Indy Favorite Cake Bake Shop Opens Restaurant at Disney World

Gwendolyn Rogers’ 10-year-old restaurant brand has made countless “best of” lists, been featured on national TV shows and was anointed by Oprah Winfrey.

But on Thursday, she officially took on the world – Disney World.

Her lavish The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers debuted today at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

It’s the third location for the French-inspired restaurant, known for its macarons, handmade cakes, cookies, dessert bars and Swarovski chandelier displays.

The table-service restaurant opened alongside The Cake Bake Shop Bakery at Disney’s BoardWalk in the Lake Buena Vista, Florida, complex. The operations are in the same building.

Guests can dine there for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea and dinner with cocktails while taking in views of Crescent Lake. Teas are imported from France. Freshly made scones are served with clotted cream and homemade jams.

”This is a dream come true. To have people come in and see children smiling; I'm just excited,” Rogers said. “I'm happy to be able to have people come in and put smiles on their faces. That’s the most exciting thing in the world to me.”

“It's about the experience and the memory that they have once they come here.”

Rogers opened the first Cake Bake Shop in the Broad Ripple neighborhood in 2014. She expanded to a second larger glittery location in Carmel in 2019.

She announced the Disney World restaurant in March 2022. But it’s been a decade in the making.

Only a month after launching in Broad Ripple, Rogers began a quest to operate at the resort tagged “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

The idea to open at Disney came naturally, as Rogers, 59, is a lifelong Disney fan.

“I love it so much. I love everything about it. I've been a Disney fan since I was six,” she said. “I was lucky enough to come to the park the year it opened when I was six years old. So it's always been a very happy place for me to spend time with my kids.”

‘I know it seems like it's overnight, but it's been a very long, long adventure we've been on,” she said. “I approached them, and I didn't let up until I got somebody’s attention.”

Before Disney though, Rogers and her Cake Bake Shops garnered plenty of attention.

“O, The Oprah Magazine” in 2018 featured her Gwendolyn’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cake and included her Blueberry and Maple Walnut Crumb Cakes for the 2019 Oprah's Favorite Things list. The Cake Bake Shop has been recognized by Food Network’s “Guilty Pleasures” and her cakes have been featured on the “Rachael Ray.” 

The Disney World building, formerly home to an ESPN Zone restaurant, was under construction for three years to create a setting beyond the Christmas wonderland opulence that made her shops among the most Instagramable restaurants in Indiana.

“I took a sports bar that had a jumbotron in the dining room, and it had big, huge pillars and stadium seating, and I took that space and totally transformed it into a Cake Bake,” she said. “It's completely transformed into a different feel. And it's beautiful, and it's pretty, and it's feminine and it's soft.”

It’s larger than either of the two Indiana restaurants. The dining room seats about 252 people. The Carmel restaurant seats about 165.

“It has been the most incredible experience of my life to turn something into something completely different. That's one of the things I love the most; to create an experience for people that I hope everyone really likes," she said. “I hope enough people love it as much as I do; that when you come in, you remember what it was like to be here, and then you come back again every time you come to Disney because it becomes a tradition.”

Rogers’ three adult sons work with her, and she took about a dozen Indiana employees to work on the new restaurant.

“Even though I'm a ways from Indy, I feel like I'm still home because I have a lot of my work family with me,” she said.

Those who’ve visited either of the Indiana restaurants know what they’re in for. The menu isn’t much different. Of course, there will be massive slices of cake, as well as sandwiches, soups, salads, pastas, roasted salmon and steak.

But there will also be a full breakfast offering, as the restaurant opens at 7 a.m. The Indiana locations open at 10 a.m. and lean more toward lunch and dinner items, although there are quiches.  

The shop has a full bar with seating.

Visits to The Cake Bake Shop are often considered experiences; places to celebrate or impress visiting guests. This is not a cheap outing.

Still, the Disney location generated a lot of buzz amid test meals service earlier this month when the menu hit social media. Many deemed the prices, including cake slices for $26 each and burger and fries for $32 per order, too high, particularly when compared to the same items at the Indiana locations.

Upon opening, though, menu prices at the Disney location were adjusted.

Some were reduced. For example, the Pesto Burrata – which in Indiana costs $28 –  was $34 at the Disney site during the testing period. Its price has since been lowered to $28.99.

Other items now cost more than during the testing period. The Pixie Fetti Birthday Cake is among those that increased from $22 to $22.99 when The Cake Bake Shop opened to the public. 

“We’re always tweaking and we’re always changing,” Rogers said. “We're always trying to be better and we want it to be great for everyone, and that's what our testing is for; to just kind of see what people want, and to make any adjustments that we need to.”

Expect The Cake Bake Shop at Disney to go all out with the decorations for its first holiday season. The Carmel location, in particular, is known for Christmas season decor and sold-out Santa dinners.

“We haven't announced any Santa dinner here yet, but I've been working on the holiday decor for two years now, knowing that I would need to be ready; and it is going to be very similar to Carmel, but maybe just a little bit more over the top,” Rogers said.

There are no Disney-themed foods or merchandise at the restaurant; but there are lots of Cake Bake-branded items, including toddler shirts and stuffed unicorns. If the items sell well there, Rogers expects to expand them to the Indiana locations.

The restaurant is next to a lake at Disney’s BoardWalk, an entertainment area with other eateries, bars, a dance hall and other activities. 

It’s near Disney’s Beach Club Resort,  Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, the BoardWalk Inn, Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel and the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel and within walking distance to the Epcot and Hollywood Studios theme parks.

Walt Disney World Resort has six theme and water parks, hotels and a golf course.

Disney’s BoardWalk does not require a ticket.

Guests can access the BoardWalk via:

Parking is free.

The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers restaurant at Disney World will implement a reservation system in the coming weeks. 

For information, visit thecakebakeshop.com.

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on Twitter:@cherylvjackson.