I've seen so many mixed reviews for the cakes at Animal Kingdom Lodge that I was compelled to order one when we stayed there a few weeks ago.
Ordering Process
The process went smoothly at firstPrivate Dining put me in touch with the pastry chef, and she was super-responsive via email. We sent several messages back and forth and got everything nailed down pretty easily, although I was told I had to get a 6-inch because they don't have the "equipment" to do minicakes. She approved the design and gave me a price, then told me to call in my order to Private Dining, which I did.
However, a few days later I got a strange call from Private Dining asking me if I still wanted to place an order for a cake. This kinda panicked me, so I called them back and was told they had to do some research and would get back to me. They never did. I called again after the weekend and learned from Private Dining that the pastry chef I'd been working with had left on a 2-week vacation without giving them any info about my cake, and that all my correspondence with her was tied up in her private email account, so they didn't even have the photos I'd sent.
I re-sent all the info and went over everything again. Private Dining called me the day before and said they were making the cake right then and wanted to confirm the details of the exterior color (which I did, and they still messed up, but it wasn't a huge deal). This is how it turned out...
Location: Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jiko)
Size: 6-inch cake
Flavors: Red velvet cake with cream cheese mousse filling, not the cream cheese buttercream frosting I'd requested.
Price: Quoted $65 ($35 for 6-inch cake + $30 for fondant decorations), charged $23
Inspiration Photos:
I found this cake online and asked to have a modified version as a 6-inch. I found a separate cake to get inspiration for the hippo on top...
How It Turned Out:
The cake looked a lot better than I was expecting, considering it seemed to have been hastily assembled by assistants while the pastry chef was out. They didn't use a contrasting color for the leaves like in the original photo, and the pond was a little rough around the edges (literally!), but the hippo was adorable and really well-made. It was a surprise for my husband, and he thought it looked great!
(Sorry these photos aren't betternew camera!)
The only thing I was really disappointed about was the use of cream cheese mousse filling instead of cream cheese buttercream frosting, which I had made a big deal about twice: once when I placed the order, and again when they confirmed it. I think they just assumed I meant "filling" instead of "frosting" because it's what they use in most of their cakes, but I really
really dislike Disney's cream cheese mousse filling, which is way too cheesecake-y for my taste.
For some reason, when we got the bill for dinner, the cake was listed at only $23, maybe because they felt bad about losing the order or because it had been created by assistants instead of the pastry chef...?
At any rate, I would still order a fancy cake at AKL again now that they seem to have progressed beyond the supermarket level of cake-makingI guess I just need to be even MORE specific in the future!
