Ok, so the new Walmart opened up today (that makes 2 24hr supercenters) here and I just HAD to check it out. They showed on the news what it looked like at 8 a.m. and it looked like the day after Thanksgiving sale day. Anyway, I usually steer clear of store bakeries, but I happened by their bakery. I have got to say the roses on those cakes are atrocious! I don't know if that is how they are suppose to make roses, but they were terrible, and people actually pay money for these cakes??? Are all Walmart bakery roses horrible looking, or is it just where I am?
I've seen some cute cakes and ok for the price things (taste is a different story, going by decorations here only) but some are awful!!
I am not for sure what the roses look like here, but for my husband's Birthday, his staff got him a Wal-Mart cake. The cake was one of those with a kit on it (Dora, as a joke) and it looked like the icing was just slathered on. It was not smooth and it was then air brushed in spots. it was horrible!!
Oh, this is funny!
I hate to say this, my roses aren't very good, but yes I have seen some rough stuff come out of local Walmart. I go by and look at there prices and compare mine! Sometimes I think maybe I should lower my prices, mine aren't that much better then theres. And then there are times I think, "well mine my not look great, but at least my taste good!"
I buy from Walmarts, supplies and such, but the bakery is just no good in my book!
i think walmart and sam's club is one company...i went to a party the other day, kid's bday..the cake was strawberry shortcake design..there was a plastic picture of strawberry shortcake and borders that looked like it was a xmas celebration..very green and very red.. 
..it was from sam's...i do not want to say anything bad coz maybe we have cc members who works there..maybe it was beyond their control what to put in the cake..maybe the management decides what kind of decor they can put, u know, no fancy stuff..maybe not.. 
You know how when you make your rose, you are suppose to angle your tip and go up and down to form the petal? Well, the roses looked like a bunch of triangles stacked on top of each other, it's like they forgot how to make a rose, or just don't care about how their cakes look. To me, if the roses arn't at least half-way presentable, the whole cake is a flop. I pride myself on beautiful roses and rosebuds, I don't know, if the rose doesn't look good then my thinking is the cake will be horrid too.
i think walmart and sam's club is one company...
Sam's here actually makes decent cakes, much better than walmart. I've had them at a few birthday parties and they weren't bad. Walmart cake is awful though. Yes they are the same company.
oh yeah, i tried the cakes from sam's before and they were ok..this last one i saw was the exemption..the taste is ok but the design is not that good..maybe it also depends on the location..
Oh, this is funny!
I hate to say this, my roses aren't very good, but yes I have seen some rough stuff come out of local Walmart. I go by and look at there prices and compare mine! Sometimes I think maybe I should lower my prices, mine aren't that much better then theres. And then there are times I think, "well mine my not look great, but at least my taste good!"
I buy from Walmarts, supplies and such, but the bakery is just no good in my book!
your roses look great, don't sell yourself short--after all--we are our own worse critic when it comes to the cakes we do. 
our walmart doesn't have a bakery here. But the grocery stores do, and the thing is these grocery decorators have something in the nieghborhood of 10 minutes to push out a cake. And frankly you would have to be really good to make a cake that looks wonderful in that amount of time. And if you are that good you probably aren't working for walmarts. My hat goes off to the grocery store decorators cause in ten minutes i would still be trying to figure out where my spatchula was.
Walmart like the grocery stores are looking at volume. There is no way that they would allow someone to really be creative and take their time on a cake. I had to stop by the other day at a store I do not usually go to.I went by the bakery a habit of mine and in the refrigerated case was a cake that had molded. Obviously they did not rotate. I of course told the manager. Some of the stores cakes are really bad.
To my knowledge, large bakeries such as Kroger, Walmart, etc. receive shipments of cake baked and frozen, and in some cakes iced. They then apply a decoration or edible image and a border. There is actually a plant close to me that I toured once where they bake all the cakes for Kroger's Bakeries. Just thought that was a interesting peice of news. Have a great day everyone!
I have to share my story. I've shared before how in-laws always buy cakes from grocery store or walmart for family birthdays. (whatever! ) So, I'd been really TRYING to make roses a couple months ago. I just couldn't get it (still haven't). They looked like blobs with a few bumps, or cabbages, or a really old dead rose. ANYWAY, we went to a birthday party at the inlaws and they had another horrible walmart cake with roses on it. I showed the roses to my husband and said look, I thought my roses were bad, those are worse!. And he agreed that their roses weren't anything to admire and mine were just as nice if not better than that. Too funny that you bring this up.
Well I must say I know a bit about working at a grocery store bakery as that is my full time job. I dont work for Walmart or Sams thou so I cannot say what their practices for cake decorating are.
However the grocery store I do work for we can only decorate cakes certain ways... such as we can only have 1 color of roses (unless a customer orders more than one) and only certain amount of roses on each sized cake. Also the top border and the bottom border must be the same color as the roses. We actually have a book that has pictures of cakes, and we are not supposed to do anything else besides what is in that book.
Also we have the plastic decorations (what we call cake kits) that goes on top of the cakes. We also have a picture of how these cakes are to be decorated, and they are not supposed to be decorated differenly unless the customer request it.
Our cakes do come in already baked and frozen and we cut the cake to the proper size and ice and decorate it. Our regulations for a 1/4 sheet cake (quarter sheet) are we must be able to get the cake from the freezer, open it, cut it, put it on a board, ice smooth, comb the sides of the cake, completely decorate, package, lable, and put in the case at least 8 cakes every hour.
As I said this is just for the grocery store I work for so I do not know the regulations of the other stores.
I hope this information helps, if anyone has any questions please ask me!
~Sonya
I went to one in Richmond, and the cakes didn't look all that great...
Sonya -- Thanks for sharing your story. I'm hesitant to share my grocery store cake story, but it's kind of cathartic to do so.
I live in a small town with few cake choices. When I was planning my wedding, I went to Publix (grocery store) because it was really the only choice. The cake was lovely and more importantly, it tasted good......really good. People still talk about that cake! Over the years, I would get cravings for "Publix cake" and naturally went there when my first DD had her first birthday thinking I could get a custom cake. I took a napkin and was shocked 
that they wouldn't be able to reproduce the image. Finally I just asked if they could make a ladybug in pink and purple rather than red and black and they said OK. I nearly cried when I picked up that cake 
It was so ugly! And they didn't even write Happy Birthday on it! There was a bride in curlers waiting on her wedding cake to be finished, so I didn't ask the decorator to fix mine. I figured the other woman was more stressed than me. Anyway, I vowed to make my DD's cakes from that point on. That's how I ended up here at CC 
This year my oldest DD got homemade cupcakes (with grocery store style icing swirlies 
) and my youngest DD got a homemade bathtub cake and a smash cake for her first birthday (ducky theme)......so I'm slowly making progress. Hoping to take my first Wilton class next month.
My point in telling you this is that I had no idea what pressure the decorators were under and why they simply could not accomodate me. 
I had no idea the tight parameters under which they worked. Your story has opened my eyes!
I use to work in a wal-mart bakery, and we happen to train some different decorators for other new supercenters opening up in the area.
As for your quality decorations that is going to depend on every decorator at each individual store. I have to say I was SOOO luckly to work with 3 decorators that had either worked on their own or worked for bakeries as decorators, so we had some great decorators (to start with)...
What I found out was that when they hired someone they didn't really ask if they had experience. They were hiring people who thought it would be "fun" but again they didn't realize the time contraints we were under. When i worked there (been a little over 2 years now) We were expected to do one 1/4 sheet cake every 15 mins. But that was in an 8 hour shift... and not counting breaks or stocking so really we were to under 10 mins per 1/4 sheet cake.
The cakes came in frozen (made by Best Brands) in 1/2 sheet sizes. You would not believe how many cakes we sold... We were withen pennies of the other two grocery store in town and we took business from them... I found out it was because of the decorators and what we could do. As I saw less experienced people come through, unwilling to learn how to decroate (roses is a great example-many gave up after a day of trying) I saw our sales drop.
When I was leaving they started getting in 1/4 sheet cakes in chocolate and white pre-iced and we thought they looked like crap, but that is what we were told to use. We were also lucky to have a great district manager and store manager (for the first year) that let us spend a little more time on the special order cakes and encouraged us to use our creativity. (seriously the store manager was the best manager I have ever worked for, before and since) But we also found ways to make large quantities of cakes working in assembly line fashion. Again our store was lucky and we had 4 full time decorators and 1 part time so we were able to do assembly line fashion-most only have 2 and they switch between other positions in the bakery also.
I also worked at another wal-mart (not as a decorator-as a baker) And the decorators there were very simliar to what everyone is describing here.
Ok I think I rambled enough.
Disclaimer: I am not putting down wal-mart or sticking up for wal-mart, simply stating the differences between wal-marts and how much of a chance it is depending on the place you go.
As for reproducing an image on a cake such as from a napkin that is a big NO NO! That is considered copyright infrigement and we could be fined $10,000 dollars. We have a page in our "book" that states in big letters that we cannot produce an image or a close likeliness to an image that has been copyrighted. An example would be Mickey Mouse, we cant draw Mickey on a cake or even a close resemblence (sp?) to Mickey on a cake.
Also some decorators can draw generic things (nothing copyrighted) on cakes, such as the ladybug as stated above, it just depends on the decorator and how good they can draw. I have been asked to draw all sorts of things before such as guitars, turtles, people, frogs, etc, freehanded and I had to say no I cant on certain things. Although I can draw some things such as a baseball, butterflys, etc. And some people just get plain mad when I say Im sorry but I cant draw that. I just want to tell them, drawing on a cake with icing is not the same thing as drawing with a pen, lol.
~Sonya
PLEASE DON'T FIND ME RUDE, BUT IT SHOULDN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE HOW BUSY A STORE IS. IF THEY ADVERTISE THE CAKES, AND AS MUCH AS YOU PAY FOR A CAKE IT SHOULD NOT MATTER HOW MANY THEY HAVE TO DO. THEY SELL IT AND IT SHOULD LOOK PROFESSIONAL. THATS WHERE THIS WORLD HAS GONE TO THE CRAPPER, CUSTOMER SERVICE STINKS AND THEY KNOW (SOME STORES) THAT THEY CORNER THE MARKET AND THAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ALOT OF CHOICES. SO THEY SETTLE. AND WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SETTLE. I WORK IN CUSTOMER SERVICE AND IF WE DID HALF THE STUFF WALMART OR KMART OR ALOT OF THE PLACES DO, WE WOULD BE FIRED. I REALLY AM NOT MEANING TO BE RUDE. BUT I WOULD PAY MORE MONEY FOR A CAKE THAT I KNEW WAS DONE WITH PRIDE THAN LESS AND HAVE IT LOOK EXACTLY THAT. THANKS FOR LISTENING.
That's funny--just this evening I was shopping at walmart and rolled the cart past their bakery.
They have a big white and yellow wedding cake displayed. I was thinking, "What do they do, have a contest to see if someone can ice and decorate a cake in under 5 mins and have it still be recongnized as a cake?"
Another thought flew into my head just now! At OSSAS they had a 1 tip decorating contest--can't remember if they showed that part on food network or not--- and more than one cake from these fabulous decorators looked like total crap!!!!. A couple were quite nice, but I really was disappointed. Maybe I thought they were going to demonstrate the lambeth method on their cake or something! I bet they could have drawn random names out of the crowd and come up with some similar results. Just goes to show you what happens under time (and other) constraints.
Sonya, at first I thought it was horrible that they tell you how to decorate the cakes, but on second thought, that is half of my agonizing over cakes--figuring out what they are going to look like and half the time I don't really know til I'm finished!
I did learn to decorate at Baskin Robbins, and we had some pretty popular designs--chocolate drips, deco packs, yule logs at christmas, roasted turkeys at thanksgiving, bunny cakes at easter. It really takes a lot of the pressure off. We drew our pictures with a copycake projector. Try drawing with gel on a cake that is melting from the heat of the projector! That's when you get fast!
PLEASE DON'T FIND ME RUDE, BUT IT SHOULDN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE HOW BUSY A STORE IS. IF THEY ADVERTISE THE CAKES, AND AS MUCH AS YOU PAY FOR A CAKE IT SHOULD NOT MATTER HOW MANY THEY HAVE TO DO. THEY SELL IT AND IT SHOULD LOOK PROFESSIONAL. THATS WHERE THIS WORLD HAS GONE TO THE CRAPPER, CUSTOMER SERVICE STINKS AND THEY KNOW (SOME STORES) THAT THEY CORNER THE MARKET AND THAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ALOT OF CHOICES. SO THEY SETTLE. AND WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SETTLE. I WORK IN CUSTOMER SERVICE AND IF WE DID HALF THE STUFF WALMART OR KMART OR ALOT OF THE PLACES DO, WE WOULD BE FIRED. I REALLY AM NOT MEANING TO BE RUDE. BUT I WOULD PAY MORE MONEY FOR A CAKE THAT I KNEW WAS DONE WITH PRIDE THAN LESS AND HAVE IT LOOK EXACTLY THAT. THANKS FOR LISTENING.
I totally agree with you! But these big chain companys see $$$$$ and not quality, and therefore the employees are put under stict time restaints. Also these cake-decorators (where I work anyways) are also trying to run around and do lots of other things as well as cakes, and the store I work for has gotten pretty bad about cutting our hours getting us no more help and piling more work on us.
Most of the cake-decorators havent even had the proper training when it comes to decorating cakes, I can say this because it happend to me! 11 Years ago I was told to go decorate a cake for a customer order, and had to learn on my own. So it just depends on which store you are at and what decorator is there. If you find a decorator that is frustrated at the time restraints and cant keep up with the work and the company doesnt get them any help and then takes some of their hours away then yes I would assume (sp?) the decorator might be frustrated and dont give a darn how the cakes look as long as they are out there so she/he doesnt get in trouble.
Many times decorators are not passionate (like we are) about how their cakes look cause they are not interested in decorating they just view it as a job and it has to be done if they want to keep their job.
I WOULD PAY MORE MONEY FOR A CAKE THAT I KNEW WAS DONE WITH PRIDE THAN LESS AND HAVE IT LOOK EXACTLY THAT.
Some people (customers) dont care about what the cake looks like. I have had many times when a cake would be in my cake case and a child would come over and mash the lid down and mash the roses...... then a person will come up later looking for a cake and guess what cake they will buy... yep the one with the mashed roses.... this happens many many times. So some people just dont care.
I am so sorry my post has been so long, but I would like to shed the light on how grocery store bakerys work, although I can speak of where I work only. Most decorators are under time restraints and are frustrated. And like me I would love to showcase my decorating abilitys on the cakes I do at work but it just simply isnt allowed for me to do that. So I guess what I am trying to say is when you see a cake that looks like crap dont just assume that is all the cake decorator is capable of they may be capable of doing the most beautiful cake anyones has ever seen, but as I stated before time restraints, rules, etc from the company does not allow us to our "own" decorating.
~Sonya
Before I started decorating cakes, all those cakes looked just fine at the grocery, sams club, walmart... after my first few classes I looked at them in a whole new way. I do realize the time and limitations theses decorators are under. This may sound awful, but when I'm feeling bad about a cake I look at some of these store bakery cakes to make myself feel better.lol It makes me remember how critical we are of our work. Most people see a rose on these cakes and just think "oh look it's a rose", however those of us decorating critique (sp) it to death. It's all perspective.
Jennifer
I totally agree with you! But these big chain companys see $$$$$ and not quality, and therefore the employees are put under stict time restaints. Also these cake-decorators (where I work anyways) are also trying to run around and do lots of other things as well as cakes, and the store I work for has gotten pretty bad about cutting our hours getting us no more help and piling more work on us...
...I am so sorry my post has been so long, but I would like to shed the light on how grocery store bakerys work, although I can speak of where I work only. Most decorators are under time restraints and are frustrated. And like me I would love to showcase my decorating abilitys on the cakes I do at work but it just simply isnt allowed for me to do that. So I guess what I am trying to say is when you see a cake that looks like crap dont just assume that is all the cake decorator is capable of they may be capable of doing the most beautiful cake anyones has ever seen, but as I stated before time restraints, rules, etc from the company does not allow us to our "own" decorating.
~Sonya
I know exactly what you mean! I was the head decorator at my local grocery's Bakery/Deli! In addition to being expected to fill all customer cake orders, keep the case filled with sheet cakes and about a dozen varieties of dinner cakes...I also waited the counter, made plate lunches, cut deli meat, baked bread, and fried chicken. (Plus, I was 8 1/2 mos pregnant when I left 9 yrs ago and have never looked back.)
I learned very quickly that in this situation, the more you learn how to do...the more is expected of you. I never backed down from a challenge at work, and found myself doing the work of 3 people. It may just be that these decorators have more duties than they can handle. Where I worked overtime was a big NO-NO! They didn't really care what the cakes looked like as long as they were done and I was out the door on time!
It is a very frustrating job, and as previously stated, most of these decorators have absolutely no creative control over the cakes they can make. Also, the cakes have to have a consistent look from store to store, they are recognized as "Wal-Mart Cakes".
We've all said it before, you can spot them in an instant, whether we like the cakes or not, you can immediately tell where they were purchased from and that is just another way to draw in more customers. Most of my customers at the store were looking for "character x" to be on their kids cake...they didn't care what the cake looked like, just so that their kid got what they wanted! TO ALL THE STORE DECORATORS, I SALUTE YOU! YOU DEAL WITH MORE STRESS EVERY DAY THAN I EVER WANT TO HAVE AGAIN!!!!! 
glenda
Sonya, thanks for posting that. I meant to mention I know how little time they have in my post about walmart, my dh's cousin works in the grocery store bakery and told me about it. So it's not really their fault.
People want cheap and to be able to just grab something quick and the only way to do that is to cut time. Growing up my grandma made our cakes sometimes but other times my mom bought it from the grocery store, she's cheap and doesn't mind. My dad bought my ds's first birthday cake from a local bakery and I know he spent $$$ on it, it was a wonderful cake and beautiful though so worth every penny.
The people that want quality cake and don't mind spending extra order from people here or make their own.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%