Did I Really Just See A Gp Orchid On A Cake At Walmart?!?!?!
Decorating By __Jamie__ Updated 6 May 2009 , 4:28pm by destinyrn
Forgive me, as I am sure this has been discussed already, but performing a search brought up no results, so........
WHAT?!?! A gum paste rose on top of a cake at Walmart? And on a rack that said $2???? Yes..2 as in two, dos...whatever!
Not painted or dusted with color mind you, but it there it was! And a little sticker saying "not meant for consumption". They weren't exactly ugly, stark white....but they had the right impressions/veins and didn't look too mass produced.
((sigh)) Great. I can hear it now..."well Walmart makes GP flowers, and theirs only cost....blabitty blah blah blah"
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I'm not surprised. But I would be surprised if they were hand made as opposed to sent in bulk. My local Piggly Wiggly(which I hate btw, but it's 1 minute from my house), makes THE worst cakes. I don't even know how they can display those things as edible. Anyway, I looked at their prices today, just for kicks. A half sheet cake is $7.00....What? That's like a penny per slice 
Yeah, there was a discussion on here not long ago about these cakes. I haven't seen one, but a couple of ppl posted pix! Not sure how you'd go about looking it up, but it was quite interesting, and the pix were hilarious! Icing sliding off, condensing, etc. Real lookers!!!
I wouldn't doubt it , I see at Sams all the time a gumpaste bouquet on a cake for like 14.00 I thought about purchasing the cake for the bouquet. Yes they were painted well sprayed in the center. I don't know how they can do it. Takes me forever to make a gumpaste flower. Oh well............
I saw that too. Obviously they don't make them in house. They are purchased. They are also very thick. Not horrid, but definitely not delicate. It's like putting a tiara on a crack whore y'know? 
I saw that too. Obviously they don't make them in house. They are purchased. They are also very thick. Not horrid, but definitely not delicate. It's like putting a tiara on a crack whore y'know?
Hilarious! But just one more thing to have to explain to people about quality...especially people like my mother. "Oh, did you see Walmart can do those fancy schmancy flowers you always talk about, and they hardly cost anything at all!" ((((sigh)))) Ugh!
When they had my baby shower at church, they got a cake from wal-mart. (the homemade cake that a girl fell to pieces so they went to the store last minute.) The cake had a gumpaste baby resting on an open flower blossom. It was really cute. When I got it home, I noticed on the bottom that it had a label that said "Made in China." My bet is that they are mass produced.
They probably just buy them wholesale from the mass marketers who make them. They're thick, like someone else said, because they have to be shipped and therefore need to be sturdier than a more realistic flower. They'll do the job, but they'll still be on a Walmart cake...Anyone who'd buy a Walmart cake isn't my customer anyway, so that's okay.
The Walmart near me has the most godawful wedding cake on display...It's four separate cakes on the multi-leveled stands, but each cake is a different super bright primary color. They all have matching white borders that look like they took about 2 minutes to do. I go by and laugh at them every time I'm in there.
I saw something similar yesterday at sams. Just a little bunch laying on top of the cake. To be honest, the cakes were not very good at all. I am not trying to knock the cakes at Sam's, but they are not really "display quality." If you are just looking for a cake to consume, fine. But they have nothing on the high quality, attention to detail cake.
Walmart has colored gumpaste flowers now and again on there cakes. Last year I purchased some purple ones from them before I know where to find them for $5 a spray - which is what they sold for online thru the compnay. They buy them from the same online places we can. As a matter of I was at the Ices convention in Florida last year and they had a vender selling gumpaste flowers at $5 to $10 a box. And wouldn't you know it one of the boxes I bought were the same ones Walmart were selling.
Well then by they are really losing money by selling them. And I bet because walmart is so huge that they offset those losses in other departments or even write them off at tax time as profit loss. Crazy! Funny how when everything else is getting more expensive cake is taking a dive. Doesn't add to me. Unless they over baked and have a few wearhouses full of frozen layers they need to unload before the expiration. Yeah now that's quality control!
Well then by they are really losing money by selling them. And I bet because walmart is so huge that they offset those losses in other departments or even write them off at tax time as profit loss. Crazy! Funny how when everything else is getting more expensive cake is taking a dive. Doesn't add to me. Unless they over baked and have a few wearhouses full of frozen layers they need to unload before the expiration. Yeah now that's quality control!
Yes, the prices are so cheap--it's definitely a loss leader--people just know, hey, I can get a cake for Mom at Sam's. They move a ton of cake and folks generally buy other stuff while they're there.
The ones I saw at my local Wal*Mart were atrocious.
That's the thing that most don't get. Your Wal*Mart and grocery stores aren't looking to make a ton off of their bakery products. They are there to lure you in so you can buy the things they really make their money on. It's "oooh I need this" and "I could use one of those too" and before you know it you have a cart 1/2 full and you spent $50 more than you set out to. It works. 
That's why you can't look at the pricing at Wal*Mart and the grocery store when you think about your own pricing... because we don't have other things to sell. Just cakes. (tangent I know)
[quote="FromScratch"]
That's the thing that most don't get. Your Wal*Mart and grocery stores aren't looking to make a ton off of their bakery products. They are there to lure you in so you can buy the things they really make their money on. It's "oooh I need this" and "I could use one of those too" and before you know it you have a cart 1/2 full and you spent $50 more than you set out to. It works.
So true...
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