hi piglet's parents! basically, i discovered this thread when i joined DIS and decided immediately that I had to have one of these cakes! i printed off some pictures of my favourite cakes from this thread, (the ones with the small castle on top being my favourite). We ordered the cake at the front desk 2 days before my birthday, by filling out an order form. I showed the Cast Member helping us the pictures I had printed and she was amazed, and really helpful. I filled out the form, saying I wanted a 10" (I think it was 10", I can't really remember, but it was the size that serves 16 people if that helps), buttercream cake (fresh cream is also available), with a white chocolate castle on top and a white chocolate mickey on the side. That was literally all the information I gave, and this is what I got! I had not seen a chocolate castle that big before, and it was really beautiful. I think the frosting was just vanilla frosting, it was nice. The little dollops of frosting all around the cake are tiny mickey mouse heads. They left the cake in the room for us, with 16 plates, forks, knives and cloths, some candles and matches. Without telling me, my mother had asked them that morning to decorate the room with balloons and banners and stuff that she had bought, and they did so. They left the lights in the room dimmed really low and I nearly cried when I walked in. The whole thing was beautiful and really well done. Here are some more pictures of the cake.
(the numbered candles were our own and did not come with the cake)
we paid by credit card and got the bill when we returned home. It came to $202 with a cross border handling fee, so I think the cake itself was maybe about $180. Compared to what we pay for birthday cakes over here this was not expensive, especially for something so special and beautiful. And trust me, it was huge!
ps i couldn't bring myself to eat the castle or mickey and I brought them home, they're still intact!