The Cake Bake Store Restaurant is a brand new desk service eating expertise and bakery at Walt Disney World, inside strolling distance of EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. This assessment covers our meal at this pricey and controversial new eatery, whether or not it’s value your money and time, visitor varieties to whom it’ll attraction, and easy methods to benefit from a meal at Cake Bake.
By way of fundamentals, the Cake Bake Store Restaurant by Gwendolyn Rogers is positioned at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, changing the area beforehand occupied by ESPN Membership. As famous above, this resort slash ‘WDW district’ is positioned between EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Instantly throughout Crescent Lake from Cake Bake Store is Disney’s Yacht & Seashore Membership Resorts; the Swan & Dolphin Resorts are additionally adjoining to it.
All of those resorts kind the Crescent Lake Resort Space or EPCOT Resort Space. Maybe extra importantly, Cake Bake Store is a brief stroll from EPCOT’s Worldwide Gateway entrance/exit in World Showcase between the UK and France. There’s additionally a Skyliner gondola station over there, making Cake Bake simply accessible from Pop Century, Artwork of Animation, Caribbean Seashore, and Riviera Resorts. All of those areas are talked about each for the sake of entry, and since the Cake Bake Store Restaurant is wholly distinctive and in contrast to something at any of the aforementioned parks or resorts.
Additionally notable is that the addition of the Cake Bake Store Restaurant by Gwendolyn Rogers is the ultimate part of a multi-year reimagining of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. This additionally added BoardWalk Deli, Blue Ribbon Corn Canines, and some different minor adjustments. Most notable up till Cake Bake was the reimagined rooms at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, that are a little bit of a combined bag.
It’s attainable there’s extra to return of this resort reimagining. Walt Disney World nonetheless hasn’t introduced the plan for the previous Large River Grille and each Jelly Rolls and Atlantic Dance Corridor have been on life help for years, so there may very well be a part two on that aspect of the promenade within the coming years. However so far as what’s been introduced, that is the top of the resort refresh and enhancements.
For our first meal at Cake Bake Store Restaurant, we opted to make a late lunch Advance Eating Reservation (ADR) for 4:15 pm. Upon arrival on the appointed time, we have been seated at roughly 4:25 pm and our server proceeded to take our order at 4:35 pm.
I observe these occasions as a result of Cake Bake has two barely menus for lunch and dinner. The previous is obtainable till 4:30 pm per the restaurant, and the latter begins at 5 pm. We have been ordering throughout a misplaced half-hour, apparently.
Our server suggested us that the lunch menu was now not obtainable, because the system had already converted. This was mildly annoying given our ADR and arrival time, as I had wished to order from the ‘select two’ menu that’s solely supplied at lunch.
It wasn’t an enormous concern–it was merely for the sake of assessment variety, not like there was some must-have solely on that menu. We had plans to return to the restaurant with extra members of the family later within the week, so I figured I’d simply attempt it then.
In any other case, service was passable. Our server was educated concerning the menu, sufficiently pleasant and attentive. It was kind of what you may expertise on the adjoining Trattoria al Forno or one other common desk service restaurant at Walt Disney World.
The most important power to the service was that, not like another Walt Disney World eating places, the servers at Cake Bake Store Restaurant weren’t stretched too skinny. The ratio of friends per server was pretty low, roughly on par with a Signature Restaurant. This didn’t appear to be for lack of demand–we truly had a level of problem making our ADRs.
With the desk set, let’s dig into the delicacies at Cake Bake Store Restaurant…
I ordered the Traditional Burger with Pommes Frites: Floor beef chuck served on a toasted brioche buttered bun. Topped with shredded lettuce, pickles, beefsteak tomato, chopped white onion, mayonnaise, and melted Tillamook cheddar cheese.
This can be a substantial, top quality burger. The brioche bun is gentle and buttery, the vegetable toppings tasted recent, and the meat was juicy and scrumptious.
I’ve zero complaints about this cheeseburger or the pomme frites (french fries). This dish is as marketed–a traditional cheeseburger with fries executed at a excessive degree.
Cake Bake’s burger can also be nothing memorable or to put in writing residence about. Which is ok! Not each burger must be craveworthy or distinctive, and this doesn’t invoice itself as that. So far as burgers go, it’s prime 2 within the Crescent Lake Resort Space. However there isn’t precisely loads of competitors. Except there’s a secret menu I don’t learn about, that is the one burger wherever at BoardWalk.
As with just about every little thing at Cake Bake, there may be the problem of pricing. The Traditional Burger and Pomme Frites prices $27. As somebody who orders so much of burgers at Walt Disney World, I way back grew to become numb to their pricing, so this didn’t give me sticker shock. Disney broke the $20 burger barrier again in 2012, and it was actually surprising again then. Burgers within the mid-$20s at the moment are the norm, not the exception.
With all of that mentioned, this isn’t the #1 burger within the Crescent Lake Resort Space. That crown goes to the Cheddar Burger over at Ale & Compass, which (for reference) is topped with Applewood-smoked Bacon, Tomato, Avocado, Pickles, Sunny Facet Up Egg, on a Herbed Mayonnaise on a Home-made Bun, and prices $25. For Cake Bake’s worth, I want to see one thing barely extra fascinating–like that burger. Regardless of being fairly good, the Cake Bake Burger is a one and executed for me–and is troublesome to suggest with out that “one thing extra.”
For her entree, Sarah ordered the Roasted Salmon Filet: Recent wild salmon filet completed with a lemon dill crème fraîche served with smashed fingerling potatoes and roasted asparagus.
Salmon is a kind of entrees that Walt Disney World does nicely (even at EPCOT festivals), so we have been a bit apprehensive about ordering the Roasted Salmon at Cake Bake provided that it’s a 3rd social gathering. Fortunately, the Roasted Salmon Filet at Cake Bake Store Restaurant is beautiful.
The fish is a large reduce, and completely ready–a crisp exterior that provides technique to flaky items which might be moist, juicy, and supply an exquisite taste. The filet had the proper quantity of fattiness for taste, particularly for wild salmon. This fish would’ve been incredible by itself, however the lemon dill crème fraîche put it excessive. It took the already wealthy and buttery taste of the salmon and deepened it, providing an umami high quality. I’d order this repeatedly, and we extremely suggest it.
The smashed fingerling potatoes are likewise wonderful–crisp skins which might be well-seasoned, with gentle interiors. These are filling and satisfying, and this plus sizable salmon made for a surprisingly massive meal. (As could be obvious, I ate loads of this.) As for the roasted asparagus, it tastes like…roasted asparagus.
After all, the problem of price as soon as once more comes up. The Roasted Salmon Filet is $40 at Cake Bake Store Restaurant. That is about center of the pack for salmon at Walt Disney World. Once more, it didn’t strike us as shocking or egregious.
The closest comparability to this dish is definitely the Roasted Salmon served with Roasted Celery Root, Arugula, and Meyer Lemon Crème over at Flying Fish. That dish prices $49 and is similar to this. It’s been some time since I’ve had that, so it may be a barely bigger or higher-quality filet, however I used to be very glad with Cake Bake’s. This can be a near-Signature caliber dish, at minimal.
Now come the muffins. That is supposedly the principle occasion, as you may anticipate for a restaurant named Cake Bake Store.
My authentic intention was to publish this previous to Christmas and in addition return for one more meal throughout which we’d order common muffins, however one of the best laid plans of mice and males usually go awry. For this meal, we opted for 2 seasonal picks: Peppermint Sweet Cane Chocolate Cake and Gingerbread Man Cake.
Every of those muffins price $23. That’s by the slice.
A lot has been made from the cake slice pricing at Cake Bake Store. Some defend these costs by claiming that every slice of cake serves 2 to three folks.
I don’t know who these individuals are, however they have to not like cake. I might simply polish off a slice of this on my own. When you’re claiming this serves three, then the typical Walt Disney World desk service restaurant that prices $10 serves two.
To make sure, these are bigger than regular, however I’d say they’re 1.5x measurement, moderately than 2-3x. We did find yourself taking loads of these muffins residence, however solely as a result of the entrees have been so filling (and we’d been grazing around the globe at EPCOT’s Pageant of the Holidays previous to our meal).
If it have been truly the case that everybody have been sharing slices, Cake Bake might merely promote smaller parts at decrease costs and make it up in quantity. That might eradicate loads of the largest complaints, so win-win, proper? They clearly don’t try this as a result of it wouldn’t pencil out.
The larger concern for us, although, is that these muffins are nothing particular.
They’re not dangerous or mediocre, they’re simply not $20+ slices of cake. On each, the buttercream and ganache is high-quality, and tastes nice. The cake itself, although, is a bit on the dry aspect and never all that memorable.
Our go-to muffins are from the bakery at Complete Meals. (Sarah is a giant fan as a result of they use “clear” elements, and the Berry Chantilly Cake is incredible.) For a complete cake, these price about the identical worth as a single slice at Cake Bake Store. Clearly, grocery retailer to desk service restaurant (at Walt Disney World, of all locations) is fairly removed from an apples to apples comparability.
Nevertheless, it’s not as if Complete Meals is thought for its affordability. Extra to the purpose, a desk service restaurant at Walt Disney World with “cake” within the identify ought to most likely serve cake superior to a grocery retailer if it desires to cost considerably increased costs. It doesn’t, so this comparability is truthful recreation. The muffins we simply purchased for Christmas and New Yr’s at Complete Meals have been each higher than Cake Bake Store.
So if it’s clearly not cake, then what, precisely, is the spotlight of Cake Bake Store Restaurant at Walt Disney World? Check out the way it will get decked out for the vacations…
Pictures don’t even start to do justice to the Christmas decorations at Cake Bake Store Restaurant. It actually is a glistening winter wonderland.
The central sales space topped by a beautiful snow-tipped Christmas tree truly rotates, revealing Santa Claus pulled by reindeer because it turns. These figures are all animated, with a restricted vary of movement, plus lavish costumes and coats of fur. It’s nothing wanting resplendent.
Cake Bake Store’s Christmas decorations jogs my memory of the shows you’d see at excessive finish malls. That is completely not a backhanded praise, as I’m not speaking concerning the dying malls dotting the nation. I imply these in components of New York and California–or higher but, Paris and Tokyo. It’s all so luxurious and gorgeous.
Cake Bake Store isn’t a Signature Restaurant at Walt Disney World within the regular sense of the time period.
For probably the most half, the menu is rather more approachable and abnormal, even whether it is costly. Many of the dishes are American consolation meals, with a transparent New Orleans-inspiration. There are a few increased finish choices, resembling Crab Truffles, New York Strip Steak, or the Salmon. That’s actually about it, although. In any other case, it’s loads of sandwiches and soups.
Actually, the menu feels a bit at odds with the ambiance. I wouldn’t name Cake Bake refined, however it’s elegant.
To that time, we felt a bit misplaced at Cake Bake Store with a toddler.
It’s not that the servers made us uncomfortable or tried to maneuver our meal alongside–they have been completely nice. Partly, it was the ambiance. Cake Bake Store Restaurant felt extra on par with a Signature Restaurant than its menu advised. Regardless that animated polar bears, reindeer, and Santa Claus figures scream “kid-friendly,” it was all imbued with such an opulence and magnificence that we felt like we shouldn’t have been there. Identical to we wouldn’t take a toddler to close by Flying Fish or Yachtsman Steakhouse or Citricos.
This was additional bolstered, at the least in our minds, by patrons in any respect different close by tables. There have been older {couples} in our neighborhood who have been dressed up for date nights, ordered ‘fancy’ glowing water, and appeared (at the least to my side-eyeing) to be having beautiful and romantic meals. I later noticed certainly one of them at Candlelight Processional and couldn’t assist however assume: now that is the proper technique to do Cake Bake Store Restaurant!
Suffice to say, Cake Bake Store Restaurant could be good for a date night time.
It’s going to prime our listing of one of the best eating places for Valentine’s Day at Walt Disney World. Our server was raving concerning the plans they’ve for decorations as soon as Christmas wraps up, and it sounds incredible. It’s refreshing to see a restaurant care a lot about seasonal decorations, particularly as Walt Disney World goes within the precise wrong way with its personal eating places.
When you’re planning additional upfront, Cake Bake Store Restaurant would even be good for a pre-Candlelight Processional meal. (Fingers crossed they’re included in future eating packages, however I doubt it.) I can’t consider many higher pairings for a memorable meal and present, even among the many EPCOT World Showcase eating places.
It’s not simply that Cake Bake Store Restaurant is an efficient choice for {couples}.
I’d think about that if our daughter have been just a few years older, Cake Bake could be good. However because it stands, she’s nonetheless a toddler who’s simply discovering her ft, and isn’t prepared for an extended and extra elegant eating expertise. (Therefore this assessment not that includes that second meal–we cancelled and as an alternative opted for a extra toddler-friendly various.)
Now we have pals again in Indianapolis with daughters who’re 5 to fifteen years outdated. They completely adore Cake Bake Store. Regardless of having one now, I don’t purport to be the authority on this type of factor, however I’d hazard a guess that’s concerning the candy spot: ladies of that age who’re well-mannered and wish to expertise the ‘finer issues’ however aren’t fairly prepared for grownup Signature Eating.
Amongst Sarah’s grownup pals, it additionally looks as if Cake Bake is common for women nights out. Once more, I’m not an knowledgeable on this, however it checks out. I don’t know what the precise reverse of ESPN Membership is, however this has gotta be fairly near it! Cake Bake is principally Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique: The Restaurant. Throughout, consideration to element is off the charts at Cake Bake Store. It does the little issues rather well, extra so than can by conveyed by images or a assessment. As a visitor, you are feeling such as you’re a part of one thing particular.
Finally, we preferred sure points of Cake Bake Store Restaurant rather more than anticipated, and different elements a lot lower than anticipated. Regardless of huge plans to attempt each cake on the menu, I most likely wouldn’t order one other cake–or we’d cut up a cake, only for the sake of attempting one thing new, seeing if it’s any higher, and saying we had what the restaurant is thought for.
Quite than specializing in dessert, we’d reallocate that portion of the funds to entrees, ordering the ‘fanciest’ ones that finest approximate a Signature Restaurant. We’d each completely get that Roasted Salmon Filet once more. I’d be inclined to attempt the Crab Truffles and New York Strip Steak, however I’m unsure what else. The gumbo and shrimp po’ boy sound good…however probably not becoming the vibe of the place. Level being, we’d truly moderately spend more cash on entrees versus the cake to have a full bundle expertise that felt value it.
Cake Bake Store is undeniably costly. Our out-the-door invoice was $140 for the above, which is within the neighborhood of what we’d’ve spent just a few doorways down at Flying Fish. It was a really completely different expertise, in fact, however our solely actual concern was the fee the muffins contributed to that whole. I don’t care the way you slice it: these muffins are wildly overpriced. Tweaking our order a bit to deemphasize desserts and go greater on entrees would’ve improved our meal immensely and made it extra moderately priced.
The underside line is that we are going to completely return to Cake Bake Store Restaurant in just a few years–most likely once more at Christmas–when our daughter is the appropriate age to understand its ambiance. To its credit score, Cake Bake gives one thing you gained’t discover wherever else at Walt Disney World by way of the overarching expertise, and the unbelievable consideration to element right here is Distinctly Disney.
The restaurant actually nails the delicate small issues and provides good little touches (proper right down to customized to-go packing containers and baggage) in a means that exceeds even what Walt Disney World is doing. It’s actually in a class of its personal–not fairly a Signature Restaurant for cuisine-caliber, however a lot a couple of in different methods.
It’s positively not going to be for everybody, and even most individuals, however Cake Bake Store goes to have great attraction for its goal demographics. As soon as the mud has settled on its pre-opening price and development controversies, it’s probably that Cake Bake Store Restaurant can be an enormous hit and fan-favorite at Walt Disney World with some friends.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study resorts on our Walt Disney World Motels Critiques web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Critiques. To save cash on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every little thing it’s good to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your ideas concerning the Cake Bake Store by Gwendolyn Rogers? When you’ve already dined right here, what was your expertise with the delicacies, muffins, and ambiance? Will you be making ADRs right here or skipping Cake Bake? Stunned by simply how costly that is? Suppose the costs are value it, even when they do require a second mortgage? Agree or disagree with our restaurant assessment? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!