Just Saw This At Walmart & Had To Share
Decorating By isabow2 Updated 15 Apr 2009 , 4:41am by Ironbaker
What's sad about the Walmart/Sams/Costco cakes is that (most of) the people putting them together do have the ability and talent to make those cakes look great. It's just their employer simply won't allow them the time to make them that good. I started cake decorating at Sam's and several times I would get to work and my to do list would include 40 small ganache cakes. On top of orders and case cakes. When you're dealing with that kind of volume, you simply can't make the cakes look as good as most of the cakes on here. I remember one grad season I was really frustrated one day and my boss (after watching me for a couple cakes) said "Remember, it's about quantity, not quality."
Plus you gotta think about how much those sloppy cakes are priced at. What would you do if someone told you they would pay only $8 for their cake? I would only put in about $8 worth of effort.
Ok I was in walmart today and saw these cakes. The cake was covered in fondant (which looked like a 2 year old did it.. prolly since they have to churn them out in about .5 seconds), and it had one of those gumpaste flowers on it. The flower looked almost like plastic and there was indeed a huge sticker saying inedible.
Here is the kicker... I was in the Wilton section because at last minute I ran out of blue gel coloring.. and there was a lady picking up Wilton Gumpaste (horrible horrible stuff). She seemed confused so I asked if I could help. Her response was "I want to make a cake like the one with the flower.. but it's too expensive so I'm going to make it myself."
...... The cake was 10 dollars.
I haven't seen them at our Walmart yet, but the Sam's near us has had them for quite a while. Plain Jane round or sheet cake with a "genuine gumpaste flower" stuck on top. Even has it's own sticker saying so. 
They are right next to the ones with the Blue Smurf poo balloons on them.
Our Sams is selling the 8 inch rounds for a lot more than $8.00. though. I think they were closer to $15.00.
Ok I was in walmart today and saw these cakes. The cake was covered in fondant (which looked like a 2 year old did it.. prolly since they have to churn them out in about .5 seconds), and it had one of those gumpaste flowers on it. The flower looked almost like plastic and there was indeed a huge sticker saying inedible.
Here is the kicker... I was in the Wilton section because at last minute I ran out of blue gel coloring.. and there was a lady picking up Wilton Gumpaste (horrible horrible stuff). She seemed confused so I asked if I could help. Her response was "I want to make a cake like the one with the flower.. but it's too expensive so I'm going to make it myself."
...... The cake was 10 dollars.
Walmart has a bakery section? LOL! Seriously didn't know that.
It was my understanding that while the gumpaste is edible, the stamens and the wires are not and that's the reason for the warning label...CYA tactic should someone decide to nibble and somehow(and ya'll know someone will too) get hurt by those items.
Ok I was in walmart today and saw these cakes. The cake was covered in fondant (which looked like a 2 year old did it.. prolly since they have to churn them out in about .5 seconds), and it had one of those gumpaste flowers on it. The flower looked almost like plastic and there was indeed a huge sticker saying inedible.
Here is the kicker... I was in the Wilton section because at last minute I ran out of blue gel coloring.. and there was a lady picking up Wilton Gumpaste (horrible horrible stuff). She seemed confused so I asked if I could help. Her response was "I want to make a cake like the one with the flower.. but it's too expensive so I'm going to make it myself."
...... The cake was 10 dollars.
The Wilton gumpaste is like $7 I think. And yes it is horrible.
Ok I was in walmart today and saw these cakes. The cake was covered in fondant (which looked like a 2 year old did it.. prolly since they have to churn them out in about .5 seconds), and it had one of those gumpaste flowers on it. The flower looked almost like plastic and there was indeed a huge sticker saying inedible.
Here is the kicker... I was in the Wilton section because at last minute I ran out of blue gel coloring.. and there was a lady picking up Wilton Gumpaste (horrible horrible stuff). She seemed confused so I asked if I could help. Her response was "I want to make a cake like the one with the flower.. but it's too expensive so I'm going to make it myself."
...... The cake was 10 dollars.
The Wilton gumpaste is like $7 I think. And yes it is horrible.
Yup! Totally overpriced and a horrible horrible product. She said she would buy that and a cake mix, which would total her at 8 bucks.. which was less than the 10 dollar cake.
Wow. I bet she is at home right now making gorgeous factory-produced looking gumpaste flowers...with her airbrush, stamens, etc., all for 8 bucks!! 
The ones here arent that bad at our Walmart <cringes and waits for the flamage>. The icing isnt perfectly smooth of course, but its not horrible, and there is a decent looking border at the bottom. They are all in pastel spring colors, with complementing colored GP flowers on top. Along with the "GP flower not edible" sticker.
I do get irritated that they can charge $7.95 for a little cake with a GP flower on it that might look ok, but it tastes like crap and they still are making a profit off of it, cause why else would they sell it for that much? It would cost me at least $15-$20 to do the same thing, and that is ONLY MY COST! I would sell it for easily $40-$50.
My hubs used to work at McD's as a kid. One day they were bored and calculated the actual cost of what is cost McD to make a Big Mac. It costs them $.06 to make one Big Mac including all of the ingredients and even the wages that they pay the worker who cooks and wraps and the person who takes the order. And they sell them here individually for $3. 
Makes you wonder how much it actually costs Walmart to make that cake, if they are making a profit off of selling it for $7.95......
[quote="Jayde"]
My hubs used to work at McD's as a kid. One day they were bored and calculated the actual cost of what is cost McD to make a Big Mac. It costs them $.06 to make one Big Mac including all of the ingredients and even the wages that they pay the worker who cooks and wraps and the person who takes the order. And they sell them here individually for $3.
quote]
That can't be right. I worked at Jack in the Box when I was a kid...oh lets not count the years please. Ages ago. I was in management and got to see the cost of the foods, paper goods breakdowns. I was surprised how much they were. Chicken breast, burgers and other meat products (tacos) were the most expensive in that order. I remember our cost for a med. sized drink cup at that time was $.05 per cup, not including the soda, which was probabaly $.05 too. I think the tacos were $.35 but the burgers were one or two bucks. They make a great deal of profit on drinks and fries which cost them practically nothing. And this was years ago.
I think Wal-Mart's sheer bulk of cakes made drives down their cost of ingredients a lot. I would kill to know exactly how much a Wal-Mart sheet cake costs, ingredient-wise.
That said, grocery store bakeries have looow profit margins from what I hear. I really don't think the bakery department of any grocery store makes them an acceptable amount of money, but I could be completely wrong. I get this just from talking to corporate grocery store types and bakery managers. I might just be talking to really negative ones.
Hooray, my time as a grocery store decorator. Just looking at some of my old co-workers and doing some math, though... how much they're paid, how long they took on those croissants, how much they're selling for? Yow!
Iv seen them at Sams Clun too. So forget the pic whos gonna go buy one ? Come on, someone has to investigate !! 
I live in the south so there's practically a Walmart on every corner. Almost ALL of them have bakeries. I think I may venture on over and see this with my own two eyes.
I posted the recipe in the appropriate section... please bear in mind that this is a copyrighted recipe from the FCI text book (I included all of the copyright info along with it) so if you pass this along to anyone please be sure to include all the copyright info along with it.
I posted the recipe in the appropriate section... please bear in mind that this is a copyrighted recipe from the FCI text book (I included all of the copyright info along with it) so if you pass this along to anyone please be sure to include all the copyright info along with it.
What's it called? Is it a Walmart cake?
I posted the recipe in the appropriate section... please bear in mind that this is a copyrighted recipe from the FCI text book (I included all of the copyright info along with it) so if you pass this along to anyone please be sure to include all the copyright info along with it.
I searched for your recipe too and can't find it 
Here are pics.. sorry it took so long I didn't get home until late so I posted this morning
I went to the Target Supercenter near my house last night to see if they had anything like what Wal-Mart had. They had some funny looking 8" rounds that they were selling for $5.99. They were beyond ugly. They had stringy stuff on them to make a "nest" and then there were Peeps sitting in the "nest". I took a pic but I'm having problems getting it off of my phone. I'll upload it as soon as I do.
You are awesome Jamie!
Leave it to Walmart to cheapen the art of gumpaste flowers.
So are these just an Easter special or will these be their new daily offering?
Leave it to Walmart to cheapen the art of gumpaste flowers.
seriously
Wow, sorry to have totally abandoned this thread, but I wasn't getting email responses & just figured I didn't get any replies. Anyhoo, yes those are cakes that I was talking about (thanks for posting pics). I guess I didn't think about the additional stuff in the flowers making them inedible. I just thought "Oh great, now that Walmart says they're not edible that's what people are going to think about all of them. Even if they are homemade." Yes those cakes do look pretty plain, which is what drew my eye to them. At my Walmart they had them set out in the middle of the bakery section where they put their seasonal bakery goods & flowers. So this must be their attempt at an Easter cake! Yummy!
I posted the recipe in the appropriate section... please bear in mind that this is a copyrighted recipe from the FCI text book (I included all of the copyright info along with it) so if you pass this along to anyone please be sure to include all the copyright info along with it.
PinkZiab...I have looked all over and can't seem to find the gumpaste recipe. Could you be more specific as to where the appropriate section is? Thanks
Every time I go to any grocery store or place where they sell cakes, I always have to stop and look. It makes me sad how those places "stack" cakes upon cakes so that more can fit into their cases.
I haven't been to our Super Walmart lately, try to avoid that place. I am however a Super Target bakery manager and I must say, the cakes that they want us to produce and display are rather on the "interesting" side. If you stick to the their plan, they don't sell. My cake decoator however is very creative and I don't want to squash that from her so we do come up with alternative cakes that people enjoy and buy. (I decorate there from time to time and it is very hard for me to NOT give out my number when a guest wants something that I know I can do better at home!). At Target we do offer fondant cakes as well, but after talking with other stores, most don't do them due to how much time they can take. We do have to produce a certain amount in order to keep up with the demand of our cake case, orders and backups, but we also take pride in what we do and have a quality cake out there (at least I know we do in my store!). And if you haven't had a Target cake yet, you should. They are quite tasty!! You just have to have a store that cares about what goes into their cakes and that they take pride in their work.
The prices in a store are of course a lot cheaper since the product comes in bulk. Most people don't want to pay the price of a homemade cake and I find that I cheapen my prices from time to time in order to sell one (from home). Wedding cakes are my biggest struggles in pricing.
ONce my neighbor invited me over for her daughters bday. She bought a cake from Walmart. I was pretty upset with her. Ilive next door and do cakes plus I work at Target in the bakery. If anything I would have gotten her one from work! It was horrible! Tasted dry and looked pretty bad.
And if you haven't had a Target cake yet, you should. They are quite tasty!!
Just had to chime in, as I got to try a Target bakery cake the night before last! I was out of town in Huntsville, AL with family and my husbands's uncle had a birthday he was trying to hide....so hubby and I drop in to the Super Target and picked up a cake. It was an 1/8 quarter sheet, marble with white icing. The cake was VERY GOOD....very moist and didn't taste like other discount store bakery cakes I've had. The icing wasn't my favorite, but still much tastier than the others! It didn't have that "stick to the roof of your mouth" feel! I sure home a Super Target doesn't come to my area!!!
The Walmart north of us was built in the early 90's. I was working in a restaurant near there and used to wait on some of the construction crew for lunch.
All they did was go around the country building Walmart Supercenters and they told me whenever they built one in a smaller area 10 local businesses were out within 5 or 6 years, and Walmart didn't miss a trick when it came to exploring new markets to undercut.
The area did lose some local businesses; I don't know if it was 10.
We don't have any real cake bakeries except supermarket ones until you get north to Sarasota, so it seems they're trying to corner what market they can here.
They just built ours here a few years ago. They've killed Winn dixie pretty much, but they don't seem to have hurt Publix all that much.
I'm heading there now to pick up some pastry bags and I'll hit the bakery to see if they are carrying these things yet. If they are, I'll ask them if it's a seasonal thing or whether they will be carrying them all the time.
I'm still laughing at the lady trying to save $2 by making her own gumpaste flower and cake. 
Is that counting her tools and cutters? The colors? The 28,348 hours it will surely take her? Funny.
Something tells me this may turn into a mini cake wrecks thread. I'm going to be on the lookout for Walmart gems now. I haven't been in a walmart that doesn't have a bakery but if you sneeze, you will miss it.
I'm still laughing at the lady trying to save $2 by making her own gumpaste flower and cake.
I see this on the catering side all the time. "I can buy the food cheaper than that!" Well, DUH!!!! 
But you're not paying for me for "the food". You're paying me for the big equipment that enables me to cook for 100 in just a couple of hours, for the equipment to properly transport it, for my staff who cooks it, loads it, sets it up and works it so you can enjoy your reception, for the insurance and business licenses that allow me to be allowed into your reception hall.
The food? Hell, I'll DONATE the cost of the food! Now let's talk about the REAL expense of "making it yourself!"
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