Editor’s Note: The Cheshire Cake Cups have been discontinued as of late Summer 2015. We’ll update you if/when they’ll return (because there will be shouts of rejoicing.)
Last fall, the Cheshire Café surprised us all with the debut of AJ’s favorite new treat in all the land — Gourmet Cake Cups.
Cheshire Cake Cup at Cheshire Cafe
This small snack stop next to the Mad Tea Party (the teacups ride!) is adorably themed with whimsical swirls of color, but previously it was known primarily as a spot to grab a piece of fruit for breakfast, or a cold soda or Raspberry Lemonade Slush on a hot afternoon.
Cheshire Cafe Sign
Not so, anymore! The Cheshire Café has become a must-stop for many ever since Gourmet Cake Cups hit the scene. In fact, there have been days when these eye-catching goodies have sold out entirely.
Cheshire Cafe
And that’s bound to happen a bit more often… especially now that Cheshire Café has introduced TWO MORE CAKE CUPS to the line up! Say hello to the White Chocolate Rabbit and Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cups!
White Chocolate Rabbit and Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cups
For those unfamiliar with these gems, a Gourmet Cake Cup is like a cupcake in its ingredients (cake and frosting), but presented parfait-style. In addition to the frosting on top, there are multiple layers of frosting between the layers of cake, all served in a cup. And yes, they are very, VERY sweet.
Gourmet Cake Cups are known and loved for two things: absolutely terrific – and even artistic – presentation… and oodles upon oodles of frosting! Let’s take a closer look at the new arrivals…
First – as with the previous Cake Cups, the Mad Hatter Mocha and Cheshire Cupcake Cake Cup – the appearance in real life trumps that on the sign. Here is the “new” sign (a small note on that later):
Cake Cups Sign
And here is another view of the duo!
White Chocolate Rabbit and Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cups
The White Chocolate Rabbit Cake Cup (inspired, obviously by the always-late White Rabbit in “Alice in Wonderland”) is a yellow cake base that is “sprinkled” throughout with small bits of chocolate cake.
White Chocolate Rabbit Cake Cup
The frosting is a delicious buttercream, and the “White Chocolate” in the name stems from those cute bunny ears made of white chocolate (with small ribbons of milk chocolate) peeking out of the frosting.
Toppings on the White Chocolate Rabbit Cake Cup
The detailing in the sugared flower is a gorgeous touch, and the sprinkling of the garnish adds a nice crunch (and, if I detected correctly, lent a small bit to more of the white chocolate taste).
And we couldn’t resist giving you a glimpse of the layers through DFB Cake Cup Funnel Vision 😉 !
White Chocolate Rabbit Cake Cup layers
The frosting on this one, as with its new counterpart, is not mile-high a’ la the Mad Hatter Mocha and Cheshire Cupcake Cake Cups. However, the frosting is more dense on each of the new Cups, and VERY tasty. I clearly enjoyed the frosting on the original Cake Cups, but it strikes me as even higher quality on the new ones… and there is still PLENTY of it!
The Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cup also has a yellow cake base. However, in this case the layers have the addition of a flavorful strawberry purée.
Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cup
The frosting is also strawberry, and the artistic toppers are again fantastic: from the Queen of Hearts fondant playing card to the “We’re Painting the Roses Red” soft sugar rose, down to the heart sprinkles.
Toppings on the Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cup
“We’re Painting the Roses Red!”
What really stood out to me here was the outstanding strawberry flavor in both the cake layers and the frosting. WOW! It’s just a burst of genuine strawberry with every bite. I tried to get a close up picture of the frosting so you could see some of the small red bits of strawberry in it.
Strawberry Frosting
I was really impressed that this wasn’t simply a strawberry-flavored pink frosting, and it’s obvious when you taste it.
And here’s one more in Cake Cup Funnel Vision 🙂 .
Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cup layers
In case you’re wondering what’s happened to the previous Cake Cups… I noticed a little something on my visit. The Cake Cups on the sign are magnetic, and get switched out with the Cake Cups that are available that day. I spotted the Cheshire Cupcake Cake Cup magnet on the back of the sign, so it’s not gone for good we hope.
Cake Cup Magnet
It’s just that the Cake Cups are expanding… and I’m ALL FOR IT!! I, for one, am now keeping my fingers crossed for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Cake Cups. And why not? Almost anything is possible in Wonderland!
Which Cake Cup tops your “Must-Try” list? Please let us know with a comment!
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I’m reading this post with my four year old on my lap who keeps telling me that she wants that White Rabbit Cake Cup. She’s still in her “I only eat the frosting anyway” stage, so this is right up her alley.
Wendy, thank you for taking one for the team with those Cake Cup Funnel Vision photos. I can’t imagine the looks you got as you took multiple photos of your desserts in various stages. I’m sure you amused quite a few passers-by.
Hi, Sue! Your comment made me smile :), because I bet you’re right. Typically I sit quietly, but this time I stood and hovered over the cake cups for a moment each — and a couple of people stopped to ask which one they should get, which was fun! Hope your little food/frosting fan gets to try one sometime!
Gorgeous post, Wendy! That Queen of Hearts especially looks awesome!
I tried the Cheshire Cat cake cup (YUM) back in November after reading about it on the blog. I may need to book another trip just so I can try these – they look SO good.
Great pictures, Wendy! The sunshine helped! 😉 I tried the Mad Hatter Mocha due to the review here on my September trip, and it was too much, even for a chocolate fiend like me. The White Chocolate Rabbit is probably more up my alley, especially paired with a Starbucks Mocha Latte! Keep us updated on the specialty cupcakes here!
The absolute best cupcake I have ever had!! I indulged in the white rabbit cake cup and enjoyed every last decadent bite!! A do not miss treat if ever there was one!
CAKE CUP–best invention ever! Thank you for taking one for the team and trying out the new flavors for us, Wendy!
And once again the gluten free crowd gets left out. 🙁 Come on Disney, you guys are better than this! We deserve our cake too! it’s not that difficult to make…
I am so over the moon excited that the Cheshire Cafe has gone full theme-ing with Wonderland treats!
The Queen of Hearts strawberry shortcake cake cup is first on my list to try. Hopefully I can get someone else in my family to go for the White Rabbit cake cup so I can sample it too 😉
I love all things Wonderland and now I can add food to that category!
I really wish they had these at Disneyland!
Thanks so much, everyone, for the comments :)! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you all have a chance to try one (or two 😉 ) soon (and Holly I’m glad you grabbed one already!)!
Christa, I hadn’t considered Cake Cup Pairings… Brilliant :)!
Actually got to try these yesterday!!!!!!! We got one of each, they were awesome!! Super sweet, but shareable!!!
Thanks for this blog, I wouldn’t have even known about half of this stuff and never would have tried it 🙂
We picked up a Queen of Hearts Strawberry Shortcake Cake Cup today and shared it for dessert. It was amazing! We had the mocha cake cup a few weeks ago and, while it was good, the strawberry was by far the better dessert. Thanks for the heads up about this so we would know to swing by Cheshire Cafe and look for it!!!
We just got back from DisneyWorld on Monday…so this is still very fresh in my mind. My daughter just had to have a snack at The Cheshire Cafe because “Chessie” is one of her favorite characters. We got a Queen of Hearts strawberry shortcake cake cup to share. I have to say that it is the BEST DESSERT I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!! I kept trying to go back to get another one be we never got a chance. Oh, to have the recipe. I would go to Disney just for that!!!
We decidedly to try these cake cups last night 3/22/15. I was hoping to try the Strawberry Queen of Hearts, but they were only offering the White Chocolate Rabbit and the Chesire Cat. They said they change them every month or so. I was surprised since strawberry season is in full swing here in Florida.
In a word – WOW! First of all you need to be a fan of frosting. If frosting is your favorite thing about a cake then this is for you. This is a simple dessert, yet a delicious dessert. My husband and I shared the two flavors. I preferred the Cheshire Cat and he preferred the White Chocolate Rabbit.
There are a lot of great desserts in Disney World and I would not put this as one of the finest, but it is definitely good. Having said that it is rich. It will be a long time before I get another unless there is a different flavor and I am in the mood for something seriously sweet. Luckily they sell milk there too.
I was told by the CM that a difference between the Cheshire and white chocolate rabbit was that the white chocolate had a cream cheese frosting (which she said she liked better). Unfortunately I like regular sugary thick buttercream better and they’d just run out of the Cheshire! 🙁 Guess I’ll try it another day!
They are gone for good!! =( SO SO disappointed as this was my ABSOLUTE favorite thing that I looked forward to at the MK as far as a sweet snack goes! Does anyone know if anywhere else carries something similar?!?
Are they really gone? My wife was dying to try these, if they were vegetarian. Please tell me they are still available and vegetarian.
Thanks
I remember getting the Queen of Hearts cup a while back and LOVED IT!!!! I still check back at the Chesire Cafe every time we go to Disney World to see if it returned!!
Thanks AJ!!