Are Costco's Bakery Cakes Made From Scratch?

There's no way to put it lightly: The cakes from the Costco bakery are a force to be reckoned with. From the super moist cake itself to the intensely sweet frosting, Costco bakery cakes are the stuff dreams are made of if you're a dessert lover. We did a deep dive to find out exactly how the folks behind the bakery counter at Costco work their magic. According to Reddit, Costco bakery's sheet cakes, round cakes, and mini cakes are made using a base mix. While they aren't exactly made from scratch, most of the cakes are mixed and baked in-house. Certain specialty cakes, like tiramisu and tuxedo cake, are shipped to the store frozen and thawed before they're set out for customers to purchase.

Actually creating the cakes in-house may be part of the reason why they taste so fresh and, well, awesome. Most grocery store cakes are shipped and delivered frozen from a central bakery, then thawed and decorated in-house. Even though Costco's bakery cakes aren't technically made from scratch, they're far closer to from-scratch cakes than what you'd get at many other supermarket chains. According to Reddit, most of the Costco bakery's frosting and cake fillings — namely, buttercream icing, cream cheese icing, and fudge icing — are made in-house as well (colored decorating icing is shipped in). 

Costco cakes are absolutely beloved by shoppers, both for their fantastic taste and great value (you can score a 48-serving cake for around $25). Recently, the big-box chain made it even easier for customers to order cakes. Before, the process of ordering a cake at Costco wasn't exactly simple — you had to physically go to the store and drop off a paper order form to order a custom cake from Costco's bakery. Now, customers in many areas can simply order custom cakes online through the Costco app, making it super easy to get your hands on the good stuff.

But what exactly makes that stuff so good? We're not exactly sure what's in Costco's base mix, but we have some pointers for how to mimic the chain's super moist texture at home. Costco sheet cakes automatically come with a mousse filling, and using a filling will make it less likely that you'll end up with a dry crumb once you cut into your cake. Another option: you can grab some simple syrup from your bar cart to create a moister cake. Simply use a squeeze bottle to add a bit of the sweet liquid to each layer of your cake before adding filling or frosting. If you're working to mimic the flavor of a Costco bakery cake at home, one thing is for sure: you don't need to feel guilty about using a boxed mix. If a pre-mixed base is good enough for Costco, it's good enough for your kitchen.