If you’ve opened TikTok or Instagram in the past two days, you’ve heard about the viral Cake Picnic in San Francisco, a dream born from the mind of baker and entrepreneur Elisa Sunga.
Five years ago during the pandemic, Sunga got to take a break from real life and explore a passion she’d always had — baking. This, ultimately, is how her popular website blog @saltdrye began. However, she didn’t want to stop there. She also created @bucketlistbakeclub, a virtual community for bakers and dessert enthusiasts, and from that, the Cake Picnic tour came to be.
What is the Cake Picnic?
This past weekend, over 1,000 people came together in San Francisco at the Legion of Honor art museum to have a fabulously decadent cake picnic. The only rule for entry was to bring a cake, and attendees did not disappoint. Professional bakers and pastry chefs and even home bakers were invited to create creations of their own. However, store-bought cakes were also allowed as entry and even encouraged.
Cake types included a light lemon cake with a passion fruit filling, Jell-O cake, and even a dinosaur pyramid cake. In the first hour of the event, attendees placed their cakes across white cloth-covered tables and took photos of the 1,387 cakes to commemorate the sweet display. After photos were taken, the main event began — tasting! Small groups of people were welcomed to the cake tables with a pastry box that they could fill with every and any cake slice they desired. Once each person got a first-go at the cake-walk people were invited up for seconds and thirds.
TikTok creators like @youjeancho and @tifftok_yadontstop shared their experience attending the second annual event and trying multiple delicious cakes with a beautiful ocean view. The Cake Picnic coincided with the opening of the museum’s new exhibition entitled “Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art,” and according to the Legion of Honor Art Museum’s website, the event was meant to be a living tribute to his dessert still lifes. There were cakes of every flavor, and if you filled up on cake too soon, you could take flavors home.
How did the Cake Picnic get started?
What simply began as a way for people to come together and eat cake back in April 2024has turned into a full-on cake extravaganza community event. Sunga never expected just how the event would take off, she shared in an interview with the New York Times. With a singular invitation sent out on the app Partiful, Sunga got hundreds of responses back. Last year was the first year she hosted an event like this. It took place in San Francisco and 613 cakes were brought. After this, she took the idea on the road creating a cake picnic tour, hosting two more events in Los Angeles and New York.
Where else is a Cake Picnic being hosted?
In addition to the San Francisco Cake Picnic, Sunga is also hosting four, possibly five, more cake picnics. The next one is scheduled on April 12 and 13 at The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California, which is now sold out. There is one scheduled for July 5th in London, one scheduled in Los Angeles and New York City with a date to be determined later, and possibly a second event in San Francisco.
How do I register for Cake Picnic?
On the Cake Picnic website, there is currently a section halfway down the page titled “2025 Cake Picnic Tour.” Linked to each of the locations is a page where you can RSVP to the event. An RSVP does NOT guarantee admission into the cake tour. It is simply a way for Sunga to gauge how many people are interested in joining the tour. Once that is finalized, tickets for the event will be sent to people from the RSVP list.