Well, no one can say this Publix bakery didn’t follow directions.
On May 11, influencer Estefanía “Tefi” Pessoa shared a funny pastry-based experience her family member went through with her 1.6 million followers on TikTok. In a video that has been viewed more than 243,000 times, a TikTok “auntie” recounts a hilarious mishap at her mother’s work.
“Hi, nice to meet you.” My name is Tefi, I’m from Miami,” Pessoa says in the now-viral video. She says that although she has lived in New York for the past decade, her family still lives in Miami. Because of this, he receives “a lot of funny WhatsApp messages”.
“Yes, we are Latina. Yes, we use WhatsApp. Yes, it sends me two-minute voice notes. Not this time,” says Pessoa. “Let me share. Have you heard of Publix? Where is the joy of shopping? Of course you have. It’s fantastic.”
In case you don’t know what Publix is, it is a grocery chain that serves the southeastern United States with over 850 locations in Florida alone.
“Yesterday I got this WhatsApp from my mother. Let’s read it together,” Pessoa continues.
“Receptionist ordered a cake from Publix today and was asked what the cake should say…” reads a message with a screenshot from Pesso’s mother.
Pessoa then shows a photo of a cake that reads, “Happy birthday is perfect, thank you,” as Pessoa laughs at the extremely literal notion of asking for a birthday cake.
Publix did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment.
The post attracted hundreds of comments from people laughing along with Pessoa.
“How do you frame a cake?! This is ART,” wrote one TikTok user.
“Belly laugh, that’s amazing,” wrote a commenter and another. “I couldn’t even be mad.
“LMAOOOOO getting a cake like that would literally make this the best birthday ever,” wrote another commenter.
“Lololol my first job was at Publix in the bakery…this dorm,” another person added.
“Ok but that’s the chantilly cake that’s like the top 3 Publix cakes,” wrote another TikTok commenter, talking about Publix cake which contains vanilla cake, almond aroma and Chantilly-mascarpone cream frosting. Pessoa responded to the comment by saying, “You know what you got”.
We contacted Pessoa, who explained how the accident happened.
“Every month, my mom’s office has one big lunch to celebrate all the birthdays in the month,” Pessoa tells TODAY.com, adding that since it was time to celebrate a May birthday, the receptionist ordered a cake through the Publix app.
“When you order online, there’s a box that says, ‘Write what you’d like on the cake,’ and she wrote that message without thinking it would be taken literally,” Pessoa explains.
“When the cake arrived, everyone went into the dressing room to celebrate,” he continues. “When my mom opened the cake in front of everyone, they weren’t able to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ because everyone was just dying of laughter.”
This is far from the first cake order in recent memory to get lost in translation. In April, a dad’s Costco cake tutorial drawing was taken at face value and recreated for his daughter’s birthday party. Earlier this month, a Texas baker misread an order for an Elmo cake, resulting in a whimsical Muppet dessert for the ages.