Have you ever had a food experience so bad or strange that you’re left wondering: How could they have possibly messed this up?
That’s how this Costco customer felt about the carrot cake cupcakes he picked up.
The case of the chunky Costco carrot cake
In a viral video with more than 1.4 million views, TikToker Harry (@harryfletxher) showed the off putting thing he found in the cupcakes he was excited to eat.
“Watch me experience the most bizarre Costco cake ever,” the text overlay on the video read.
Harry explained that when he picked up the carrot cake cupcakes he was expecting it to be made with shredded carrots, emphasis on shredded.
But when he pans the camera over to the cupcake on his plate, there’s an obviously thick slice of carrot pushing against the cupcake’s border. Harry finds another slice like that inside the baked treat.
Harry looked appalled at what was in front of him.
Is it supposed to be like that?
The thing is, you’d expcet carrot chunks in a stew or even a pot pie, but to find them like that in a sugary treat is rather off putting.
We read the top ten carrot cake recipes on Google, and they all specially called for freshly grated carrots. Some even warned against using pre-shredded carrots since they’re usually hard, dry, and too thick.
We did a separate search for recipes that called for canned carrots, and even those still required the carrots to be mashed, pureed, or put in a food processor.
Logic dictates that shredded or otherwise processed carrots will better infuse the carrot flavor and generally integrate into the batter for a better mouth feel than eating cake while munching on random carrot chunks.
Unfortunately, Costco does not have the carrot cake listed (in cake form or cupcake form) on its website, so we’re not able to verify their listed ingredients.
@harryfletxher costco sort yourself out @Costco TikTok #costco #cake ♬ original sound – harry🫶
Did Harry fake the carrot chunks for clout?
Some people accused Harry of pushing the large carrot pieces into the cupcakes himself “to make content.” “Didn’t quite do a convincing enough job,” a commenter said.
Harry clapped back in a follow-up video where he took a new, untouched cupcake out of the wrapper on camera. To his dismay, that one was also laden with carrot chunks.
“I work in a Costco bakery in Ohio and we in fact used canned carrots. Whoever made this just didn’t mix it enough to breakdown the carrot. Hope this helps!!!!!” one commenter explained.
Commenters react
Dozens of people in Harry’s original and follow up video said the same thing happened to them when they tried the Costco carrot cake.
“No, I got a box of these the other week and every cake had a couple of massive chunks in! Its like they shredded the carrots and then just chucked the top in as well for banter,” a commenter wrote.
“We bought the large carrot cake and you should’ve seen the amount of whole slices! Was very strange,” a customer shared.
“They had some as samples today at Costco, my bit was just a chunk of carrot surrounded by the tiniest bit of cake,” a sad consumer said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Harry for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to Costco via email.
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