Guests are Shocked When They Visit The Cake Bake Shop at Walt Disney World
I was looking forward to The Cake Bake Shop for 2 years as it sat nearly abandoned on Disney’s Boardwalk at Walt Disney World. Then, a few months ago, there were suddenly signs of life as crews began working on the exterior, and a menu was posted outside.
And that’s when everyone started scratching their heads. $32 for a burger, $25 for a slice of cake, $12 for a coffee. Bloggers went wild on social media, shaming Cake Bake Shop for seemingly ridiculous prices.
It got so bad that Cake Bake Shop lowered its prices right before opening this week. A burger went from $32 to $26, and a slice of cake...well that’s still $25.
The Cake Bake Shop in has a score of 2.9 on Google.
I thought it was odd that it opened without a grand opening or even a shoutout from the Disney Parks Blog.
Why didn’t Disney create any fanfare for this?
I, of course, wanted to see it for myself so my family and I visited just 1 day after it opened. That’s because I didn’t know it opened, I just happened to see a review from a blogger I follow.
I read numerous reviews and watched several YouTube reviews. All of them mentioned the higher-than-average prices.
And for good reason: The Cake Bake Shop is currently selling the most expensive desserts on Disney World property. I’m pretty sure the burger could also be the most expensive at $26. It costs more than the Wagyu burger at STK in Disney Springs and the burger at BoatHouse, which I think is the best burger on Disney property.
Full disclosure here, the very best burger I’ve ever had was at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Orlando. And of course, it’s tough to beat Five Guys.
I get that The Cake Bake Shop is expensive, but is it worth it? See, I don’t mind paying for an upscale experience that involves great food, and atmosphere.
The problem with The Cake Bake Shop is that the food and atmosphere are just, OK.
We didn’t “hate” anything we had, but for the money, something was amiss here.
It comes across as a casual, fun bakery with whimsical confections. On one hand, it has a very upscale atmosphere yet a casual menu. But the prices are not casual - they’re more in line with an ultra-posh restaurant. This is confusing to me.
For example, the burger was a little dry. The roll was hard and crunchy. A burger, to me, is on a soft roll, it’s juicy and maybe even a little messy. This was just missing something. I think it was trying to be fancy. Burgers ain’t fancy! And it wouldn’t have been great even at $12.
But when you pay $26 for a burger, don’t you have high expectations?
The same is true with the desserts. For this, we went to the take-out side because we wanted to eat outside on the Boardwalk. There are two sides of The Cake Bake Shop, the restaurant side with table service, and the counter service side.
I would like to focus on the quick service side because most of the questions I’ve been getting are about sampling the cakes, more than the restaurant.
We ordered a slice of the Millionaires Cake ($25), a Lemon Bar ($14), a chocolate chip cookie ($7), a milk ($8) and a coffee ($11). I was charged $2 for a bag to carry my items and finally, I was prompted to leave a $12 tip on the iPad. I did the math for you; it’s about $80. I asked for a paper receipt and was told the printer wasn’t working.
I suspect they didn’t want me to have evidence of the beating I just took.
Everything looked good in the display cases, but there wasn’t anything that blew me away.
At a good bakery, I usually want everything and have a hard time trying to decide what to get. Here, I didn’t want most of it. I wasn’t interested in Oprah’s Mint Cake, and I don’t like carrot cake (personal preference), and I overlooked a lot just because of the price.
Now, of course, we tip for great service, and the staff here is well-trained. They certainly value guests and truly want to create a great experience. Everyone was so friendly and attentive. The gentleman who made my coffee asked me to take a sip to make sure it was to my liking and offered to make adjustments if I felt it was necessary.
That’s the level of service here!
The pastries are good, but not great. I found them to be beyond rich and sweet.
After every bite, I had to take a sip of coffee. And then I just needed water! For a $26 slice of cake, they certainly give you a large piece. It’s enough for 2 or even 3 people to share. There were 3 of us, and we could only take a few small bites each because it was so rich.
I think a cake should be so good that you can’t stop eating it. And then feel guilty afterward because you overindulged. That wasn’t the case here. I think I would have been sick if I ate more than a few bites.
We moved on to the lemon bar. I love lemon bars! The Cake Bake Shop’s lemon bar was huge but very sweet. I could taste the granulated sugar in the lemon filling. 2 small bites, and I was done. The lemon flavor was STRONG, so you have to love lemons to enjoy this. It was so sweet and tart, I could barely eat it. I would not order that again.
In fact, that was the theme of The Cake Bake Shop overall - I wouldn’t go out of my way to order any of these items again. Nothing was special or unique.
The Millionaire Cake wasn’t much different from the European Bar Cake sold at Costco.
And speaking of Costco, did you know you can buy a cake from The Cake Bake Shop from Costco? The cake is $159. About twice the price of other specialty cakes sold there. But it gets good reviews.
I thought The Cake Bake Shop was a little on the touristy side - I could see this place taking advantage of tourists in Las Vegas or Times Square. Where tourists come in once because they’re visiting and will likely never return.
I know, Disney World is touristy, but generally speaking, the restaurants are pretty good.
For me, there’s a disconnect between the high prices and food quality.
Oh, and being charged $2 for a bag is annoying. No better way to leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouths than to overcharge them for everything, even a bag.
If you’re looking for an upscale dining experience nearby, I recommend the following restaurants:
Yachtsman Steakhouse - Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Bluezoo - Walt Disney World Swan
Flying Fish - Disney Boardwalk
Monsieur Paul - France Pavilion, Epcot
Amare - Swan Reserve Hotel
Have questions about planning your Orlando vacation? I have answers! Contact me now to get more out of your vacation.
Since 2010, Darren has been making Orlando vacations easy! As an Orlando resident, he is able to provide insider, expert advice on Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and Florida-based cruises.
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