cakes at Safeway vs Giant vs Harris Teeter

[Anonymous]

Balducci's and WHole Foods cakes and bread are awful. So not worth the money.

For kids, Safeway or Costco or always well received. I have never seen a kid or adult throw cake in the trash.

Never had Cakelove but have used a small bakery in Bethesda called Breads Unlimited. They have decent prices on fancier cakes and their muffins are great!

[Anonymous]

Ugh to the PP who suggested Whole Foods, Balducci's and CakeLove. HATE all three. Especially CakeLove. I really really tried to like CakeLove as I am a huge cupcake fan and came here from NYC where the cupcake culture was already big but here in DC they only had CakeLove at the time. CakeLove frosting just tastes like a hunk of butter and the cake is dry and crumbly and tasteless. As for Whole Foods and Balducci's, they just taste bland and unmemorable. Rather not waste those calories on mediocre cake like that.

Safeway, Giant and Harris Teeter cakes, while not gourmet by any means, I do LOVE. They taste good in the way that a box of Duncan Hines cake mix tastes good. Like Oreos, Chicken McNuggets, or some other guilty pleasure food. You know it's full of crappy ingredients but sometimes that's the kind of food you want to eat.

The baker at Harris Teeter once told me they used the exact same baking mixes as Giant, when I asked them about their cakes.

[Anonymous]

Does any one know the URL where I can order a Safeway cake online?

[Anonymous]

Just to let you all know most of the cakes are the same. They all buy them from HC bill . So they are all about the same.

[Anonymous]

Safeway cakes are yummy. I don't get Whole Foods cakes - they are not good. The butter cream frosting is inedible because it tastes like pure butter. I always thought it was me and I got a bad cake. It's good to know that others think the same so I will stay away for good.

[Anonymous]

I like the safeway cakes. You can also request whipped frosting, which is more like whipped cream (soft and sweet) than the hard sugar frosting.

[Anonymous]

If you go for $$$, Creative Cakes are AMAZING.

But Safeway and Giant are the way to go for kids...I love them both!

[Anonymous]

Harris Teeter. But Costco is my favorite.

[Anonymous]

We love Harris Teerter bday chocolate cakes with white frosting. So good.

[Anonymous]

If you're going to get a grocery store cake, about the only one I think is worth it is Wegmans'. They have very nice cake and good buttercream frosting. Their "ultimate" cakes are really very good.

While we're on the subject, what happened to moms baking cakes for parties? Does no one do this in DC? My mom (god bless her) still makes me a cake for my birthday every year and ships it to my house. I make cakes for my family, too. I'm not a fancy baker-type, I just make a chocolate or vanilla cake, flip it onto some cardboard, and use ziplock bags to decorate it. Super SUPER cheap, super delicious, and it's so easy my husband can do it . I realize it has to be done the night before, but it's about the only way to get my family's favorite cake (dark chocolate cake with peanut butter icing). However, if I'm going to cripple my kids socially with a homemade cake (i.e., if people 'round here think it's weird), I'll get them store-bought (but DH and I will keep our homemade ones ).

[Anonymous]

PP I think it's awesome you make cakes for your family. I wish I had the energy. I keep thinking I will and then I don't.

Anyway, I love HT cakes. You can get whipped cream frosting if you don't like the sweeter stuff and they also do great filling.
I've had some good cupcakes at Best Buns Bakery recently and I would guess you could special order them.

[Anonymous]

Another vote to skip balducci's. Dry.
We like Cake Love with fruit filling. But, it has to be room tempature, and I would never pay that for a kids party.
I am sort of an addict for safeway cake slices and brownies, so I'm guessing their sheets are good.
Coscto is amazing.

I love voting on cake.

[Anonymous]

Kind of OT, but the ultimate white cake (I think that is what it is called) from Wegman's is to die for. It is worth going out of your way for.

[Anonymous]

I am not a food snob, but I appreciate good food. And one thing I appreciate is a chocolate cake from Giant with cream cheese frosting. Really, really good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am totally one of those "illy cake snobs". I worked at a NY bakery and loved it and so stuff from the supermarket is crap to me. The artificial fillings (canned fruit in goo) suck and the "buttercream" is nothing more than crisco (pure lard) and sugar. We get cakes from Balducci's and Alexandria Pastry Shop. That being said, if the party is mostly for children, I think it's okay to get whatever cake the kids will like and that is within your budget. Why spend $60 for a cake if no one will appreciate the difference between real fresh whipped cream and lard sugar frosting?

Um, if you've worked at a bakery, you should know that Crisco is made from hydrogenated vegetable oil, and not lard.