McDonald’s Secret Birthday Cake Is an Under-the-Radar Hit With Fans

There’s nothing fast food fans love more than a secret menu. Influencers and everyday customers alike can’t resist the allure of something that only they know to ask for, and as we’ve seen with In-N-Out’s “Animal Style” and Chipotle’s double-wrapped burrito, the hidden menu items can often be the most innovative. As the world’s largest fast food chain, McDonald’s might not seem like it has any secrets left for its fans to discover. But did you know the chain might just sell you an entire sheet cake if you ask?

McDonald’s birthday cake, explained

Every few months, TikTok videos will spring up (like a smattering of sprinkles), demonstrating the apparent reality that any one of us can pull up to the McDonald’s drive-thru and order a birthday cake. These cakes tend to range in both price and size; smaller cakes go for $9 to $15, while the larger ones cost $15 to $20, depending on your location.

The dessert, officially called Ronald Birthday Cake, is viewable on McDonald’s official website. It’s available as a white or chocolate sheet cake, and in both cases, the frosting is white and printed with a “Happy Birthday!” message and illustrated confetti or a picture of Ronald McDonald juggling (the latter appears to accompany the smaller cakes).

Why does McDonald’s have birthday cake on the menu?

The birthday cakes are not available at every McDonald’s, and even if you find a location that has them, there might only be a few in stock at a time, or none. They take up a fair amount of storage space compared to other menu items, and demand is low, so it’s not a priority for most restaurants.

According to Reddit sleuths, McDonald’s locations with an on-site PlayPlace are more likely to carry the cakes, or at least locations that tout their ability to host birthday parties. It’s often included in birthday party packages such as this one, although party packages at franchise locations appear to be determined by the franchisees themselves. They can, by extension, decide whether and how many birthday cakes to order — so on some level, you’re at the mercy of whoever owns the McDonald’s franchises in your area.

How to order a McDonald’s birthday cake

At my nearest McDonald’s location in Chicago, the birthday cake is available, and it costs $12.99 plus tax. This required a phone call to determine, as the kiosks and online order form didn’t list it on the menu. As others online have noted, it was clear from my phone call with the restaurant that cakes aren’t requested that often; while the employee answering the phone knew that the location generally carried cakes, they needed to step away from the phone to check whether any were in stock at that moment, and what each cake cost. (The price isn’t prominently listed on their internal materials, either.)

If you want to try this “secret” dessert for yourself, try calling the location first to confirm which locations might have one. Redditors also say the McDonald’s app lets users place an order for one cake at a time.

Related: The Best Birthday Cake Recipes

Failing all that, you might still be able to arrange with the manager for a special order to be placed, if all the grocery store sheet cakes in all the gin joints in all the world can’t satisfy. After all, orders are placed based in part on what’s selling, so if you and all your friends are eager to drop $10 to $20 on a single menu item, who are they to argue?

Be advised, however, that the experience of eating McDonald’s birthday cake might not exactly knock your socks off. In all the TikTok videos of this phenomenon, no one is claiming that the dessert is anything more remarkable than… mass-produced sheet cake supplied by a third party. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing that necessarily makes it worth the wild goose chase, either. It seems that for some McDonald’s superfans, it’s all about the thrill of the hunt. 

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