Happy Tasty Tuesday Disney friends!! Today’s blog post will cover a quick review of Erin McKenna’s Bakery NYC, located in Disney Springs. This bakery is one of the best allergy friendly options on property at Walt Disney World, especially for those with a sweet tooth. You can find Erin McKenna’s in The Landing section of Disney Springs near The Boathouse restaurant.
According to the Disney Springs website: “Indulge in a mindful menu of vegan, kosher and gluten-free treats—including a selection of award-winning donuts, cupcakes, cookies, muffins and savory specials. All goods are freshly prepared on-site and available daily.” The menu is filled with so many options from fresh cookies and donuts to vegan soft-serve and beverages.
I have posted about Erin McKenna’s A LOT over the past couple of years, and although I have tried some of their products that are offered on the Walt Disney World property, I had yet to actually visit the bakery myself. Finally, I decided to visit once it reopened with part of Disney Springs after being closed due to Coronavirus safety measures. Because of the safety precautions in Disney Springs, my experience there was a little different than normal, but still great. We arrived to Erin McKenna’s pretty quickly, and the bakery was empty when we went inside. The bakery had one employee stationed outside to monitor the amount of guests in the bakery at one time, which just happened to be myself and my husband. All of the employees were wearing face masks and gloves, and they were so kind and friendly. As per Disney Springs regulations, my husband and I were also wearing masks.
There were SO MANY yummy gluten free/vegan pastries for us to choose from that it overwhelmed me a little bit at first. There are very few places where I can choose from the entire menu, and this bakery just happens to be one of those places, so I felt like a kid in a candy story! I decided to try 4 different kinds of cupcakes and an eclair, while my husband opted for a cookie sandwich. We purchased our order and took the pastries home with us to eat over the weekend.
That night, I dove right into trying some of the pastries we had purchased. The first was a lemon raspberry cupcake and the chocolate covered eclair. The cupcake itself was delicious, rich and moist, but I wished that the frosting tasted a little more like lemon and less like the allergy friendly buttercream they used on top. The raspberry jam tasted very fresh, but I also had hoped that it would be in the middle of the cupcake as well as on top of the cupcake. All in all, I would rate the lemon raspberry cupcake as a 7/10.
I had mixed feelings about the chocolate covered eclair. When I tried it that night when it was fresh, I liked the lady finger style cookie filled with cream and covered in chocolate. What I didn’t like it that I could overwhelmingly taste coconut, which wasn’t a bad taste, it just was not what I was expecting. So, I decided to opt for another cupcake that night instead. What I will say is, after having it stay overnight in the fridge, I liked the eclair much better the next day. I think the flavors had time to meld together a little better when it was in the fridge. Overall, i’d rate the eclair a 5.5/10.
So after I put the eclair in the fridge to try later, I opted for a salted caramel cupcake. This cupcake is definitely what dreams are made of. The chocolate cupcake was moist and provided a nice contrast with the very sweet salted caramel frosting. But, what makes this cupcake so great is that dollop of allergy friendly salted caramel right in the middle of the frosting. OH. EM. TASTEBUDS. This cupcake is an 11/10 for me and a must-try at Erin McKenna’s.
Since I already covered my experiences with the eclair, I’ll focus on the next kind of cupcake I tried: the brownie bite cupcake. All in all, I actually question why I purchased this cupcake, since I am not a fan of chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. But, the cupcake wasn’t bad! The cupcake itself was just as delicious and moist as the rest, the allergy friendly chocolate buttercream was nice, and the brownie bite on top had a little extra kick with a chocolate coating. This cupcake rated a 6/10 for me.
The last cupcake that I had purchased to try was the french toast cupcake. As you can see, my husband was excited to try this one as well, as he took a bite out of one side of it before I could take a picture! I actually really loved this cupcake, but did not find it to taste like french toast in the slightest. It tasted more like a coffee cake, which was absolutely delicious. I also really liked the balance of frosting to cupcake for this cupcake, as it had significantly less frosting than the other cupcakes I had tried. I’d rate this cupcake a 8/10.
All in all, my experience at Erin McKenna’s was just as amazing as I had anticipated. I can’t wait to keep going back!!
Here’s to living our best and most delicious Disney lives! <3
~ Meagan
Meagan has been living with many food allergies and sensitivities since she was 19 years old. She is currently a Personal Vacation Advisor for Magical Vacation Planner, specializing in helping her guests book trips to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort. Meagan enjoys researching fitness and nutrition and has taken a special interest in finding allergy friendly options at Walt Disney World.
Interested in having Meagan help you plan your next trip? Send her an email at m.slone@magicalvacationplanner.com or get a free quote at https://magicalvacationplanner.com/staff/meagan-slone/!
