Marceline's Confectionery Shop - Downtown Disney

Marceline's Confectionery Shop - visited August 30, 2014

My third and last Disney post from last weekend: as part of my walking rounds on the Saturday of the half marathon weekend, I just happened to come across a confectionery shop in Downtown Disney. You know, like a moth to a flame. It was early enough that I had the shop almost entirely to myself as it was too early for the sweets-loving crowd to show up and eat chocolate. I myself try not to derail my good eating intentions until at least after lunch but that’s not to say I can’t look at sweets, at any time of the day. And take copious pictures of them.

I didn’t buy anything then but after spending a few hours at Disneyland (all I could manage in the heat plus my friend and I rode the rides we wanted to ride), I did stop by on my way back to my hotel. On my weekend bucket list, I knew I wanted to eat something Mickey-shaped. Sounds silly, I know, but when in Rome…

The thing I've discovered about the whole Disney franchise is nothing's really unique within the parks' territory. By that I mean, that mouthwatering truffle or that fat snickerdoodle you saw in a bakery cafe is also more than likely available at other Disney outlets within the park and in Downtown Disney. Fudge by the piece at Marceline's? You can also get it by the tray in stores within Disneyland and California Adventures. I only make this point to give reassurance that should you miss one thing somewhere, never fear, you can easily find it again elsewhere as long as you're within the Disney sphere. Just once you leave Disney, it would be harder to find but within it, it's everywhere.

At Marceline's, I went with a mini Mickey turtle – caramel and pecans enrobed in milk chocolate and roughly shaped to look like Mickey’s head. Close enough. I also chose an English toffee square. I’m a sucker for toffee.

The bottom is dipped in white chocolate and rolled in red sanding sugar

As part of the confectionery shop, there’s also a display window for people to gawk at several employees putting the decorating touches on the candy apples. I loved watching them turn candy apples into artistic masterpieces and they did it so efficiently and quickly, you figure they had to have had a lot of practice and experience.

 All in all, it was a fun shop to visit. Lots of temptations but I stuck to my two calorie bombs and called it a day. The mini Mickey turtle was good, the caramel was the perfect texture and consistency, not too soft or too chewy. I would’ve preferred a turtle with almonds instead of pecans but it was still good. But the toffee was my favorite. It wasn’t so hard that your teeth were in danger of cracking when you took a bite but still had a good snap. Plus it was covered in milk chocolate and rolled in chopped toasted almonds. Really, that’s my idea of a perfect confection. Good thing I was going to run 13.1 miles the next day. After finishing that huge square, I was going to need the calorie burn.

Mickey-shaped caramel pecan turtle

English Toffee - best ever