The #1 Thing to Consider Before You Buy a Costco Cake
It's easy enough to get lost in the aisles of Costco, and the bakery department is no exception. The warehouse's lineup of affordable pastries and seasonal desserts often steal the spotlight, but that doesn't mean you should sleep on their other offerings: namely, their sheet cakes.
Grocery store sheet cakes can often get a bad rap, but the ones available at the big box store aren't your average offerings. Once you take a look at the adorable designs and cut yourself a slice, you won't want to order a birthday cake from anywhere else. But before you head to your closest warehouse, here are 10 things you should know about their custom cake department.
1. They're Insanely Cheap
It'll set you back less than 30 bucks—$24.99, to be exact—to order a half-sheet cake from Costco. Chances are, you couldn't beat that price even if you made one yourself. A Costco cake is cheaper than the competition, too: BJ's, another big-box store, sells a similar sized cake for $29.99, and Walmart's is nearly $43 (!).
2. Costco Cakes Feed a Crowd
You can serve 48 guests with just one of Costco's half-sheet cakes. That means when cuts are made and pieces are doled out, you've spent just 52 cents per person.
3. One Costco Cake Weighs More Than a Newborn
If you were to set your half-sheet cake on a scale, the number would read about nine-and-a-half pounds. According to Costco's order form, two of those pounds are the cake's mousse filling.
4. There Are Only Two Flavors Available
You can either order what Costco refers to as a white cake—a.k.a. vanilla—or a chocolate cake. The former is a vanilla sheet cake filled with vanilla cheesecake mousse that's iced with white buttercream. The latter is the chocolate version of that: chocolate sheet cake, chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate buttercream icing.
5. Members Used to Have More Options
Once upon a time, you could pick up a carrot cake sheet cake from Costco, which came with apricot mousse filling and cream cheese icing sprinkled with slivered almonds. Internationally, there are even more offerings: Costco Australia allows you to mix and match a raspberry filling with either chocolate or vanilla sponge cake.
6. You Can Take a Costco Cake Home on the Spot
Costco keeps its bakery section full of ready-made sheet cakes, some plain, some with birthday messages, and—around the holidays—some with festive designs.
7. Custom Orders Require Advanced Planning
Give bakers a day or two notice to craft something specific, like an intricate design or a special message.
8. Bakers Can Decorate In Nearly a Dozen Ways
The sheet cake order form reveals 11 designs to choose from. There are the classic ways to frost a sheet cake—with balloons or roses—plus some more offbeat ones, like the beloved Costco bear.
9. The Dinosaur Design Was Part of an Online Scandal
In 2015, The Inquisitr broke a story about a woman who complained the dinosaur on her kid's birthday cake had only three legs, each looking like the number "6." She claimed bakers had hidden this demonic "666" message in the cake on purpose. But upon some digging, the article was found to be written by the mother-in-question's boyfriend, and the Costco location at the center of the story confirmed no complaints had ever been received.
10. They're the Perfect Blank Slate
However you slice 'em, Costco's sheet cakes can look incredibly simple, so at-home bakers have taken to customizing them. You can pick up a cake that's only been frosted with a base layer, then trick it out at home.
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