The Vanilla Twix Cake from Sweet Sailin' Candy
If you have arrived on this page from a search, you're probably trying to find out what the Vanilla Twix Cake at SeaWorld's Sweet Sailin' Candy shop looks like. Apparently, information and photos about this "passholder exclusive cake" are shrouded in mystery. Or rather — they don't give these cakes free to the "bloggers", and therefore — the bloggers in-turn, don't bother checking out the Vanilla Twix Cake. (I'm cynical, but largely indifferent. I think I may have just written a new verse to an Alanis Morissette song in the previous sentence.)The Sweet Sailin' Candy shop is near the front entrance and exit areas at SeaWorld (around two corners, technically). If you've been to SeaWorld, but haven't stopped by the Sweet Sailin' Candy shop — there's a good chance you've passed by the location. It's kind of placed ... diagonal and across the walkway from the Coaster Coffee Company (aka the place that sells Starbuck's Coffee and has the cool looking donuts).
Sweet Sailin' has many "confection" type of items for sale (aka – more "candy" than baked goods), things like fudge and chocolate covered apples, etc. Recently however, they introduced a "passholder exclusive cake" – and for a couple months (on and off), it's been this Vanilla Twix Cake.
The Vanilla Twix Cake at SeaWorld's Sweet Sailin' Candy shop is around 3 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter.
Now before you ask… no… it doesn't come on a cool little plate with French Laguiole fork. The SeaWolrd cast member that sold me this Vanilla Twix Cake placed in it a thick, plain white, wax coated bag, and I brought it home to take a photo of it.
The cake is around 3 inches tall (8cm) and 3 inches in diameter (8cm) give or take — which may not seem large for a $9.99 cake — but that's slightly larger than a typical "festival dessert" that they would sell at one of the booths, for around the same price. So it's not out of line with SeaWorld's other offerings.
The cake is kept cool in a refrigerated display case — and it does have a little clear plastic sleeve around it, which is probably to help with getting that thick layer of Twix Icing in-between two cake layers. Given the temperatures in Orlando on most days, the top layer would slide off quickly if that plastic sleeve wasn't around the cake. There is however, nothing on the bottom of the cake, so it's not a clear plastic "cup" around the cake (like a cupcake), it is a sleeve around the cake.
The Vanilla Twix Cake
The cake itself is moist, has a standard cake crumb, and a fairly neutral flavor. I was expecting the cake to be a little more dense, like a pound cake, but it has more of a traditional "wedding cake" kind of quality. It's a good cake base for featuring icing… and this icing is pretty great. Actually, it might be a butter cream… I'm not 100% sure because what it's really like... is a semi-solid version of a Vanilla Twix Ice Cream Bar. There's caramel, there's vanilla, there's something that acts like a white chocolate ganache almost — it's hard to describe, but really easy to eat. The rich, dense, sweet icing really does make this cake more like a confection than a baked good.If you're already familiar with the Vanilla Twix Ice Cream Bar — it's just like that… except there's no "crunch" from a cookie — because… it's a cake. There's some little Twix crumbled sprinkled on top of the cake, but they're mostly for visual appeal and are too small to add any texture contrast (i.e. you'll get no crunch from the crumbles).
The Vanilla Twix Cake does have Twix pieces crumbled on top — and while they do add flavor, they don't really add any "crunch" that you associate with Twix candy bars.
If this little cake were plated more like I'm showing here... maybe with a little mango puree drizzle on the bottom of the plate — it would feel right at home on the Sharks Underwater Grill dessert menu — and that's a high compliment, as Sharks' is the crown jewel in SeaWorld's dining portfolio. The desserts at Sharks are in the $12-$15 range… just as a point of reference.
The Sweet Sailin' Candy Shop
I've never really had any service or environment type of issues in the Sweet Sailin' Candy shop itself — I guess mostly because I don't go in if there's more than one or two people in the shop. It's not very large, and I've never really seen more than two cast members running things at any given time — so I'm sure it could get a little slow and backed-up in there — if you're in a hurry. On this particular instance — I went in, got the cake, and got out in under three minutes. Easy.There had been a mini-prep or candy making area that must have been used for something, at some point. I can't recall seeing the area being used for anything like that though. In recent years, they've placed a large display case in front of what would have been a walk-up counter. There was never any glass or divider system in place though, so I think the pre-area is no longer used for making candy.
On the right side of the shop, there's a small area where cast members can make a couple of items (like a funnel cake sundae), but activity over at this counter has been reduced a bit in recent years. I don't think there's room for a clear plastic barrier to be put up between the counter and guests, so more often that not, there's a candy rack in front of the counter.
The business-end of the shop is on the left-hand side (as you're walking in). Over there is where you'll find three refrigerated display cases… and that's where all the fresh-made confections are kept… along with the Vanilla Twix Cakes. At least one display case is full of various fudge items, which usually include a couple of seasonal themed fudges. The other two cases contain items like chocolate covered apples, traditional chocolate-based treats, a couple of baked goods, cake pops, and chocolate covered marshmallows on sticks.
As you walk in, the confectionery counter is on the left. Here you'll find all the candy covered apples, crispy treats, and quite a few fudge options to choose from.
Closing Thoughts on the Vanilla Twix Cake
While $9.99 might seem like a high price for a 3x3 inch cake — it's right on-point with other "festival" dessert cups, relatively speaking… and it's a really good cake… especially if you really like Vanilla Twix — minus the crunch. But — there's a sneaky reason why it's $9.99.SeaWorld has a great program for their passholders called "SeaWorld Bucks". Every now and then, annual passholders will have an opportunity to scan their pass at an in-park kiosk — which will give them a $10 voucher to be used on… pretty much anything you want to purchase in SeaWorld, on the day you are visiting. If you use $10 worth of SeaWorld Bucks to purchases the Passholder Exclusive Vanilla Twix Cake — then it's basically FREE.
How many FREE cakes do you get for being a Disney Annual Passholder? Well none — not to put too fine a point on it. So if you're a SeaWorld Annual Passholder, and happen to be in-park on the day they're giving away SeaWorld Bucks — and you haven't used them on anything… the Vanilla Twix Cake is a great take-home treat that you can enjoy the next day (just remember to refrigerate it… that icing will melt at room temperature).
In 2023, SeaWorld gave $90 worth of SeaWorld Bucks to their annual passholders — so if you're just joining the annual passholder program at SeaWorld — there should be plenty of opportunities to try out the Vanilla Twix Cake!
