Sunday Brunch: Thankful for Cupcakes
16 December 2012
The Holiday Season has arrived again this year and
at the Walt Disney World it always means festive decorations,
holiday parties, but most of all-holiday cupcakes! I know - how many
cupcakes can this resort crank out? The possibilities seem endless
as there's always something new to celebrate and a cupcake to match
the occasion. So brush your sweet tooth and get ready to read all
about some of this year's holiday cupcakes!

Thanksgiving sometimes seems to be skipped over at
the Walt Disney World resort as the immediate transformation from
Halloween to Christmas leaves little room to give thanks for
cupcakes. Luckily the hotel resorts managed to have a few
Thanksgiving treats.
At the Contemporary Resort's Contempo Cafe last
October, I came across an autumnal cupcake that really brought the
many flavors of the season. The Spiced Apple Cupcake is a
'gingerbread cake infused with Apple-Cranberry filling and iced with
Maple Buttercream.' The Maple Buttercream had a strong maple aroma,
but little maple flavor, probably because it was overpowered by the
sweetness of the buttercream. Though, finally I was happy to have
found a cupcake that had a good balance of spice with just the right
amount of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, with the latter two
having the most presence. The filling was great, but I would've
preferred more cranberry. With the sweet spices of Christmas, the
fresh apples from harvest time, and the tart cranberry found at many
Thanksgiving dinner tables, this cupcake manages to house the end of
the year season in every bite.

The Polynesian Resort had some Thanksgiving themed
cupcakes, while visually fun and festive, the cupcake itself was
underwhelming, just standard vanilla and chocolate. The creative
designs' thematic appeal (which I learned from the Guest Service
manager were brought to you by Pintrest) do make up for the lack of
creativity in flavor.

The Pilgrims hat is a chocolate wafer cookie with a peanut butter
cup!

The horn of plenty cornucopia is cleverly designed with a Bugle and
fruit shaped candies, though I doubt the pilgrims had bananas at the
first Thanksgiving
Main Street Bakery had a few interesting cupcakes so
far this year. The first I came across were these traditional red
and green holiday cupcakes. Rather plain in flavor choices (I didn't
get one to try), but still fun.


This evening was also the day New
Fantasyland had its Grand Reveal, so a special cupcake was made in
honor of the day in Disney history. I'm still not quite sure what
the bakers were going for with these abstract designs, but I thought
they could also pass for New Year's Eve cupcakes as well.
The Polynesian Resort made up for the lackluster in
the previous holiday's cupcake flavors with three specialty cupcakes
for the season. The first was a mint chocolate cupcake with mint
infused buttercream and a chocolate cupcake. The mint flavor was at
an appropriate level that you didn't feel like you just brushed your
teeth. The overall cupcake was satisfactory, but this cupcake's
design was the most fun out of the three.

The North Pole is a peppermint stick!
The second is a gingerbread cupcake. It was pretty
late in the evening when my friends and I ventured for these
cupcakes, and the lateness was apparent in this cupcake. The little
gingerbread man garnish was a bit stale and the cupcake was quite
dry, which could be attributed to the drying properties of the
ginger and spices, but most likely because it had been sitting
waiting to be eaten for quite some time. The frosting seemed to be
cinnamon or nutmeg infused cream and was the best part of the
cupcake.

The third cupcake was by far the best: Pumpkin
Cupcake with Candied Pecans. This treat was a perfectly pumpkin
spiced cupcake with a delicious nutmeg buttercream and candied
pecans. So sweet and nutty, nothing more can describe the most fall
flavored of the cupcakes. This cupcake was everything you love about
Fall themed desserts and more.

With the holiday season upon us, there is still much
to see at the Walt Disney World resort. Stay tuned next week and
after Christmas as we continue to explore the delicious magic of the
resort this season.