How much of a cake can a rat eat?
Executive summary
A live viral clip shows a rat eating a human-served slice of cake at a meeting — the footage has accrued tens of thousands of views across outlets and social platforms [1] [2] [3]. Laboratory work shows rats readily eat both high‑fat and no‑fat cakes, often preferring them to plain chow and overeating on cake diets over time, so a rat that finds cake palatable can consume substantial calories relative to its body size [4].
1. Viral moment: a rat and a slice of meeting cake
Video coverage from multiple outlets documents the same short clip: a rat slips onto a meeting table and nibbles a slice of cake laid out for guests; social posts of the clip collected from tens of thousands to millions of views and many amused or grossed reactions [1] [2] [3]. Reporting focuses on the surprise of a formal setting invaded by a common urban rodent and the clip’s spread on Twitter and other platforms [1] [2].
2. How much will a rat actually eat in one sitting? Lab evidence shows cakes are irresistible
Experimental data cited in PubMed find that non‑deprived rats found both high‑fat and no‑fat cakes highly palatable and preferred them to standard lab chow; food‑deprived rats even preferred high‑fat cake over no‑fat cake, likely because of greater caloric density [4]. Over 30‑day feeding trials rats given cake plus chow consumed more calories and gained weight compared with chow‑only controls, demonstrating that rats will repeatedly eat cake when available [4]. Available sources do not give a precise gram‑per‑minute or single‑meal maximum for a rat eating a slice of human cake in the wild.
3. Practical size and appetite: what the reporting implies about a single slice
News coverage of the viral clip documents the rat visibly nibbling and appearing to “devour” part of a slice [3]. Combined with lab findings that rats readily choose cake over chow and will overconsume palatable cakes [4], the implication is that a rat confronted with an unattended slice will eat multiple bites and potentially a substantial portion of that slice for its body size. Exact percentages of a commercial cake slice eaten in that moment are not quantified in the articles reviewed [1] [2] [3] [4].
4. Health, safety and public perception — why this matters beyond a cute video
Media responses mixed humor and disgust; outlets highlighted public reaction and the unsettling hygiene angle when rodents access food intended for people [1] [2]. The coverage also used the incident to note broader rodent problems in some institutional settings, citing infestations and costs associated with control in other contexts [1] [2]. Available sources do not provide clinical assessments of disease risk from this particular clip nor lab tests of the cake involved.
5. Commercial and cultural context: “rat cake” as product and trend
Outside the viral incident, “rat cake” appears in two distinct senses in sources: as a commercially sold rodenticide product described as a bait cake (pack sizes like 50–100 g) intended to kill rodents (product listings specify breakage into pieces and placement instructions) [5] [6], and as an internet culinary/design trend where cakes shaped like rats or themed around rodents are increasingly searched and sold in 2025 [7] [8]. These usages underline how the phrase “rat cake” can mean either a lethal bait block or a whimsical bakery item depending on context [5] [6] [7] [8].
6. Takeaway and limits of current reporting
The combined reporting and science establish that rats find cake highly palatable and will eat it when accessible, and viral footage shows one doing exactly that in a human meeting [4] [1] [2] [3]. However, the sources do not quantify exactly how much cake a rat can eat in a single sitting in grams, nor do they test the specific slice from the viral clip; those precise measures are not found in current reporting [1] [2] [3] [4]. When reading viral animal clips, note the gap between anecdote and laboratory measurement and the need to distinguish between “cake” as food and “cake” as bait in commerce [4] [5] [6].