The World of Chocolate Museum & Café: Orlando, Florida’s Sweetest Attraction
The World of Chocolate Museum and Café is certainly Orlando’s tastiest hidden gem. Away from the hustle and bustle of the theme parks, this attraction is both relaxing and intoxicating.
While you might expect to be greeted by Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp dressed in bright purple, the real welcome committee here is simply the delicious smell of sweet chocolate. There’s no better motivation than that to embark on an adventure, and you don’t even need a golden ticket to get inside. All you need to bring is your sweet tooth!
Waiting within the World of Chocolate Museum and Café is a world of pure imagination you won’t want to miss.
Chocolate Museum
Okay, so you do need a ticket to tour the chocolate museum, but it’s not gained through the luck of the candy bar. Just a simple purchase at the counter, and you’ll be traveling through 2,000 years of delectable chocolate history!1
Led by a knowledgeable guide, you’ll begin your tour surrounded by a recreated rainforest as you start with the foundation of chocolate: the cacao bean.
Seeing the beans up close and learning about their bitter qualities certainly makes you appreciate the creativity (or hunger!) that must have fueled those first attempts to make them palatable. Like Willy Wonka, the first chocolatiers must also have been “the dreamers of dreams!”
Among those first chocolatiers were the Aztecs, an ancient people from Mesoamerica. They didn’t use the beans to create chocolate bunnies, however. Instead, they brewed them into a dark, bitter drink. Although our modern taste buds would flinch away from their version of hot cocoa, the Aztecs cherished the beans in all their natural bitterness, believing they held magical properties.
Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes called it “a bitter drink for pigs” as soon as he took a sip, but once it was mixed with honey and cane sugar, Spain also went wild for hot chocolate.2
Orlando happens to be the perfect place for a chocolate museum because, in 1641, chocolate first entered the American Colonies when a Spanish ship brought it to Florida.3 By the Revolutionary War, cocoa (roasted cacao beans) had become a major import for the colonies.
Throughout the 1700s, hot chocolate was a popular drink for the wealthy throughout Europe. Thankfully, by the end of the century, hot chocolate became available for general enjoyment due to the invention of the steam engine and mass production.
By the late 19th century, sweetened chocolate had debuted in solid form. Cadbury, Nestle, Mars, and Hershey all began mass-producing various molded confections to captivate their customers. The museum’s collection of antique and modern candy wrappers from across the globe gives you an appreciation of chocolate’s far-reaching influence. (It might also inspire you to make a fun, mod-podge mural of wrappers.)
For those interested in the mechanics behind the confection, the chocolate museum hosts several machines used in the chocolate-making process, and the guide will gladly walk you through how chocolate gets from cacao bean to supermarket shelves.
Chocolate continues to delight and unites people across different cultures and different countries. After the tour, you can taste it for yourself as you sample your way around the world with complementary, award-winning chocolates!
Perhaps the Aztecs were right about those beans being magic, after all.
Chocolate Statues
The World of Chocolate Museum and Café is also an art gallery. Provided in the museum tour is access to a collection of 25 solid chocolate sculptures.
Carved in incredible, edible detail, these works of art are true marvels to behold.
Forget the plane ticket! You can travel the world right here. The Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, and Big Ben’s clocktower are all conveniently located here in chocolate form for you to cross off your international bucket list. (Fun, non-chocolate-related fact: Big Ben is actually the name of the bell, not the clock tower.4)
Even ancient wonders of the world like the Easter Island heads and the Egyptian temple of Ramses are depicted in delicious, chocolatey glory.
The sculptures also include busts of famous people from history, including astronaut Neil Armstrong. (You can learn more about Neil at the Kennedy Space Center!)
Perhaps just as remarkable as the artists’ talent is their self-control. The statues smell so good, so you can only imagine the restraint it took not to consume the medium during tedious hours of careful carving!
Before you’re tempted to sneak a snack from milk chocolate Mount Rushmore, head to the Café, and please your palate with a selection from the World of Chocolate’s extensive menu!
Chocolate Café
The Café exudes a warm ambiance that invites you to take a load off and relax. You can almost hear the Candyman softly singing, he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good. . .
And the world is sure to taste good when you order from the chocolate museum’s Café menu.
There’s a delectable assortment of coffees, from hot cappuccinos to iced lattes, but the real star of the drink menu is the legendary hot chocolate (of course). In addition to a drink, you can also grab a big scoop of to-die-for gelato!
Feeling really hungry? The Café also offers a variety of gourmet paninis for a more substantial lunch! (Though, if you want to consider gelato and chocolate a full lunch meal, no one’s going to judge you.)
Other goodies to look for include artisan cakes and cheesecakes (including Florida’s famous key lime!), macaroons, truffles, and alligator-shaped chocolate.
The truffles are certainly one of the Cafe’s most iconic offerings. Each one is a work of art, whether sprinkled with shredded coconut, swirled in vibrant color, or drizzled with a decadent design. Some truffles even look like glossy glass marbles!
Each treat is lovingly hand-crafted in the Café, so your sweet tooth is sure to be satisfied.
The World of Chocolate Museum & Café is the perfect afternoon getaway, and the museum’s Café is a place you’ll want to frequent again and again.
As Willy Wonka so beautifully said,
“Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted. . .He lived happily ever after.”
And what more could one want than to laugh over a cup of hot cocoa with friends?
Cover Image
Photo: Unsplash
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This looks so fun! The chocolate structures look fantastic! I definitely want to come here one day! 😊