Babycakes Bakery at Downtown Disney Orlando
BabyCakes offers all-natural, organic bake goods that are free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. We had been wanting to try the BabyCakes in Orlando for a long time, but never seemed to have the opportunity until recently. During a recent visit to Downtown Disney, we went in search of the popular cupcakes and finally found it inside another restaurant, Pollo Campero. We walked to the counter and decided to get a variety of cupcakes to try . . . red velvet, chocolate mocha, lemon, vanilla, carrot, and chocolate. We knew it was going to be an expensive little treat because we were in the tourist capital of the world and they use high quality ingredients. The friendly girl behind the counter rang up our total which was $18.00 for 6 small cupcakes. That’s when Mike turned to me and said “these better be good”! I said, “but look at the cute little pink box they come in”. With BabyCakes in hand, we proceeded to locate our other family members and have a taste test.
Since we are accustomed to eating vegan and a lot of gluten-free foods, we had certain expectations. We cut the cupcakes into fourths and each person had a taste, then weighed in on our likes and dislikes.
Red Velvet – I was especially looking forward to this one, since red velvet is one of my favorite desserts. Unfortunately, it was very disappointing. Dry, bland, gritty, and simply not worth the calories nor the money.
Chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting – This one received mixed reviews, but faired better than the red velvet. General consensus was it was okay, but not great.
Chocolate cupcake with mocha frosting – Similar to the chocolate with vanilla frosting, but perhaps slightly better. Every one agreed that it was pretty good, but again not great.
Lemon – I was least excited about trying the lemon cupcake, but must say, I was pleasantly surprised. The tasters all agreed this was the best so far. It was moist and delicious.
Carrot Cake – I often make vegan carrot cake at home since this is Mike’s favorite kind of cake. He was the first to get a piece of carrot cake, but we quickly saw the excitement slip from his face. After the rest of us took a bite, we understood his disappointment. Not as bad as the red velvet, but it, too, was dry and a bit bland.
So out of the six cupcakes we tried, the only one we really liked was the lemon. I am not sure if we hit it on a bad day or not, but at $3.00 per tiny cupcake, I don’t think BabyCakes will get a second chance. If you’ve tried them and had a different experience, we’d love to hear from you.
