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A new trend on TikTok – “hear me out cakes” – has people confessing their biggest and most chaotic crushes.

The now-viral activity consists of TikTokers gathering around a cake before they each reveal their unhinged romantic attraction. As part of the “hear me out cake” trend, users bring with them a variety of paper cutouts glued onto wooden sticks with the face of their most unexpected crush – ranging from famous actors as fictional characters to animated cartoons.

In one recent video with more than 27.9m views, the first character pinned on top of the cake was Diego from the animated children’s series, Go, Diego, Go. When placing the wooden sticks on the cake, many TikTok users say “hear me out,” in preparation for friends to disagree with the characters they find attractive.

The three women in the video proceeded to burst into laughter, as they placed more of their unhinged crushes on the cake – including Megamind from the 2010 animated film, Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille, Kristoff from Frozen, and clownfish Marlin from Finding Nemo.

In addition to animated characters, some other crushes included actors in hit films and TV shows – such as Rumplestiltskin, portrayed by Robert Carlyle in Once Upon a Time, and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in Star Wars.

Fans have since taken to the comments section to praise the sweet cake creation, as well as the beloved trend it has sparked. “I never skip a hear me out cake video,” one person wrote, while another responded: “Now this is a real hear me out cake.”

“The fact that I agree with all of them lol, this is a real hear me out cake,” a third agreed.

Last week, musical group Brooklyn and Bailey shared a video of their “hear me out cake,” which featured colleagues in their office taking part in the trend. A majority of the crushes revealed in the clip, which has more than six million views, were animated characters – including Johnny the Gorilla from Sing; Sally, the blue convertible, from Cars; a bear named Baloo from The Jungle Book; Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story; and Sulley from Monsters, Inc.

By the end of each video, the “hear me out cake” is usually filled with cutouts of people’s most hilarious and unconventional crushes. The trend has continued to rise in popularity in TikTok, with nearly 3,000 posts on the app under the #hearmeoutcake hashtag. It’s also gone viral on X (formerly Twitter), where people are sharing a full view of the final “hear me out cakes” they’ve made.

According to Urban Dictionary, the phrase “hear me out” is often used when “you are about to say something utterly ridiculous,” and you continue to do so “against the pleas of your friends.” The phrase is seen as another way of saying you think a certain person – or fictional character – is “hot,” although your friends may disagree with your opinion.

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