‘National tragedy’: Coles, Woolies photo stuns

The image, snapped in a Coles supermarket this week, shows the price of the trusty mudcake has risen once again, now retailing at $6.40.

It’s a record high for the birthday party staple. In February, the beloved supermarket mud cake was priced at $5.75 in both Coles and Woolworths, with some eagle-eyed social media users pointing that this price was significantly higher than it used to be.

In 2019, the signature Australian cake retailed for $4.80. It cost even less before that, ringing up at the till at just $4.40 in 2018.

Woolworths and Coles both told news.com.au at the time the price of mud cakes had been “adjusted” following wholesale cost increases from suppliers as the price of raw materials rise – stressing the increase is “market wide”.

A look at Woolworths’ website revealed that the rival supermarket had the cakes for the same price point as Coles.

The Reddit user called the price rise a “national tragedy”, and other social media users were inclined to agree.

Another said: “Crazy! it seems so recently these were like $4 or even $3.50?”

One said they felt as though the mud cakes had shrunk in size over the years.

“After huge hikes, they have now started advertising that they have cut prices … But only by a fraction of what they have raised them,” one social media user complained.

One social media user said: “I stand with you brother. This is a travesty greater than any we’ve felt before.

“We all felt something when we saw our particular bags of chips go above the $5 threshold.

“But this. no birthday Is complete without this cake. This goes beyond economics. This is morality at stake here.”

A Coles spokesperson told news.com.au the price increase was not something the supermarket took lightly.

“As a result of rising cost of raw materials and production, there have been some changes to the price of our Coles mud cakes,” the spokesperson said.

“We know this is a popular product for our customers, and we do not take these price changes lightly.”