Are Sam's Club And Walmart Bakery Cakes The Same? Here's What Shoppers Say

When you're in charge of buying the cake for a special occasion, the taste, presentation, price, and turnaround time all factor into your purchase. Walmart and Sam's Club are two grocery chains to consider when buying a birthday cake, but are their products on the same level, or do they differ? Your choice depends on what you prioritize for your cake, according to shoppers on social media.

One Reddit user who appears to work at Sam's Club summarized this debate thusly: "Our cakes taste better than Walmart's and are cheaper, but we're limited on what we can do design-wise, whereas Walmart can do full custom cakes." Sam's Club cakes indeed get emphatic praise from customers, some of whom say they taste way better than Walmart's. This isn't to say Walmart's cakes don't have fans, but taste tests and reviews have noted that its icings are extremely sweet. That's a major thing to know before ordering cakes from Walmart's bakery, especially if you dislike super sugary sweets.

Flavor is only one part of the equation, though. For value, Sam's Club does offer better deals, with its 10-inch, round custom cakes at base prices under $20; half sheet cakes costing a little over $20; and full sheets costing about $40. In the same serving sizes, Walmart's round cakes have a base price around $30; its half sheets cost over $40; and its full sheets cost about $60. However, you might be willing to pay more when you see Walmart's customization options.

Walmart actually owns Sam's Club, which may explain why the custom cake and frosting choices at both chains are the same: white cake, chocolate cake, or a marble of the two, paired with either buttercream or whipped-cream style frosting. However, Walmart also lets you choose between a strawberry or Bavarian cream filling for two-layered cakes. From here, the customizations at each chain diverge even more.

Walmart's fully customized cake service lets you choose from 15 colors of buttercream and 11 colors of whipped frosting; top and bottom icing borders; a handwritten message on the cake; piped designs, including multiple types of flowers and balloons; and a variety of sprinkles. Sam's Club also offers icing borders and personalized messages, but only nine colors of buttercream, and its whipped frosting is only available in white. Its piped decorations are also limited to one rose and one balloon design.

If you don't need full creative control, both chains offer a wide array of preset decorated cakes. The Sam's Club 2026 cake book includes beautiful floral, animal, holiday, and sports-themed decorations, plus cakes for children's franchises like Bluey, Disney, and Marvel heroes. Walmart's selection is even broader, though, offering pages upon pages of themes and designs that Sam's Club doesn't have, plus unique formats like heart-shaped cakes, piñata cakes filled with sprinkles, and cupcake cakes that are much like edible sculptures. With that, there's one factor left to consider: The two stores' cake ordering methods.

There are some essential things to know before ordering a cake from Walmart: You can order at your local store's bakery or through the Walmart app or website, and you should do so 24 to 48 hours in advance. Shoppers recommend ordering in person if you want customizations besides those offered online. Once you complete an order, you'll get a pickup date and time, after which you can show up at your chosen store to get your cake.

Meanwhile, Sam's Club's cake ordering system recently underwent a big change. While you used to be able to call orders in or place them in stores, the chain only takes website or app orders for custom cakes as of 2025. This doesn't sound bad at first, but customers have complained that ordering cakes through the app is confusing, and have noticed that there are fewer customization options compared to the old method of ordering in-store. If you're fine with getting a Sam's Club cake the new way, it's pretty straightforward. You should order your cake from Sam's Club as early as 30 days in advance or as late as the day before, and you get to choose your pickup date and time.

In sum, Walmart is the place to go if you want as many decoration options as possible and don't mind a pretty sweet cake. Sam's Club is less flexible when it comes to customization and ordering, but its cakes may taste better and certainly cost less.