Japan Store "Deeply" Sorry Over Complaints Of Collapsed Christmas Cakes

The firm said customers may be reimbursed for the cakes, priced at 5,400 yen a piece, depending on delivery conditions.

In prim and proper Japan, all it took to prompt a prestigious department store chain into an earnest, public apology in the aftermath of Christmas were complaints over mangled $40 cakes.

"Cake collapse" has dominated headlines for days in Japan after irate consumers took to social media over the weekend to post pictures of crumbled Christmas cakes delivered to their doorsteps. 

Sold online by major chain Takashimaya, the strawberry-topped cakes -- meant to be immaculately decorated -- arrived to some customers miserably flattened and fragmented, images on social media showed.