Review: Black Forest Baumkuchen at Connections Eatery Epcot

For Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, Connections Eatery created an upgraded version of the Baumkuchen from Connection Café.

During Food and Wine Festival that runs until November 18, Connection Eatery serves a new dessert. The Black Forest Baumkuchen costs $5.99. This price is similar to the basic baumkuchen that Connections Café recently started serving.

Two Clarifications about Baumkuchen and Connections Eatery

First, at Epcot, Connections Café and Connections Eatery are both in the same building utilizing similar seating areas. Connections Café functions as Epcot’s Starbucks. In contrast, Connection Eatery serves quick service food. We have reviewed some menu items, such as the Curry-Spiced Pizza. You cannot order a Starbucks beverage and a Connection Eatery burger in the same mobile order since they are different dining options.

Second, a baumkuchen, sometimes called a tree cake, is of German origin. Based on the preparation method, the Baumkuchen cake has characteristic rings that appear in its slices. These resemble tree rings. Thus, the name derives from that appearance. Baumkuchen in German translates to “tree cake” or “log cake.”

Traditionally, Baumkuchen is made on a spit by brushing on even layers of batter and then rotating the spit around a heat source. The key components are eggs, sugar, flour, and butter. As the spit rotates, the batter bakes into thin layers. Each layer is allowed to brown before a new layer of batter is poured. This process is repeated until the desired thickness is reached.

Food and Wine Baumkuchen

A special version of the Baumkuchen treat started being sold at Connections Eatery for the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival. The two original styles of Baumkuchen can still be purchased at Connections Café. However, the new Black Forest Baumkuchen can be bought at Connection Eatery, the quick service location. This new Black Forest Baumkuchen takes the original treat and adds cherries, chantilly cream, and chocolate sauce.

So, How Was It?

We wanted to order this on the first day of the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. However, after eating over 20 new food items, we “threw in the fork” that day. A few days after that, we went back to Epcot. On this day, we ordered the Black Forest Baumkuchen.

As our previous review reflected, we did not enjoy the basic baumkuchens. We suggested getting other desserts based on that experience.

We love the presentation of this upgraded Food and Wine version of the Baumkuchen. This offers a positive start. I mean, what could go wrong with adding cherries, chocolate, and chantilly cream to a dessert?

In fairness, nothing went wrong. However, we would have preferred the topping to be slightly higher quality. They tasted fine. Also, since these additions added only a dollar or so to the price, what did we expect?

We still found the Baumkuchen an average, at best, theme park dessert. For example, at Connections Eatery, we would select one of the Liege Waffles over this. Nevertheless, this Food and Wine upgrade makes a vast improvement.

For those wanting something besides a Connection Eatery Liege Waffle, adding this dessert to the Connection Eatery menu helps with that. As always, eat like you mean it!