6 Best Tips For Buying A Cake From Walmart, According To Reddit

Plating and presentation are important, but cakes are on a whole different level. A breathtakingly decorated cake is an absolute art form, and if you scoff? Just check out some of the very best cakes to grace our screens on "The Great British Bake Off" and you'll see what we mean. Ordering something on that scale can come with a hefty price tag, but if you're a regular Reddit user, you might know that photos of surprisingly gorgeous and affordable cakes bought from the Walmart bakery regularly make the rounds. 

No matter how many get posted, it's still legitimately surprising that custom cakes from Walmart are such a consistent success. In 2025, it was revealed that the chain's cake decorators are working with cakes that get shipped frozen from suppliers, but Walmart still takes things seriously enough to have its decorators at the top of the pay scale, earning about $1 more per hour than other employees.

Now that the secret is out and social media has picked up on just how good these cakes can be, we wanted to know what Reddit users had to say about getting the best result. They've definitely dropped some helpful tips along the way, but we wanted to add our own to that. Don't forget: There's nothing that says you have to wait for a special occasion to get a cake. It's Wednesday? Get a cake! A rough week? Get a cake! Kicking back for a Friday night movie marathon? That's right: cake.

A potentially good cake can be elevated into a great cake with a little extra work. If you're making one at home, you might know that the secret to bakery-worthy cake frosting is a simple shortening swap. Choosing your frosting can be complicated. There are technically more than a dozen different types of frosting, and while things aren't quite that complicated at Walmart, Reddit users have offered some advice on how to choose.

According to some Reddit users, the buttercream frosting Walmart uses is on the more extreme side of sweet. As in ... very, very sweet, with some even saying that it's so overpowering that they end up scraping most of it off. Fortunately, there's another option. Walmart also offers whipped icing, which some Reddit users prefer for dialing back the sweetness while still delivering on deliciousness. 

There is, however, a bit of a caveat. Some caution that if you're getting something that includes complex colors and designs, whipped icing might make those designs look a little less crisp and clear than they would with buttercream. Dial back the designs, though, and it'll be tasty as well as gorgeous.

If you're in charge of getting the cake for any event, it's something you absolutely don't want to get wrong. It's often the main attraction, after all, and if you've never ordered a Walmart cake before, you might wonder if it's going to taste as good as the photos making the rounds on social media look. Reddit users have a few suggestions.

Some are quick to point out that the premade cakes at the bakery are so affordable that you can definitely pick out a few front-runners in terms of flavor, and conduct your own at-home tasting event. (Honestly, we can kind of get on board with using that as a theme of our next game night get-together.) Others have confirmed that the cakes you can pick up from the display cases are made with the exact same ingredients as the custom cakes, so you can be confident choosing the perfect flavors.

One Reddit user noted that if you head to the bakery counter at their location, you can pick up single slices, which can also be a great way to sample them. Of course, that might not help if you're in a time crunch. Got tasked with getting a cake at the last minute? Some Reddit users say that if you ask nicely at the bakery, they might give you some samples to try on the spot.

When you're ordering a cake from Walmart, there are plenty of options for customization, from colors and flavors to designs. Even designs picked from the book can be modified — to an extent — and some enterprising customers suggest that if you really want something above and beyond, you'll add your own decorations. If you have a vision in mind, plan ahead and check out Etsy sellers, for example, to find the perfect cake topper. Craft and even toy departments can be another great source of inspiration, and let's be honest here — you're never, ever too old to get a fun little toy on your birthday cake.

This tip is particularly useful if you'd like your cake to feature copyrighted or licensed imagery, logos, or characters. Some things, Walmart can do. The company has an agreement that allows it to use Major League Baseball team logos, for example. Many of the options are more general sorts of things, though, and Reddit users who work for Walmart have confirmed that it's a pretty strict policy to refuse requests for cakes with licensed characters. (Some have even said that they can't make any changes to approved, copyrighted images and cakes.) 

So, don't be afraid to get creative. We'd even suggest that if you're adding your own topper, you might want to ask the bakery department to leave theirs off. You don't want to mess up that layer of frosting, after all!

Take a look through Walmart's catalog of custom cake designs, and there's a rainbow of colors to choose from. Reddit users in the know caution that not all colors are created equal, though, and there are some you might want to avoid — especially if you're choosing a color for the base frosting.

One in particular warns against ordering a cake that's mostly burgundy. Why? There are some tricks for getting brighter colors when you're mixing up frosting, but burgundy is a little different. It's so difficult to balance the colors that combine to create this deep reddish-purple that it can end up requiring a lot of dye. That can affect the taste of the icing, and you might end up with something that's not only strangely bitter but also takes on a grainy texture. 

Others warn of some side effects that, depending on the occasion, you might want to avoid. One Reddit user who posted a pretty neat-looking skull cake with black frosting confirmed that yes, everything that came in contact with it ended up being dyed blue. If you're going to be taking formal or semi-formal pictures after the cake, black-and-blue smiles might make this a deal-breaker. Plenty have also warned that dark colors show up not only on the cake, but when it's — shall we say — on the way out, as well. Depending on the recipient, that might be a hilarious bonus, but the more you know!

Decorating cakes is an art form, and not all Walmart locations will have decorators capable of putting out cakes like the ones that get the most attention on social media. Many spend months training before they're trusted with filling orders on their own, but some Reddit users suggest you should spend some time browsing the premade section of cakes to get an idea of just how good the decorators at any particular location are. One noted that they lived in a place with several Walmart locations nearby and ended up finding a store with cakes superior to the others.

What are you looking for? Technique. Check out the lines, the flowers, and see how evenly everything is done. It'll give you a good idea of a baseline. If borders and flowers on the premade case look a little ragged, it's not a great sign for your custom piece. 

There's a caveat here, too. While some say that if you find a cake you really like you should absolutely ask at the bakery counter for that particular decorator, others stress that it might not be a reflection on any particular person's skills. Reddit users who say they work for Walmart say that they could make perfectly beautiful display cakes if they were allowed more time. If you're in doubt, speak with them directly.

Foodies know that it's all about timing. You shouldn't grind coffee beans too far in advance for the freshest flavor, for example, and there are some fruits that you shouldn't cut ahead of time. While you might not make a cake days ahead of an event, you should definitely be planning that cake — and preferably, ordering it. How far ahead depends on what you're ordering, and some Reddit users say that they recommend a two-week lead time for one custom cake, and up to a month for orders like bulk custom cupcakes.

Others who have worked for (non-Walmart) bakeries say that at least five days in advance is a good guideline, and that's definitely supported by some who have taken to Reddit to rant about being turned away from a Walmart bakery by employees who say that three days is not enough notice. Depending on how busy a location is, they might be booked solid.

That's especially true during the spring. Between Mother's Day, graduation season, and Father's Day — along with springtime birthdays and weddings — Walmart cake decorators can be swamped with twice the amount of daily orders that they get throughout the rest of the year. Depending on how many decorators are on staff at the time, the number of cakes they can handle can be severely limited. If someone's out sick, it can be catastrophic. Bottom line: Think of the employees, be considerate, and order well in advance.