The Cake Shortcut Publix Fans Swear By

Love to flex your artistic skills with cakes, but not so big on the baking part? We've got a solution. Order one of Publix's famously delicious cakes, but request that it be undecorated. Then, you can do the decorating to your heart's content. You get a reliably irresistible pre-made product, and a blank canvas for whatever you want to celebrate via frosting and icing.

Primarily Southeast-based, Publix is one of the country's most beloved supermarkets, and its bakery factors into the popularity — it ranks high on the list of grocery store chains where you should get special occasion cakes. Redditors call Publix cakes some of the tastiest they've ever had. We've ranked Publix "Supreme" cakes, and all of the fancy flavors are pretty great, from orange cannoli to chocolate ganache. 

Customizable cakes are slightly simpler but just as dreamy; if you want to order an undecorated base, you can choose from vanilla, chocolate, a combination of both with alternating layers, a marble version that swirls the chocolate and vanilla together, a "Superfetti" vanilla style, red velvet, and carrot. Filling flavors include mascarpone; lemon, raspberry, or both; vanilla, strawberry, or banana custard, fresh strawberries, cannoli cream, and dulce de leche. Ordering online, you can select an icing — buttercream, fudge, cream cheese, and chocolate or vanilla whipped cream, in various colors — and then "no trim," "no border," and "no decoration." If you'd like to do the basic icing yourself, too, it's best to call or visit your nearest location.

86ing the decor isn't necessarily a penny-saver. A sheet cake for 15 to 20 people at a Lakeland, Florida Publix comes to $33.24 whether you add the trims, borders, and embellishments or not. This hack is primarily for people who want to do their own decorating. It could in fact benefit your wallet, however, if you want to create something more complex than a straightforward sheet cake. Such an elaborate cake could cost you hundreds from a bakery. If you're crafty in this department, you can spend just over $30, or up to about $100 for large parties, on a ready-to-go Publix cake. It's like a compromise between splashing out from a pricier shop and spending hours baking everything yourself from scratch.

When it comes to decorating, the sky's the limit. For the essentials, learn about different piping tips and you can get to create gorgeous trims and borders, from round and square to petals, leaves, and ruffles. It also helps to brush up on essential cake-decorating tips from a professional baker, like how to use a turntable for smooth, easy borders. Many of the missteps that sabotage cake decor at home, like trying to frost a too-warm cake, disappear when you buy a pre-made Publix cake. So, you're free to develop more advanced skills and keep up with trends like cake-decorating ideas popular on TikTok, from two-tone icing to ombre effects.