The One Bakery Item Whole Foods Employees Say You Should Never Buy: ‘Gross, Ugly, And Expensive’

There’s no denying that many Whole Foods store locations boast a wide variety of tasty and acclaimed dessert items in their bakery sections. Some self-proclaimed employees of the chain and customers on Reddit, however, have been taking to the app in the last few months to warn shoppers about specific kinds of cakes: “egg” and “king.”

In the thread titled, “these g.d. egg cakes are so gross, ugly, and expensive,” one user (@WFMactivelyhatestms) recently wrote, “Half of them arrive already broken, and they’re not even layer cakes under the faux fondant.”

The self-dubbed Whole Foods worker added, “Last year when our regional person came by they said they had no idea why the cakes weren’t selling, and when we said the cakes tasted gross, they literally said ‘well the customer doesn’t know that til after they buy it.'”

They went on, adding, “i can’t sell these to people in good conscience, especially at the $20 price point.” Lately, other Reddit users have been calling out the chain’s produce freshness (or apparent lack of this, according to recent posts).

The post regarding Whole Foods cakes garnered several upvotes and similar comments. One commenter wrote, “It’s like with the gross king cakes we had. Customers kept returning them.”

On Twitter this month, other cakes were receiving negative reviews from fans. “Vegan Carrot cake from Whole Foods 0/5 Do not recommend,” one wrote as another added, regarding the prices of these treats, “I done went to Whole Foods and spent $15 on a damn cake.”

Someone else wrote on the site on May 28th, “Just seen a cake slice at Whole Foods that had 1034 calories and over a 100 grams of sugar in it. S—t crazy out here.”

One other user also shared a complaint about a Whole Foods cake and allergy concerns, writing; “@WholeFoods really disappointed. Ordered a vegan cake (dairy & egg free) as a special order and have a sick kid at hand. Turns out there is milk and egg in the cake. Please take allergies seriously, you could put lives in danger.”

The one cake customers on Twitter did seem to praise more than critique? The grocer brand’s Chantilly Berry Cake. As one customer tweeted this month, “I don’t often [get] my lunch at Whole Foods, but when I do, I want a slice of Chantilly berry cake.” Another wrote soon after, “That Berry Chantilly Cake from @WholeFoods is perfection.”

Someone else chimed in, commenting, “y’all need to RUN not walk to whole foods and try the berry chantilly cake. literally the best cake i’ve ever had.” Another agreed, noting that the dessert “tastes like traditional wedding cake” with the following elements: “Sponge, almond and berries.”

One other Whole Foods shopper wrote on Twitter in May after clips of the cake went viral on TikTok; “If you ever need to get me a cake for whatever reason, it’s the berry chantilly cake from Whole Foods.” (We might just be convinced to give it a try!)