Mickey’s Castella Cake Real Taste Review — Tokyo Disney Park Food Recreated as a Souvenir

Tokyo Disney Resort offers a wide variety of charming souvenir sweets.

困っている人

There are so many — I always struggle to decide…
And the shops are usually so crowded I can’t browse at my own pace.

chako

This time I’m introducing a cute Mickey-shaped Castella Cake!

This Castella Cake is a souvenir version of the in-park “Mickey Castella Cake (Strawberry).” It’s an excellent pick for anyone who wants to bring home — or share with others — fond memories of Tokyo Disney Resort.

In this article I’ll cover the Castella Cake’s flavor, how easy it is to distribute as a souvenir, the manufacturer, and more — so please read on!

Product Overview of the Castella Cake

Here’s the product overview of the Castella Cake (as of November 1, 2022).

Detailed Report on the Castella Cake

(1) A 360-degree adorable package design

The top of the box uses the same design as the “Mickey Castella Cake (Strawberry)” wrapper sold as park food — strawberries and an illustration of a Mickey Castella Cake on a pink gingham-check background. Look closely and you’ll spot a hidden Mickey inside one of the strawberries! Cinderella Castle and Mount Prometheus are also illustrated, so it’s instantly recognizable as a park souvenir.

One distinctive feature of this souvenir is that the package is impossibly cute from every angle — the sides and inside surfaces are equally detailed, making the packaging so charming you’ll want to repurpose the box as a small-item holder after eating.

Open the box and the inside surfaces and inner sides switch from pink to green gingham check. The inner side walls even feature strawberry illustrations — so adorable!

Each cake inside is individually wrapped, and the wrapper carries the same illustration as the box. Handing them out one by one as a souvenir still tells recipients exactly what they are, and the cute design makes them easy to distribute!

(2) Product details and real taste review

From here on, I’ll detail the Castella Cake itself. Opening the individual wrapper reveals a Castella Cake sitting inside a plastic cup. A thoughtful touch to keep the cake from getting deformed or crushed — much appreciated! Compared to the actual park-food version, the visual recreation is so accurate that it really feels like just a miniaturized version of the park original!


Next, to see inside, I broke one in half — and out came strawberry-an (sweet bean paste). As you can see in the cross-section, it’s distributed pretty evenly throughout.

Wondering “is the strawberry-an inside the Mickey ears too?” I broke an ear open — and no, the ears don’t contain any filling.

Now for the real taste review. The castella sponge isn’t fluffy — it’s dense and on the heavier side. The strawberry-an inside delivers a solid strawberry flavor. In terms of the sponge texture and the filling, I’d say it’s closest to momiji manju, a well-known Japanese confection. If you’re imagining a Western-style cake from the name “Castella Cake,” you may feel it’s “a little different from what I expected.”

(3) How it differs from the park-food Castella Cake

I’ve covered the Castella Cake’s details, but you might be wondering “is it really the same as the in-park ‘Mickey Castella Cake (Strawberry)’?” Here are the differences from the park-food version.

The biggest difference is the strawberry filling. The souvenir version uses strawberry-an (sweet bean paste), while the park food uses strawberry cream (think strawberry-flavored custard cream). In other words, the souvenir is essentially a Japanese-style confection, while the park food is a Western-style cake. This is likely due to shelf-life requirements. The park-food version is meant to be eaten immediately, so a short-life cream filling works fine; a souvenir needs a longer shelf life, which is probably why an (bean paste) was chosen over cream.

The other difference is whether the Mickey ears contain filling. As mentioned above, the souvenir version’s ears are empty, while the park-food version has cream all the way into the ears. The souvenir is smaller than the park food, so filling the ears at this size may simply be a manufacturing challenge.

(4) About the manufacturer

Now, about the company behind the Castella Cake: it’s made by Nakamuraya Co., Ltd. (Shinjuku Nakamuraya). A well-known company across many food categories — curry, steamed buns, confectionery, and more. Nakamuraya also sells a more familiar regular castella, but the sponge used in the park’s Castella Cake is different. It’s denser and heavier than regular castella, so even though both share the name “castella,” it’s worth keeping in mind that they’re not the same.

Overall Rating of the Castella Cake

Value for money

As noted in section (2), the overall character felt similar to momiji manju, so I compared the price to momiji manju. Momiji manju is a famous specialty of Itsukushima in Hiroshima Prefecture — many of you have probably tried it. There are multiple sellers with varied lineups, but the standard versions are typically around 125 yen per piece. The Castella Cake comes in at 175 yen per piece and is, if anything, a little smaller than momiji manju, so the price is on the higher side. That said, the packaging is incredibly elaborate, so factoring in the cuteness of the exterior alongside the cake itself, the value works out reasonably.

Ease of distribution

It’s individually wrapped, the wrapper design is adorable, and the product name “Mickey’s Castella Cake” is printed on it — making it very easy to hand out as a souvenir. The 8-piece count is also a nice volume. The cakes inside are small, but they’re dense and satisfying, so recipients should feel well-treated. I rated this 5.

Taste

Highly recommended for fans of Japanese sweets. The strawberry-an has a clear strawberry flavor that makes it more approachable even for people who don’t normally like an. I’m not a fan of an either, but I was able to enjoy this just fine. The reason I rated it 3.5 is that the name “Castella Cake” tends to bring Western-style cake to mind, so when you actually eat it, I think many will feel “this isn’t quite what I expected.”

Disney feel

Visually, both the packaging and the cake itself are near-perfect recreations of the park-food Castella Cake. But because the flavor and texture feel quite different from the park version, this isn’t really one of those “I can enjoy the park Castella Cake at home” or “eating this makes me want to go to the parks” experiences — so I rated it 4.

Summary of the Castella Cake

In this article I covered the features and charm of the Tokyo Disney Resort souvenir Castella Cake in detail. From the adorable packaging design and the cute Mickey face on the cake itself, to product details and a comparison with the park-food version — a thorough report.

This Castella Cake recreates the park food extremely well, making it a fantastic pick as a souvenir! It’s a satisfying, filling treat that recipients will appreciate — so if you’re stuck choosing a souvenir snack, definitely check it out!

And if you’re considering this souvenir, please also try the in-park Castella Cake during your visit!