What You Need to Know About Surprise Cake from Shark Tank

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Birthday cakes are one of the most timeless food traditions we have, but when the folks behind Surprise Cake went on “Shark Tank,” that was something they were looking to change. Founded by the mother-son team of Liz Charm and Jordan Long, Surprise Cake came into “Shark Tank’s” twelfth season with the goal of bringing something new to birthdays. The company was first conceived by Charm when she had the idea, a dream actually, to hide her daughter’s birthday present inside the cake. That present was a cell phone. So, when Charm called the phone and saw the birthday guests’ elated reaction as they realized the gift was in the cake, she knew she had a winner on her hands. There was just one problem: she realized that it’s not actually legal to package inedible objects inside food commercially.

That’s where Charm’s son came in, and Surprise Cake was truly born. Long had a background in engineering and worked with a product designer to make a stand where the gifts could be enclosed inside a cylinder that would pop out of the cake, making everything food safe and legal. The stand is spring-loaded, so no batteries are required, and the cake-popping stand also comes with a coring tool so the cylinders could be placed inside almost any cake. There was even a music box built into the stand to make the surprise more festive. However, Charm revealed they were looking for a rather steep investment: $200,000 for 8% equity.

Charm and Long came onto the show popping out of a giant cardboard cake, and the pitch was relatively simple: a party isn’t a party without cake. However, there hasn’t been any innovation with cakes in a long time. After Charm told the story of her daughter’s birthday and the original idea, the duo showed off some smaller personal cakes to the Sharks, which delighted a few of them. Some, however, including Mark Cuban, shot back with skeptical looks. Charm and Long revealed that they were already selling the cake stands on Amazon and that they had sold $280,000 of product the previous year, which isn’t a bad start. But things took a turn when Long revealed that they were on the show to expand their line.

The two owners said they wanted to expand the stands they were already selling to include pre-made cakes with gifts already inside. Kevin O’Leary quickly honed in on two big problems. The first being that mixing perishable food with non-perishable gifts would be a huge storage problem. Next, he noted the difficulty of selling pre-made food through the mail. Barbara Corcoran rightfully guessed the company was expanding its line because the stands alone weren’t bringing in enough revenue, and the duo confirmed they were only making about a 5% margin on their current sales. While Lori Greiner seemed interested, she was put off by the low stake being offered. In the end, all five Sharks, including Daymond John, passed.

Despite the challenges that caused the Sharks to pass, Charm and Long were optimistic about the future of their business. In a 2020 interview with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Long explained that, “Our goal was to show America how fun Surprise Cake is, and we definitely feel that was accomplished.” He added that, “As far as marketing, 10 minutes of primetime television is every business’s dream.” Long revealed that Surprise Cake still had plans to expand its line and become a one-stop shop for birthdays and parties. They expected that the company would surpass $1 million in sales that year.

Surprise Cake did, in fact, go on to expand its line. While the gifts inside the cake are not quite as expansive as the duo planned (maybe taking some of the Shark’s concerns to heart), the company now offers pre-made cakes along with the popping stand. While Surprise Cake’s options are limited to personal-sized 4-inch cakes, they come in 10 different styles, such as chocolate and classic confetti birthday cake flavor. Additionally, they can be further customized with gift boxes and some small pack-in gifts inside the cake stand. For larger cakes, Surprise Cake has also continued to sell its popping stand, including accessories like a stand for cupcake recipes and a cake carrier. It looks like Charm and Long managed to leverage their “Shark Tank” appearance into exactly what they wanted to do anyway.

If you were wondering if Surprise Cake is still in business, it sure is. While no outside confirmation of its sales is currently available, the company seems to be getting along quite well. Surprise Cake’s full line of products, expanded from the original Shark Tank kitchen gadget, is still available on Surprise Cake’s website. Additionally, you can also purchase the Surprise Cake Musical Popping Cake Stand on Amazon. The company has almost 1,000 reviews on Amazon as well, where it boasts a strong 4.4 out of 5 rating. However, if you want any of the aforementioned custom cakes, you can only order them through the company website.

Surprise Cake is active on social media as well, with over 120,000 followers on Instagram. Clearly capitalizing on the visual surprise of its product, Surprise Cake encourages its customers to film the reveal and post videos online with the hashtag #SurpriseCake for all to see. The company still posts the best videos of its product to its Instagram page, where it posts regularly. Surprise Cake’s spring-loaded Pop-Up Cake Stand was even highlighted by Today as an Instagram-famous invention worth keeping an eye on.

As of right now, Surprise Cake doesn’t have a lot coming down the pipeline. The one area where the company hasn’t yet managed to expand much is in the pods stored inside the cakes. When pitching on “Shark Tank,” Charm and Long stated they had plans to offer a wider range of pods with various gifts already in them. However, as of right now, the options remain fairly limited. The 4-inch custom cakes can have a few different decorative options inside, such as confetti or classic candy options like classic M&Ms or bubble gum, but that’s about it.

While Surprise Cake may still be limited by those food safety laws, the fact that non-edible decorative items are available does suggest the company could keep expanding its line. Based on the continued success of Surprise Cake (and the social media presence that continues to build), it’s clear that the business’ core idea is a popular one, with plenty of expansive potential. While the challenge of shipping food is always going to be there, so will customers looking to make celebrating with their friends and family a little more special.