If there's one dessert that usually makes it onto the menu of most restaurants and cafes it's carrot cake. With its moist fruity cake, cream cheese frosting and walnut pieces, it's certainly a firm favourite with those who enjoy a sweet treat.
So when it comes to buying your own from a supermarket, there are plenty to choose from. But which is best?
Well it was an arduous task but, with the help of my family, including my carrot cake crazy son, I decided to give them all a go, buying one from each of the supermarkets - Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl.
Read more: Half the price and just as good - the Aldi ice cream lolly on a par with Lotus Biscoff
How do they compare?
Appearance
From the outside of the box, they all look pretty similar really. Only Tesco's finest stands out with its chunkier pieces of walnut and cinnamon frosting.
Once open, Sainsbury's is the odd one out as it has a middle filling of rich cream cheese buttercream. Immediate brownie points for that.
The majority are flat on top, except for Tesco and Aldi's, which have more of an arched top.
Size
You wouldn't notice any difference from looking at them and each one says serve six, but there is a slight weight difference.
The smallest is Aldi's at 376g, 8.5% smaller than the largest one from Tesco, at 408g. The rest of them weigh in at Asda 384g, Morrisons 387g, Sainsbury's 395g and Lidl 396g.
Texture and taste
Now it can be a bit tricky telling the difference between six cakes as after a while the flavours all merge into one. We did our best though and there were certainly some standout differences worthy of a mention.
Lidl's is by far the driest cake of them all and the cream disappointingly thinner and runnier than it looks.
Both Asda and Morrisons have an orange flavoured butter cream, which complements the cake, the consistency of Asda's slightly thicker and stronger.
There's chunky pieces of fruit inside Aldi's and the cake itself, with quite a strong ginger flavour, reminded us all of the Bonfire Night tradition of Parkin.
Sainsbury's benefited from the extra layer of cream, but for all of us there was one stand out winner, which was Tesco. For moistness, flavour, nuttiness and consistency of the cream it ticked all the boxes.
Price
Sadly it's the Tesco cake which is the most expensive, at £3, yet Sainsbury's would be the same without its current reduction to £2.35.
Second most expensive is Morrisons at £2.75, followed by Aldi's £2.19, Asda's £2 (reduced from £2.50 with RollBack promotion) and finally Lidl at £1.99.
If you remember, it's Tesco's which is the biggest one though so you're getting more cake with your slice. And if you find something that everyone goes nuts for, I think it's worth spending those extra pennies.
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