Wong Moores
After running a few errands, it was time for lunch and more tasting. The chicken salad was deliciously savory, with fine shreds of chicken, a light but tangy dressing and sweetness from the whole red grapes. I put it on whole grain bread, with cherry tomatoes from my garden and baby spinach, and enjoyed it immensely.
For dessert, the chocolate chocolate frog cupcake featured the hollow chocolate frog, and a light cupcake flavored with chocolate and coffee and a mint buttercream icing. It was my favorite, until I tried the rest.
The butterbeer cupcake featured a buttery, slightly heavier cake, flavored with toffee and butterscotch, while the fizzy wizzie cupcake tasted just like a Sweetart candy. There was so much that I ended up not tasting the pretzel wand, although Ron’s Christmas sweater was a great buttery cookie.
In the books, Harry was often served Hagrid’s rock cakes or a squashed birthday cake hidden under his floorboards on his special day. So, to Harry Dolce Darlin’ did you proud.
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Make Your Reservation
Dolce Darlin’
404 Telfair St.
Open Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cost: Cupcakes are typically $2.50 each or $24/dozen.
Danielle Wong Moores is a local freelance writer who’ll never turn down a shrimp cocktail, sushi or cheese dip. Her greatest food influences are her mom and writers MFK Fisher and Amanda Hesser. Her Dine and Dish column runs the second and fourth Friday of each month.
