12 Costco Bakery Secrets You Need to Know (Plus, the Costco Cake Order Form)

On the fence about getting a Costco membership? The Costco bakery might change your mind. With some of the best deals around on bakery items, you’ll be buying cookies, cakes, and muffins by the case.

We’ll show you how much you’ll really be saving by getting Costco cakes, how to place a Costco cake order (yes, it is old-school), whether you can get Costco cookie dough in the freezer section, and even how you can make your own Costco wedding cake.

Of course, you should always brush up on all the ways you can get Costco coupons.

1. Kids always get a free cookie from the Costco bakery.

If you’re bringing your kid grocery shopping at Costco, make sure to stop by the bakery to pick up a free cookie (about $0.38).

NOTE: This might be discontinued at certain Costco stores since 2020, so your mileage will vary depending on which Costco you go to.

2. At $24.99, Costco cakes are the cheapest around — beating Safeway, BJ’s, and Walmart.

If you’re ordering a half-sheet cake, ordering from the Costco bakery is the best deal around. A half-sheet cake (18 x 13 inches) costs $24.99 and serves anywhere from up to 48 people.

By comparison, BJ’s Warehouse sells the same size cake for $25.99 (3.8% spendier), Walmart Bakery sells the same size cake for $28.98 (13.8% more), and Safeway sells the same size cake for $32.99 (24.2% more expensive). And at the Publix Bakery, a half-sheet cake will run you an eye-popping $45.99 (84% more expensive).

And just like we show in the photo above, you’ll need to place your custom Costco cake order old-school style — by filling out the Costco Cake Order Form in-person and slipping it into the slot on the submission box.

Where can I find the Costco Cake Order Form for 2023?

Costco doesn’t have an online ordering process for custom cakes, so you’ll need to visit a warehouse to place your order. In case you want to fill out the form ahead of time, use this Costco Cake Order Form (PDF) you can download, print, and bring with you to the warehouse.

Related: We also found super cheap prices on the Costco Catering menu.

3. Be advised — the half-sheet Costco cakes only come in two flavors, vanilla and chocolate.

Half-sheet Costco cakes only come in two different flavors:

• White vanilla half-sheet cake with vanilla cheesecake mousse and white buttercream icing
• Chocolate half-sheet cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate buttercream icing

If you’re looking for other flavor options, Costco has smaller varieties (round cakes, cupcakes, loaf cakes), like the Tiramisu Costco cake ($15.99).

TIP: If you want to get custom cakes from Costco, you’ll have to order at least two to three days in advance. Otherwise, you can order a blank cake the day of and decorate it yourself.

4. Make your own Costco wedding cake for a wedding on a budget.

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Wedding cakes can cost many hundreds of dollars. So why not save some money by ordering two half-sheet Costco cakes to make your own Costco wedding cake?

If you’re feeling some DIY magic, get two half-sheet cakes, cut them, and stack the pieces on top of each other. Once you decorate with flowers (grab a $10 bouquet at Trader Joe’s) and icing, you’ll be left with a beautiful (and cheap) wedding cake.

Now, this isn’t the only tip you should follow to have a wedding on a budget.

Related: Put your membership to good use with these Costco wedding hacks.

5. You can’t get frozen dough from the Costco bakery in the U.S.

We’ve heard that you can get Costco cookie dough from the Costco bakery, but unfortunately, that’s only available in Canada — not in the U.S.

So if you want Costco cookies, you’re going to have to buy them baked — $7.99 for 21 cookies.

NOTE: You can’t order Costco bakery items online. However, you can order a very limited selection from Instacart for delivery.

6. Return a Costco bakery item for a full refund if you aren’t satisfied.

Even if you have taken a bite or a piece from the item, you can get a full refund as long as you have your receipt.

7. At the bakery, you get 12 Costco muffins for $8.99 — that’s $0.75 per muffin.

Costco muffins are huge, and they only cost $8.99 for a dozen, making each 5.8-ounce muffin only $0.75 each — or $0.13 per ounce.

Here’s how they stack up with their competitors:

• BJ’s Warehouse: $4.49 for six 1-ounce muffins ($0.74 per muffin) — an 82.4% savings.
• Sam’s Club: $4.98 for six 2-ounce muffins ($0.83 per muffin; $0.42 per oz) — a 69% reduction.
• Walmart: $3.98 for four 3.5-ounce muffins ($0.99 per muffin; $0.28 per muffin) — a 53.5% price difference.

8. You can mix and match Costco muffins to get them for $8.99.

The people at Costco know that you want to try all the Costco muffin flavors, so they separated the dozen muffins into containers that hold six muffins each. That means you can get two different Costco muffin flavors to satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are a few of the flavors that you can get:

• Blueberry Muffins
• Chocolate Muffins
• Poppyseed Muffins

NOTE: Throughout the year, Costco has seasonal or specialty muffins — like cinnamon cheesecake and pumpkin spice. These tend to rotate every few months.

9. Store your loaves of Costco bread in the freezer to preserve them.

One of the reasons to buy from Costco is the ability to purchase items in bulk for cheap. However, breads and pastries tend to have a shelf life of about a week depending on the pastry.

See more : How Long Can Spiders Live Without Food? Life Cycle Analysis

Luckily, Costco bakery items freeze easily and most of them only need to be microwaved for about 45 seconds to be reheated.

10. Save on donuts when you order from the Costco bakery instead of Krispy Kreme.

A dozen donuts from the Costco bakery will cost you $6.99 — or $0.58 per donut. A dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme will cost $10.99 (34.6% more expensive), and Dunkin’ will cost $9.99 (30% more expensive).

TIP: Don’t judge Krispy Kreme too harshly; it seems like they’re always giving out free Krispy Kreme donuts.

11. The keto bread at Costco might not be 100% keto-friendly.

If you go to Costco and see their keto bread, be warned that it might not be 100% keto-friendly.

It has some ingredients that aren’t approved by some keto diets, since they raise blood sugar levels due to the wheat and modified wheat starch. So if you’re looking to follow a strict keto diet, you might want to skip on this Costco bakery item.

12. Costco doesn’t have nutrition facts on their bakery items — but we know the numbers.

One of the downsides to purchasing from the Costco bakery is that some items don’t have their nutritional facts on the packaging. We found the caloric amounts for some of the most popular bakery items at Costco:

How many calories are in Costco croissants?

There are 339 calories per Costco croissant.

How many calories are in a Costco muffin?

• Double Chocolate Muffin: 690 per muffin.
• Blueberry Muffin: 610 calories per muffin.
• Almond Poppy Muffin: 670 calories per muffin.
• Apple Crumb Muffin: 920 calories per muffin.
• Banana Nut Muffin: 680 calories per muffin.

How many calories are in Costco cake?

A slice of Costco cake (around a 1 x 1 inch slice) contains 320 calories.

How many calories are in Costco pumpkin pie?

A slice of Costco pumpkin pie (around 1/12 of the pie) is 320 calories.

How many calories are in Costco pound cake?

A slice of Costco pound cake is 116 calories.

How many calories are in Costco cookies?

A Costco cookie has 210 calories per cookie.

How many calories are in a Costco danish?

• Almond Danish: 750 calories per danish.
• Cheese Danish: 500 calories per danish.
• Cherry Filled Danish: 440 calories per danish.
• Lemon Cream Cheese Danish: 640 calories per danish.

How many calories are in a Costco bagel?

There are 350 calories in each Costco bagel.

How many calories are in a Costco baguette?

Two slices of a Costco baguette have 150 calories.