15 Things To Know Before Ordering Cakes From Walmart In 2022 - 33rd Square (2024)

Hey there! Planning a special occasion and thinking about grabbing a cake from Walmart? As one of the country‘s largest retailers, Walmart can be a great option for affordable, customizable cakes for your next celebration.

But before you head to your nearest Supercenter, here are the top 15 things you need to know to ensure cake ordering success:

1. Wide range of cake designs for any event

2. Order in-store or convenient online ordering

3. Customize your cake simply with sizing, flavors, décor

4. Affordable pricing from $10-$70

5. Requires advance ordering 1-7 days ahead

6. Fun licensed character and theme cakes

7. Cater elegant wedding cakes for less

8. Cakes arrive pre-baked then decorated in-store

9. Not suitable for vegan or food allergy diets

10. Uses 3rd party suppliers like Pillsbury and Best Brands

11. Limited cake flavor options

12. Ideal for kid birthday parties

13. Free cake pickup – no delivery fees

14. One-stop party supplies shopping

15. Satisfaction guarantee

Let‘s explore these top 15 tips in more detail so you know what to expect when ordering your next celebration cake from Walmart!

1. Walmart Offers Diverse Cake Designs for Any Event

With over 4,700 Walmart locations in the United States, the retailer‘s in-store bakeries provide cake designs suitable for any occasion or event you can think of.

Standard cake offerings include birthday cakes, graduation cakes, baby shower cakes, and wedding cakes. Their bakeries can also decorate seasonal and holiday-themed cakes for events like:

• Christmas and Easter
• Halloween
• Valentine‘s Day
• Mother‘s Day/Father‘s Day
• Patriotic cakes for July 4th
• And more

In addition, they sell sheet cakes already decorated with colorful designs that require no customization for casual gatherings and parties year-round.

So whether you‘re planning a kids‘ birthday bonanza, baby shower, retirement soiree, holiday feast, or any other celebration, Walmart‘s got you covered with cake designs to match the theme.

2. Order In-Store or Convenient Online Ordering

When it comes time to actually order your Walmart cake, you have two options:

In-Store Ordering: The traditional route is to visit the bakery counter at your local Walmart Supercenter. Here, you can browse cake design albums, choose from available sizes and flavors, select decorations, and work with the bakery associate to place your order on an order form.

Online Ordering: Walmart also offers the convenient option to customize and order cakes entirely online through their Cake Ordering website. You can choose all the cake details like size, flavors, frosting, toppings, add text or photos, and submit your order digitally 24/7.

Many customers appreciate the flexibility of designing their perfect cake on their own time from the computer rather than having to visit the store. However, if you prefer that in-person bakery experience, Walmart gives you the choice.

If you have any questions about custom designs or inventory availability, calling your local Walmart bakery ahead of time can provide extra guidance. But overall, Walmart aims to make cake ordering as easy as possible whether in-store or online.

3. Customize Your Cake Simply with Size, Flavors, Décor

What if you want to personalize your Walmart cake with custom text, colors, or design elements? No need to worry – Walmart makes it super easy to order up a customized cake masterpiece.

Their online Cake Ordering form walks you through each step of the process:

Choose Cake Size: Select from their available sheet cake or round tiered cake sizes, which range from serving 10 people to over 100 guests. They provide diameter and guest count info to help determine what‘s right for your party.

Pick Cake & Filling Flavors: Next choose your cake flavor – most common is vanilla or chocolate. Some locations may also offer marble, red velvet, or carrot cake. You can even select a different filling flavor like strawberry or Bavarian cream.

Frosting Type & Color: Buttercream or whipped frosting comes in standard colors, or you can custom color match to your party theme.

Decorate Cake Borders: Choose baked-in border designs and colors – options include flowers, dots, swirls, and more.

Add Top Decorations: Embellish your cake with themed decor like flowers, balloons, figures for personalized flair.

Include Text or Photos: Add a special message or photo on top or the cake sides to customize it for your occasion.

Special Instructions: Let them know of any allergy info, the pickup name, or other special requests.

With this step-by-step process, you can easily order up the perfect customized cake for your celebration!

4. Affordable Pricing from $10-$70 to Suit Different Budgets

One of the biggest benefits of ordering cakes from Walmart is the affordable pricing. While bakeries and specialty cake shops charge premium rates, Walmart aims to offer customized cakes at reasonable prices for the average consumer.

Their cakes range from $10 on the low end for a simple 10-inch round cake, up to $70 for a fully customized two-tier cake serving over 60 people.

Exact pricing depends on the cake size, flavors, filling, frosting, decorations, and other customizations requested. Some examples:

As you can see, Walmart provides way more affordable options versus high-end bakeries that charge $50+ even for simple cake sizes. For a customized cake on a budget, Walmart can be a great choice!

5. Requires Advance Ordering 1-7 Days Ahead

To ensure optimal freshness and allow time for custom decoration, Walmart recommends placing your cake order in advance rather than waiting until the last minute.

For basic pre-decorated sheet cakes, you should order at least 24 hours beforehand. However, for more complex designs and larger tiered cakes, they suggest 3-7 days advance notice.

This lead time allows their bakery staff to procure necessary ingredients, properly plan baking and decorating schedules, and have adequate time for intricate cake decoration techniques. It also builds in a buffer in case of any unexpected delays or inventory shortages.

If you walk in the day before your event expecting a decorated cake, Walmart may not be able to accommodate you. Plan ahead and save yourself the stress!

6. Fun Licensed Character and Theme Cakes

If you‘re hosting a birthday party or celebration for kids and want a cake with their favorite character or theme, Walmart has you covered there too!

Many Walmart bakeries can decorate cakes with officially licensed characters and designs from brands like:

• Marvel: Avengers, Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk
• Disney: Princess themes, Frozen, Mickey Mouse
• PAW Patrol
• Pokémon
• Super Mario Brothers
• Fortnite
• Star Wars

Other grocery store chains usually don‘t offer these licensed cake decorations. So if you want a Bakugan or Hot Wheels race track cake for your child’s party, Walmart is the perfect one-stop-shop.

7. Cater Elegant Wedding Cakes for Less

In addition to fun birthday cakes, Walmart‘s bakery also creates beautifully decorated wedding cakes to cater your reception. And compared to standalone bakeries, they offer similar tiered wedding cake designs at more affordable pricing.

For example, their classic two-tier wedding cake starts at only $68 and can serve around 64 guests. You can even customize the flavors for each tier – like chocolate bottom layer with vanilla top tier.

Walmart wedding cakes can save you hundreds compared to boutique bakeries. And their online form allows you to get an estimate of how many guests the cake will serve before ordering, so uncertainty is removed.

Just remember to order your Walmart wedding cake at least 3-7 days in advance to allow plenty of preparation time. Then enjoy your elegant cake on the big day without breaking the bank!

8. Cakes Arrive Pre-Baked then Decorated In-Store

Many customers have the assumption that Walmart bakes all their cakes fresh from scratch instore each day. However, the reality is a bit different.

Walmart‘s sheet and tiered cakes actually arrive at the store already fully baked by third-party commercial bakeries, who produce them in mass quantities for distribution. This allows Walmart to provide consistent quality and affordable pricing.

Once the pre-baked cakes reach the store, Walmart then freezes them until they are needed for decorating orders. The night before pickup, bakery staff will thaw the pre-baked cake and then freshly decorate it with the customizations the customer requested.

So in summary, you‘re getting a just-decorated, personalized cake made using pre-baked bases produced offsite. The cake is not mixed and baked completely from scratch in-store. Many other grocery retailers like Costco follow the same process.

9. Not Suitable for Vegan or Food Allergy Diets

If you or your guests have food allergies or follow certain dietary lifestyles like vegan or gluten-free, it‘s crucial to pay close attention to Walmart cake ingredients before ordering.

According to Walmart‘s website, their cakes are NOT suitable for people with dairy, egg, wheat, or nut allergies, as they contain:

• Milk
• Wheat flour
• Eggs
• Soy
• Coconut
• May contain traces of peanuts or tree nuts

The cakes are also not vegan friendly. So if you require allergy-free or vegan cake options, a specialty bakery is likely a better choice over Walmart. Always carefully check the ingredients rather than assuming their cakes will meet your dietary needs.

10. Uses 3rd Party Suppliers Like Pillsbury and Best Brands

As we learned earlier, Walmart’s bakery cakes arrive pre-baked from third-party commercial suppliers, not baked completely from scratch in-store. But who exactly are Walmart’s cake suppliers?

For sheet cakes, Walmart partners with Pillsbury. Pillsbury produces their classic boxed cake mixes and has the manufacturing capabilities to supply Walmart’s thousands of stores with pre-baked sheet cakes nationally. If you enjoy Pillsbury‘s flavors, you‘ll likely love Walmart‘s sheet cakes too!

For the round tiered cakes, Walmart sources from Best Brands, a larger commercial bakery operation based in Minnesota. They specialize in high-volume production of layered cakes.

By partnering with established baking brands for supply and distribution, Walmart can keep cake pricing affordable and consistent across all their locations.

11. Limited Cake Flavor Options

One downside that some customers note about Walmart’s cakes is the limited flavor selection, compared to a specialty bakery or custom cake shop.

Many Walmart locations only stock the core chocolate and white/vanilla cake flavors. Some may offer marble or yellow as well. But beyond that, unique options like red velvet, carrot cake, lemon, funfetti, and more are hard to come by.

The filling flavors tend to be standard too – predominantly just vanilla or chocolate buttercream icing rather than more exotic fruits, caramel, peanut butter, and so on. Plus, they may run out of flavor options that aren’t used often.

So if you’re dreaming of espresso chocolate avocado cake with passionfruit curd filling, you’ll likely need to splurge on a high-end bakery rather than pick Walmart. Know the flavor selection will be more limited.

12. Ideal for Kid Birthday Parties

Given the fun cake themes, inexpensive pricing, and sweeter cake flavors – Walmart cakes tend to be best suited for children’s birthday celebrations.

Adults may find the flavors a little basic and prefer something more gourmet. But Walmart sheet cakes with brightly colored icing are perfect for a kid’s birthday party on a budget. You can feed all their classmates affordably.

The cheaper pricing also makes Walmart cakes ideal for 1st birthday smash cakes. Let your baby dig in to a small cake made just for smashing and photos, rather than splurging on an expensive specialty cake they‘ll demolish in minutes.

13. Free Cake Pickup – No Delivery Fees

When ordering your customized celebratory cake on Walmart‘s website, you select which store location you‘ll pick the finished cake up from.

There are no additional fees for picking up your order – the quoted order total covers the full cake price. Walmart does not currently offer cake delivery services.

For optimal freshness, it’s best to grab your cake shortly before the party anyways. Walmart‘s site provides expected order pickup timeframes so you can time your party preparations accordingly around cake pickup.

14. One-Stop Party Supplies Shopping

Planning an event from start to finish? Beyond just ordering the cake, Walmart can be your one-stop shop for ALL party planning needs:

• Party tablecloths, napkins, plates, cups, and plasticware
• Party decorations – banners, balloons, streamers, centerpieces
• Party favors and loot bags
• Candles and cake decorations
• General entertaining supplies – beverages, utensils, serving platters

Rather than making multiple trips to different stores,Walmart enables you to order the celebratory cake plus pick up any other party or event supplies you need for a seamless experience.

15. Satisfaction Guarantee

Walmart aims to make the cake ordering and pickup process hassle-free and provides a satisfaction guarantee. According to their policy:

“If for any reason you‘re unsatisfied with your Walmart Bakery purchase, please bring in your receipt and unused portion, and we will happily replace it or provide a full refund. Our goal is your complete satisfaction.”

This guarantee should give you peace of mind that even if your custom cake vision doesn‘t turn out quite as expected upon pickup, Walmart will make it right for your event.

Now that you know what to expect from Walmart‘s cake selection, ordering, customization, and policies – you can feel confident your next birthday, graduation, baby shower, retirement, or even wedding cake will be a success! Whip up a perfect celebration with this comprehensive guide. Enjoy!

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