went to a b-day party this past weekend and they had a sam's club cake. I'd never seen one done like this - it was a 1/2 sheet, I think, and just 1 layer with the filling injected in (there were blobs of filling dispersed throughout the cake). Edible image on top, and a very uneven shell border.
Now, my cake decorating skills are questionable, but I'm sure I could have done a better job. (well, maybe not once you guys see the cake I made last night - will post later)
I was just really surprised, b/c usually, the cakes we get from a large chain(costco, albertsons, ralphs, etc.) look really good...
...or maybe I'm just lamenting the lost chance to make another cake (b/c I sure need the practice!)...
anyway, just my thoughts...
c
I have only had one Sam's cake and it tasted really good but the decorating was not what I would expect from a professional place like that. I think it probably depends on who decorated it. The cake I had was a big sheetcake with balloons on it which didn't look too bad but the border around the bottom was incomplete! It's not that they did a bad job decorating it was just not finished on the one side...a big gap. I thought that was very unprofessional.
Heather
It sounds like the person who made it was under the gun... probably had 15 other cakes to make that day! It's disappointing when you realize you should've done it, but oh well. At least this way you got to see that people sometimes don't do their best work, and it's ok! Maybe that person had a REALLY bad day on top of being so busy. I know when I am stressed sometimes I have to slap myself before diving into a cake! 
My family gave me a BIG 30th Birthday Bash last year and a 60th for my Uncle. They purchased my cake from Costco or Sams (I can't remember, I had not started baking and decorating yet..lol) The cake was very very good, it had a cream filling of some sort and the icing was white with white cake, and Huge daisey like flowers on the top. I was very happy with, it was well decorated! 
Probably someone is new at that store. Or they are training someone. But you are right : you could have done better. I have only seen one other person who poked holes in a cake for the fillings. I thought it was funny then and still do now. Someone does not know how to torte cakes.
I don't think it is that they can't necessarily torte a cake but that is just their style of filling. I have seen lots of recipes for "poke cake" as they are called because you poke the cake to get holes in it and they drizzle the filling over so it seeps through the whole cake.
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