The 'hear me out' cake TikTok trend, explained

You might be curious why people are putting print-outs of cartoon characters into cakes. And, well, the answer is a tiny bit uncomfortable: It's basically confessing an attraction to the strangest characters, people, or things

So the so-called "hear me out" cake is basically the people somewhat jokingly saying, "Hear me out; I would hook up with this character."

The trend follows a few key beats. Two or more people — sometimes large groups — take turns placing skewered print-outs of their "hear me outs" into a cake. Oftentimes, things get more unhinged or obscure as the TikTok goes on. You might hear the dad from Finding Nemo, a background character in Spongebob, or the literal number eight, for instance.

The trend has proven to be really popular, seemingly as viewers either find themselves agreeing or being shocked. Here's one from the couple account @MeghanandJack that's racked up some 3.4 million views.

Here's a group of friends that posted one that's garnered nearly 28 million views.

There are lots of videos with lots of views.

It's not totally clear where the trend started, exactly. Crush cakes have been a thing online for a while, where people put their crushes into cakes. Today noted that one of the earliest videos with a crush cake and the phrase "hear me out" came from user @desgovname in late September. The video initially highlighted K-Pop idols before transitioning to the types of unconventional crushes typically featured on "hear me out" cakes.

So, yes, that really is what's happening — people are posting their strangest crushes via skewers in a cake. The internet is a wild place.