What's the deal with Zebra Domes?

In the Pantheon of Disney Treats, very few are held in higher esteem than the beloved Zebra Dome.  People rave about this delectable delight found at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  How is it, that, in all of our trips to Walt Disney World, we had never had one?  Well, you can be sure that we were going to take care of that little problem on this past trip, especially since we were staying at the home of the dome.

Our very first sit down meal of the trip was at Boma.  

Boma is a fabulous restaurant offering a wide variety of African inspired foods, buffet-style.  I can go into our entree selections for a while, so we'll save that for another post and skip ahead to dessert.

For those that don't know, Zebra Domes are a dessert treat found in the dessert buffet section of the Boma buffet (they can also be purchased by the six pack at The Mara). They are a layer of white cake, a dome of Kahlua, chocolate and espresso flavored mousse, topped with a white chocolate ganache and drizzled in dark chocolate. I grabbed two Zebra Domes and some other treats, and headed back to my seat, thinking if the domes were as good as I'd heard about then I'd be headed back up for more.

The trouble was... I thought they were just okay.  It wasn't just me.  Lisa wasn't overly impressed, either.  It's not like it was spit-it-out-into-your-napkin bad or anything.  I just didn't think it lived up to the hype, and I found some of the other treats on my plate to be better.

So what gives?  A bad batch of domes?  Is my palette just not suited for it?  Or was it simply hyped so much that there was no way it was going to meet my expectations??  

I'm not sure, and perhaps I'll give the Domes another try when the opportunity presents itself.  But for now, it hasn't earned a spot on our 10 Best Snacks list.

And just to show we don't have hard feelings against the Dome, here's the recipe for all you Dome-lovers, courtesy of the Disney Food Blog. (their blog also includes a ganache recipe link should you require one)

Recipe
1 pound milk chocolate
¼ cup espresso coffee
5 egg yolks
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
6 sheets gelatin
½ cup Kahlua Liqueur
4 cups heavy cream
¾ cup white chocolate ganache
¼ cup dark chocolate ganache
sponge cake (store-bought or your favorite recipe)

1. Melt milk chocolate.
2. Whip heavy cream to soft peaks.
3. Mix yolks with sugar.
4. Soften gelatin leaves in cold water.
5. Mix gelatin with Kahlua and coffee. Set bowl over hot water bath to dissolve the gelatin.
6. Fold ⅓ of whipped cream into the chocolate.
7. Add the yolks, then the gelatin mixture.
8. Fold in the rest of the cream.
9. Pour mousse in flexipan domes almost to the top.
10. Place sponge circle (¼” thick yellow cake cut in a circle) on top. Leave in the freezer to set.
11. Once hard, unmold and place in glazing racks.
12. Make white chocolate ganache and chocolate ganache.
13. Put chocolate ganache in a pastry bag. Ladle white chocolate ganache to cover each dome. Simultaneously, pipe a stripe design of chocolate ganache over the dome.
14. Refrigerate to allow the glaze to set.
15. Decorate the bottom edge with coffee crunch.
16. Place a chocolate covered coffee bean on the center of each dome.

Note: One sheet of gelatin is equal to one teaspoon of unflavored powdered gelatin dissolved in ¼ cup of water.

So what do you think?  Zebra Domes: Love 'Em? Hate 'Em? or are they 'Just Okay'?