7 Changes I Wish Nothing Bundt Cakes Would Make

When you want a sweet treat that goes beyond other chain offerings like cookies, Nothing Bundt Cakes has 700 locations and counting to curb your craving. I visit Nothing Bundt Cakes multiple times per year, and I write about it quite often; therefore, I have a lot of insights and have learned many facts about the company over the years. I thought about it for a bit and compiled a list of changes I would make to the cake chain, spanning various aspects, from flavors to rewards and other areas. I'm not saying these are all logical or feasible changes, but still, I think they would be awesome. 

I'm sure there's a rhyme and reason for the way the company does things, but these are my perspectives as a years-long loyal customer. Some might be totally unreasonable, requiring a lot of extra staff, training, and effort, but others are much easier to accomplish. And you never know: If enough people have similar sentiments, it could change a thing or two for the better. If you are a fan of the cake company, you might have already thought of some of these things yourself.

Nothing Bundt Cakes is well-known for its cream cheese frosting, but I'd love to see chocolate added to the mix. It would go well with multiple flavors and could add dimension to some basic cakes. For example, it just makes sense for the Chocolate Chocolate Chip bundt to have chocolate frosting; the plain cream cheese one almost seems mismatched in comparison. 

A chocolate cream cheese frosting would still bring that creamy touch, but it would have the earthiness of cocoa to balance things out. It could be a good option for sweeter cakes or somewhat plain ones to give them an added dose of flavor. Alternatively, NBC could simply offer it, and one could add it as desired. When you order a bundt online, it asks whether you want an alternative frosting option: no frosting or extra frosting. It could add chocolate frosting as an option here if it doesn't make sense to add it to cakes in the store.

At the time of writing, you can find 12 permanent flavors on the Nothing Bundt Cakes menu. There's usually a seasonal option, but even with that, that's not a lot of offerings for a bakery. Other bakery chains may have around 20 cakes on deck at a time. In a previous ranking, a Tasting Table writer tried the 12 flavors and one limited-time offering, which was Strawberry Cheesecake Swirl. I think it could easily bring maybe two more into the permanent lineup, based purely on past sales or audience interest. It doesn't have to be a guessing game; just pull up the numbers and add the one with the most sales (not already on the menu) to the permanent lineup. 

I have no idea what that would be, but it needs more permanent options. A lot of NBC's flavors are pretty basic, from vanilla to lemon to strawberries and cream or white chocolate raspberry — the latter two have slightly similar berry profiles. Why not remove one and replace it with something else? Popular cake flavors include coffee cake, spice cake, and coconut cake. It doesn't have to be the most inventive combination; I understand the permanent ones are more foundational than exciting, and there are plenty of flavors to incorporate that align with that. Alternatively, it could draw on other customer favorites to add to the permanent lineup.

If you pay attention to the Nothing Bundt Cakes menu, you'll begin to understand how it works. It has its permanent menu, but it frequently brings some fun flavors into the fold. These may be limited-time flavors, seasonal, or Pop-Up flavors. There are loads of past flavors out there, and while they can't all be home runs, it's pretty clear when something does well. 

In these cases, NBC should bring fan favorites back more often. Take Snickerdoodle, for example, which randomly returns to the menu — instead, it could return a couple of times per year rather than once every year or two. If the company doesn't want to add certain options to the year-round lineup, it could incorporate them throughout the year. The Banana Pudding Cake did really well; why not bring it back more often? Most of the time, when I shop in the store, I get the limited-time flavor because it's interesting. If you're a regular, you've likely tried the various permanent flavors, so you almost get a thrill when you see a returning flavor.

I think Nothing Bundt Cakes could come up with a few flavors that it wants to bring to stores, and let people vote on which one they want to see. I totally get it; perhaps it doesn't make sense for fans to create flavors from scratch. NBC can still release surprise flavors without customer input, but adding a separate voting option would generate buzz and brand interest. It could be once a month or once a quarter. 

The company has done this before, allowing people to vote on what flavor to bring to the permanent menu, but it could be useful to make it more frequent. It might make more sense to vote for a seasonal flavor instead. That way, the company has information on how many people like a flavor and what the overall sentiment is, which can only be used to the company's advantage. Voting could get fans excited about upcoming options or encourage people who passively follow to make more of an effort to engage online. Even the losing flavor could make an appearance the next month or later that year.

I love a rewards program. Because I'm always going to various restaurants, coffee shops, fast food eateries, etc., I almost always download the app or join a rewards program and can say the following from experience: Nothing Bundt Cakes' program is not very enticing. The best offer is the free birthday Bundtlet. I occasionally get an email about a buy-one-get-one Bundtlet, and that's genuinely as good as it gets.

Besides the random BOGO email, the Bundtastic Rewards program lets you accrue points based on your purchases. You receive 10 points for every dollar spent. For example, when you buy $30 of product, you earn 300 points, which gets you ... free extra frosting. If you have 1,200 points (aka $120 spent), that gets you $10 off The Bundt or The Big Bundt. What if you only ever buy a particular size? That doesn't even work for certain people's purchasing habits. 

These simply don't entice me to come back and make a purchase. The best offer is that you can get a free Bundtlet with 600 points, so of course, 1,200 points could be two free Bundtlets. A Classic Vanilla Individual Bundtlet costs $6 in Paramus, New Jersey, so one has to spend $120 to get $12 in product for free. Dunkin' has a similar 10 points per $1 approach, but it's enhanced by other enticing ways to maximize points, like a smaller 150-point freebie.

In my research on all things Nothing Bundt Cakes, I've come to find out that people who are celiac can't necessarily trust that their gluten-free cake is actually gluten-free. People constantly have different experiences, and it can be a bit of a gamble. Plenty of people say they've gotten really ill from eating the supposedly gluten-free options at NBC. Of course, others share that they've never had a problem, but some might not be willing to risk it. 

The website flat-out says that it still processes its gluten-free baked goods with equipment that has touched gluten. So my change would be centered around having a totally safe, completely separate area and equipment for the gluten-free desserts. Of course, this might not be feasible, whether that means there's not enough budget to buy new equipment or literal space in the kitchen. As I said, these are just changes that come from my brain. I think it would be beneficial for those who have severe gluten allergies to be able to get a treat without running the risk of getting sick. Alternatively, there could be a 100% gluten-free bakery, but that seems even less feasible. However, given that it wants to open its 1,000th location sometime in 2027, maybe it can make a gluten-free store a possibility.

I'd like to see a variety pack offering at Nothing Bundt Cakes. Right now, you can only get a 12-pack of Bundtinis, which is the smallest size. It doesn't allow you to customize what you order. You're forced to get the standard: three each of lemon, red velvet, white chocolate raspberry, and chocolate chocolate chip. That's very limiting. 

I understand it can't make tiny-sized options of every flavor, so I'm thinking more along the lines of what Crumbl has: You can order a single Bundtlet, but if you get four, six, or 12, it comes at a savings. The more you buy, the more you save per cookie. NBC should offer something similar, where you can select a pack and get a lower price per treat when you buy more. It makes the most sense to do this with Bundtlets, since they are available in all flavors.

Currently, you can buy six individual Bundtlets, sure, but there's no incentive to do so. You're just buying six full-price mini cakes. The company offers catering, but it's for 12 people, and this is worse than the Bundtinis because you can only get one flavor. There should be an offer or savings on a pack of Bundtlets (six or 12, for example) to entice people to buy more.