Can CalFresh EBT buy birthday cake at Sam's Club for my daughter?

Yes, you can buy birthday cakes with CalFresh EBT as long as they're not hot prepared foods. Bakery cakes and cupcakes that are cold/room temperature are considered eligible food items. The rule is basically that the food can't be meant for immediate consumption inside the store (like hot deli items). A regular birthday cake from Sam's Club bakery section should be perfectly fine to purchase with EBT - we've done it several times for my kids!

just make sure the cake doesnt have those plastic toys on top cuz those r considered non-food items!!! happened to me at walmart once and they made me pay for the toy part separately with cash

IM PRETTY SURE THAT DOESNT WORK I TRIED BUYING A CAKE AT SAFEWAY ONCE AND THE CASHIER SAID NO. had to pay cash. depends on the store policy i think????

One thing to be aware of - if you're at Sam's Club you need a membership to shop there, and EBT won't cover the membership fee. Make sure your mom already has a membership or is going with someone who does. As for the cake itself, yes it's covered like others said as long as it's not a hot prepared food.

Here's something that might save you some stress - if your mom runs into any problems with the cashier not knowing EBT rules (which happens sometimes), she can ask to speak with a supervisor. The USDA, which oversees SNAP/CalFresh, explicitly states that bakery items like birthday cakes ARE eligible food items. I've found that printing out the eligible food list from the CalFresh website can be helpful when there's confusion. Also, if she has trouble reaching someone at the CalFresh office to clarify this or has other benefit questions, I've had good luck using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual person instead of waiting on hold forever. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8

Happy birthday to your daughter! And yes, baked goods are covered by EBT. We actually get cupcakes from Sam's for my son's class parties sometimes (they're a good deal!). Just remember that if you want any custom writing on the cake ("Happy Birthday Sophia" or whatever), that's included in the EBT-eligible price. Some stores try to charge that separately but they shouldn't. What they WILL charge separately is any non-food items like candles, plastic decorations, or cake toppers. Those you'll need cash or another payment method for.

my sister works at sams club and she says they even have a sign in the bakery listing which items can be bought with ebt. defintely the regular sheet cakes are fine. ice cream cakes too! just make sure its not something from the cafe area since those are prepared foods

Update: My mom got the cake yesterday with no problems! It was $26.99 and she used her EBT card without any issues. They did make her pay separately for the candles and a small decoration we added. Thanks everyone for your help! 🎂