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[Debunked][Archive]

# A Silksong release clue in a developer’s cake photo — debunked by Team Cherry

Team Cherry’s representative rejected the supposed hidden ARG; the cake did not establish a release announcement.

Leaked on 16 January 2025

![Original Leakly terminal-style archive card: A Silksong release clue in a developer’s cake photo — debunked by Team Cherry](https://leakly.com/assets/og/silksong-cake-theory.png)

A slice of chocolate cake became a release-date theory because a game’s audience had been waiting so long for news. On 16 January 2025, an account associated with Team Cherry developer William Pellen changed its profile picture and posted a cryptic message. Fans connected the cake image to a recipe dated 2 April, the same calendar date as an upcoming Switch 2 presentation.

[PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-silksong-hive-is-buzzing-over-a-dev-tweet-that-sees-a-chocolate-cake-napoleon-bonaparte-and-imagine-dragons-all-pointing-with-red-string-to-the-april-switch-2-nintendo-direct/) covered the speculation the following day, explicitly treating it as unsubstantiated pattern matching. The theory accumulated extra connections involving account names and a song. Those connections made for an entertaining story, but they did not amount to a leaked schedule, a document from Nintendo or a commitment from Team Cherry.

> **PC Gamer** @pcgamer
>
> The cake was a lie, but Silksong "is real, progressing and will release" say devs, after flurry of conspiracy theories revealed to be a "nothingburger". https://t.co/0Vx1JFclcH
>
> 16 likes · 0 reposts · counts as of 09 Nov 2026, 01:46 UTC
>
> — PC Gamer (@pcgamer) [January 21, 2025](https://twitter.com/pcgamer/status/1881688218443399496)

not in our leaker index

The corrective evidence was much simpler. [ScreenRant](https://screenrant.com/hollow-knight-silksong-chocolate-cake-fan-reaction/), [Eurogamer](https://www.eurogamer.de/hollow-knight-silksong-der-mysteriose-kuchen-wird-das-release-datum-doch-nicht-vorhersagen) and [PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-cake-was-a-lie-but-silksong-is-real-progressing-and-will-release-say-devs-after-flurry-of-conspiracy-theories-revealed-to-be-a-nothingburger/) reported that Team Cherry’s marketing representative Matthew Griffin had told creator fireb0rn there was no Silksong alternate-reality game behind the account changes. The supposed hidden announcement was a misunderstanding. Griffin also reassured fans that the game was still being developed.

The debunked badge applies to the cake-as-secret-announcement theory. It does not mean Silksong itself was fake, canceled or certain never to appear in a Nintendo presentation. Those are separate claims. A later coincidence would not retroactively establish that a cake photograph had encoded a release plan.

This is the archive’s cautionary rumor entry rather than a stolen-material leak. Its significance lies in how a real post can acquire a false interpretation through repetition, especially when official communication is scarce. We link a verified PC Gamer X post covering the correction, not an invented origin post. The specific lesson is not that fans should ignore clues, but that a chain of associations needs evidence connecting it to an actual announcement before it becomes news about a release date.

[Debunked]

## What happened later

Team Cherry’s representative rejected the supposed hidden ARG; the cake did not establish a release announcement.

## Sources

* [Original X post by @pcgamer](https://x.com/pcgamer/status/1881688218443399496)
* [PC Gamer — The Silksong hive is buzzing over a dev tweet that sees a chocolate cake, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Imagine Dragons all pointing with red string to the April Switch 2 Nintendo Direct](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-silksong-hive-is-buzzing-over-a-dev-tweet-that-sees-a-chocolate-cake-napoleon-bonaparte-and-imagine-dragons-all-pointing-with-red-string-to-the-april-switch-2-nintendo-direct/)
* [PC Gamer — The cake was a lie, but Silksong 'is real, progressing and will release' say devs, after flurry of conspiracy theories revealed to be a 'nothingburger'](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-cake-was-a-lie-but-silksong-is-real-progressing-and-will-release-say-devs-after-flurry-of-conspiracy-theories-revealed-to-be-a-nothingburger/)
* [Eurogamer — Hollow Knight Silksong: Wird kommen, aber die große Kuchen-Verschwörung ist nur eine süße Versuchung - Spekulationen sind laut Entwickler nichts als "Nonsens"](https://www.eurogamer.de/hollow-knight-silksong-der-mysteriose-kuchen-wird-das-release-datum-doch-nicht-vorhersagen)
* [ScreenRant — Silksong’s cake theory turned a developer’s profile into a false release clue](https://screenrant.com/hollow-knight-silksong-chocolate-cake-fan-reaction/)

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