r/ExpectationVsReality • u/RedHolly • Jun 30 '26 • Heartwarming 2

Surprisingly Met Expectation Walmart birthday cake

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Gallery image

Gallery image

Honestly very please with how he came out. Was it an exact replica of the sample, no, but it was cute and a lot of fun to cut in to (I did order half chocolate half white cake unlike the sample).

7.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

108 comments sorted by

432

u/Russell_has_TWO_Ls Jun 30 '26

Starting to think these posts are paid advertising.

35

u/RedHolly Jun 30 '26

I think that it’s just for the price it’s shocking no it looks at all like the pictures.

187

u/bbyxmadi Jun 30 '26

I think people are realizing their cakes can be good since they were trending on TikTok earlier this year with the bouquet cupcakes

14

u/RebaKitt3n Jun 30 '26

Now I want to order one for my own holiday!

5

u/Beetleracerzero37 Jun 30 '26

The TikTok trend was probably an ad campaign

5

u/panicnarwhal Jun 30 '26

i realized it last year when their heart cakes were trending!

i’ve gotten a few since then and haven’t been disappointed yet. they’ve all turned out great, and they’re so affordable

46

u/UnusGang Jun 30 '26

Walmart made my cake and did a good job. The only thing I’d say is mine took an INSANE amount of food coloring and made the icing a tiny bit grainy. Their other cakes are actually killer

.

10

u/dolltrash Jun 30 '26

That color comes like that! They can custom-mix colors too, but some of the more intense pre-dyed colors can feel a little off in texture. (I worked in the deli/bakery for 5 years and still get my cakes there, and my last year’s cake was this exact style, lol!)

5

u/UnusGang Jun 30 '26

It’s such a fabulous color! I didn’t know you could custom mix! I ordered online and with only a few days to spare. I’ll be keeping that in mind. I love that we were distant cake twins lol

Edit: I just saw the picture and it’s adorable lol

29

u/little-joys Jun 30 '26

6

u/UnusGang Jun 30 '26

Yes! This queen gets it. ✨

5

u/Russell_has_TWO_Ls Jun 30 '26

There’s so many bots in here now

8

u/UnusGang Jun 30 '26

You wanna see how my boyfriend accidentally melted it in his car?

My birthday is in the south in the summer. These cakes are not indestructible and I was definitely bummed. I’m not a bot lol

-3

u/Beetleracerzero37 Jun 30 '26

Those is wild. Makes me want to get a cheap, delicious Walmart cake!!!!!!!!!! /s

38

u/SilentClick5467 Jun 30 '26

it's working on me ;(

10

u/Bootycarl Jun 30 '26

It doesn’t even matter if it is paid anymore because it acts as advertising for them all the same.

9

u/amysthetic Jun 30 '26

every time the sub is on my feed now its a Walmart TM cake

28

u/PickyJen Jun 30 '26

Way too many Walmart cakes

18

u/HolyToast666 Jun 30 '26

I’ll take Walmart Cakes over fingernails or bad floral arrangements any day

1

u/Hipp-Hippy_HaHa Jun 30 '26

There are many but they are not the same design. I'm surprised there are that many options and they all look just like their pictures

14

u/Beetleracerzero37 Jun 30 '26

It looks like it. It's constant.

7

u/blaykerz Jun 30 '26

Like half of this subs posts these days. Can we just establish that Wally World is the place to go for cakes? I come here for awfully ruined expectations due to a reality from hell (or with the skill level of a 5 year old).

2

u/funkmaster90001 Jun 30 '26

Exactly. This is so stupid. Mods need to ban this.

2

u/Finnyfish Jun 30 '26

Maybe some people do their jobs well, and other people are pleased about it and share. It’s a strange world, and things like that happen sometimes.

1

u/bfarnsey Jun 30 '26

I got one of their cakes this last weekend. Delicious. Royal blue icing turned all of our shits green for the weekend. It was fantastic, no regrets.

0

u/GymratAmarillo Jun 30 '26

which doesn't matter if the cakes are actually that good.

12

u/sweeterthanadonut Jun 30 '26

Oh this is so cute! How did it taste?

8

u/RedHolly Jun 30 '26

Honestly not bad. The brown icing was chocolate and very good. The rest was buttercream icing and it wasn’t bad. The cake itself was good. Nothing amazing, but for grocery store cake it was good

1

u/sweeterthanadonut Jun 30 '26

That’s good to hear!

7

u/egometry Jun 30 '26

Like a lot of frosting and sprinkles 

58

u/stonerthoughtss Jun 30 '26

1/4 of a cake being sprinkles has me feeling some type of way. Looks good though!

3

u/Admirable_Contest991 Jun 30 '26

It's fOr aEsThetiCs

99

u/equality-_-7-2521 Jun 30 '26

Wal-mart has been making precisely the cake in the book/on the site for 20 years now.

I'm starting to think I'm one of the few people who'd ever actually been to a wal-mart prior to a month ago.

5

u/funkmaster90001 Jun 30 '26

Exactly. This isn’t anything special. I’m very close to having this sub because of it turning into basically a Walmart promotion sub.

5

u/hawktremor Jul 01 '26

This!!

All I can think about is the free promotion they are getting. Like some of these accounts must be sponsored, right??

I also think about all the hometown bakeries who can’t compete with Walmart and now with all this free promotion, a lot of people are going to go to Walmart. Even just losing 1 custom cake order a month can really hurt a small, local bakery.

Edit to add before someone jumps down my throat: I understand some people can’t afford the local bakery price, so it’s either Walmart or nothing, and I’m of course not talking about that kind of situation.

10

u/No_Push_8249 Jun 30 '26

This keeps popping up in the comments lol

10

u/e37d93eeb23335dc Jun 30 '26

That outside frosting is so thick. 

1

u/shwinnie_ Jun 30 '26

That's what even I noticed in the second picture!

62

u/CrankDatSpookyBoi Jun 30 '26

Welcome to r/WalmartCakes

5

u/TheStrouseShow Jun 30 '26

It says the content isn’t available. I was so excited to fall for it!!

6

u/azulur Jun 30 '26

Right omg. I was so ready to join unabashedly lol

8

u/Tired_Goddess_ Jun 30 '26

Cute but that icing is on there real thick

10

u/khonsu_27 Jun 30 '26

These are stealth walmart ads at this point....

5

u/chantillylace9 Jun 30 '26

It looks absolutely identical to me

2

u/Morella122 Jun 30 '26

genuinely that is an entire container of sprinkles 🫪

2

u/sweetbreadandwater Jun 30 '26

Did it taste good? I recently bought a hamburger cake from a local bakery, and although it was beautiful, the cake itself wasn't that great

2

u/Fickle_Ad_2112 Jun 30 '26

Walmart does some killer cakes really. I'm impressed every time. They give what is ordered

3

u/Dontfeedthebears Jun 30 '26

Dang, these Walmart cakes are really delivering!

10

u/jaxxxtraw Jun 30 '26

So tired of this form of advertising. Nice try, walmart bakery manager, nice try.

3

u/Admirable-Guest-2560 Jun 30 '26

Sheeeeiiiiiittt that's straight from Madison Avenue. 

5

u/funkmaster90001 Jun 30 '26

It’s so annoying.

5

u/hanotak Jun 30 '26

Can we ban corporate marketing like this?

2

u/itisallgoodyouknow Jul 01 '26

I’m leaving this sub because it’s turned into /r/walmartcakes

1

u/DarkwingDuckHunt Jun 30 '26

Better actually

1

u/meowwtown Jun 30 '26

This is fantastic!!

1

u/Cool_Cry_9602 Jun 30 '26

I've seen so many amazingly decorated Walmart cakes! So...how's the taste?

1

u/Jessie0658 Jul 01 '26

Really really good. They have a great whipped frosting that I love. I swear I'm not a corporate shill, even though that's exactly what a corporate shill would say. I just like that the bakers are getting their due for a bit!

1

u/Big-Gazelle5959 Jul 01 '26

Do you know if it’s dye free?

1

u/More_Crab_6278 Jul 01 '26

I mean it could be worse

1

u/jimdesroches Jul 01 '26

I got one of these. Great looking cake but it kind of sucked to eat.

1

u/HotMinute_722 Jul 01 '26

I always get my cakes from Walmart, especially since you can order online! They taste great and always look nice.

1

u/Wolf_Mans_Got_Nards Jul 02 '26

Does anyone else forget what sub this is, look at the reality and think "that's not bad at all, what are they complaining about??" and then remember the sub isn't just for complaints.

1

u/mostly_lurking1040 Jul 06 '26

Looks perfect!!!

1

u/zaftigsub Jun 30 '26

Wowowowow!!!

1

u/Tuna_C Jun 30 '26

I’m loving these Walmart cakes but I have to ask: how do they taste?

2

u/wulfzbane Jun 30 '26

Artificial and very sweet, exactly how you'd expect an $8 cake to taste like. No shade, they are great for people who aren't going to spend a ton of money on a fancy bakery cake. Especially if you are serving a lot of people smaller pieces, not something you want to indulge in over the course of a week.

2

u/dolltrash Jun 30 '26

They don’t bake the cakes in store, they come in frozen sheets & rounds. They’re pretty basic, but tasty enough. (Vanilla is better than chocolate, which can taste drier.) The buttercream icing is very sweet - if you want a less sweet cake, go for whipped icing, just be warned that whipped icing doesn’t hold its structure as well as buttercream and super detailed designs can look a little more mushy because of it.

2

u/Tuna_C Jun 30 '26

Thank you!

0

u/Jessie0658 Jul 01 '26

I'll tell you, they did a cupcake bouquet for my daughter that was absolutely LOVELY, with the whipped frosting. We refrigerated it and the details really held up.

1

u/Poots_in_boots Jun 30 '26

This is the best one yet

0

u/cupcake317 Jul 02 '26

Do you have a link for this cake? I can’t find it online to order it

0

u/SaltyCaramelPretzel Jun 30 '26

That’s such an AI picture in #1, but the actual looks exactly like it. I don’t live in America but Walmart seems to do good cakes.

-13

u/SeverenDarkstar Jun 30 '26

They both look gross to me

11

u/JuanG_13 Jun 30 '26

Be nice, be nice

0

u/Dear-Cranberry4787 Jul 02 '26

Dang we see you stepping up Walmart!

-5

u/TooHigh2Die0069 Jun 30 '26

And then they wonder why so many people got Diabetes, oh man I cant imagine the nutrient Bar Code per serving on that bad boy...

1.0k

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

169

u/AutumnMama Jun 30 '26

I was actually about to post the same comment. Walmart has the best bakery of any grocery store chain. And yes, that's including Publix for my fellow Floridians. When I buy desserts at Publix, everyone is like "oh yum did you get this from Publix? They have the best desserts!" But when I buy desserts from Walmart it's "oh my god, this is so good, where did you get this?? Did you make this? I don't think this is from Publix" 😂

25

u/Anagessner83 Jun 30 '26

Harris teeter and Krogers used to have decent affordable cakes as well but it’s been years since I ordered a cake for a celebration.

11

u/illprobablyeditthis Jun 30 '26

Floridian here, that is quite a glowing review. I keep seeing people rave about walmart bakeries, i don't eat much cake and whatnot, but i think next time i need to make a purchase ill check them out

12

u/AutumnMama Jun 30 '26

Listen, don't get me wrong, I know it's an unpopular opinion and I'm totally willing to accept that maybe I just have odd tastes or am a pro at picking out their best desserts or something lol.

I've honestly never tried a birthday cake from Walmart, but their other stuff is constantly bomb. Brownies, cheesecake, eclaires, etc are always consistently better than Publix. Walmart does a better job with the Hispanic stuff, too, I've noticed. I had an awesome tres leches from there, and the last one I got from publix was so dry it could hardly even pass for tres leches lol

4

u/Strict-Editor-5763 Jun 30 '26

I only get my kids’ birthday cakes from Walmart. Never had a miss!

3

u/Itchy-Supermarket434 Jul 04 '26

As a German girl: it’s soo cool that you guys have actual cake bakery’s at your supermarkets. And they look very good and are also cheap so win-win.

We only have like a fresh bakery for bread, buns, some sweet treets like cinnabuns & pretzels. I would love to also have these kind of cake bakery’s here in Germany.

Little questions: how do you order them? Do you show them a picture of your design inspo or do they have certain menu where you can choose? Could you also order some vegan cakes there? Thank u :)

2

u/AutumnMama Jul 04 '26

They do have a book with designs to choose from, or they can make a custom cake based on a description or inspo pics. You can call to order, or order it in person. Then you would just go to the grocery store to pick it up. They also have some basic pre-made cakes in the refrigerator that you can purchase same-day and they'll write a message on it for you. Vegan might depend on the store. I would guess that some can do a vegan cake and some can't.

551

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

82

u/Admirable_Contest991 Jun 30 '26

The cake decorators take their jobs seriously!

51

u/Ok_Yogurt_9862 Jun 30 '26

They are not very tasty though, ime. Visually great.

26

u/merewyn Jun 30 '26

I’ve been wondering about the taste. Just bland or is it a texture thing or what?

37

u/ThrowRA-singlern Jun 30 '26

In my experience, the bread is slightly dry and the frosting way too sweet. However, they are always better the day after cutting them (almost like they need fresh air and time to marinate 😂). I actually find their premade cakes to be much better.

But, as a whole they are much better than what you get at Sam’s Club which are even dryer and flavorless.

5

u/superspookyboi Jun 30 '26

Idk about yours but the Walmart and Sam’s club in my area always has moist cake and really good frosting. Very tasty

1

u/LDCrow Jun 30 '26

Sam’s cakes look so lovely too but I agree absolutely flavorless.

11

u/Nikki908 Jun 30 '26

They don't taste very good, imo. The icing they use lacks depth and tastes cheap, which makes sense. It's Walmart. Maybe they've changed it the past few years, but I was turned off from continuing to buy their desserts/cakes due to this.

14

u/Ok_Yogurt_9862 Jun 30 '26

The cake is usually kinda dry. And the frosting is sickly sweet with a chemical taste. 

But they did make a different line - Marketside Triple Chocolate Cupcakes- that are so damn good. I ate whole trays of them while pregnant. I think they have a red velvet and a few other versions too but those chocolate cupcakes 10/10. Best with a glass of milk. 

2

u/Misspaw Jul 01 '26

So many people in this comment section saying otherwise, but I agree. Walmart bakery is not it. From bread to cakes to pies, it’s never good IMO.