Colin the Caterpillar cake is one of Marks and Spencer’s finest creations, of which five million are sold each year.
The indulgent chocolate cake has become a fan-favourite among Britons, sparking all other UK supermarkets to have a go at making their own.
While many have done a good job of mimicking the signature appearance of M&S’s Colin and Connie cakes, some have beaten the original retailer on taste.
Taste testers have lifted the lid on a copy caterpillar called Charlie, found in Co-op stores.
Results from a Which? blind taste test conducted with 75 consumers revealed that the small supermarket beat M&S in the overall flavour.
Co-op’s Charlie the Caterpillar Cake costs £8 for 660g, and received an impressive 72 percent score from those who sampled the sweet treat.
Having earnt a Which? Best Buy recommendation, the cake wowed tasters with its ultimate combination of rich chocolate flavour, moist sponge and soft buttercream.
Following closely behind was Marks & Spencer’s original Colin the Caterpillar, which costs £8.50 for 625g, the cake received a 71 percent rating and was also awarded a Which? Best Buy recommendation.
While it just missed out on the top spot, the trademark treat did beat most rivals with its superior sponge and indulgent chocolate coating.
In another surprising twist, Morrisons also fared well with its Morris the Caterpillar Cake, coming in cheaper than Co-op at £7.50 for 624g.
The majority of taste testers enjoyed the texture of the buttercream but the sponge was a little disappointing, with just over half of the consumer sample finding it too dry.
Other Colin-rivals put to the test included Tesco’s £7.50 Slinky caterpillar cake, coming in at 68 percent; and Sainsbury’s equally priced Wiggles, who beat Tesco but lacked “much-needed moistness”.
The taste test follows a legal dispute between big-name budget brand, Aldi, and M&S, who claimed the imitated cake was too similar to the original caterpillar.
Marks and Spencer claimed that Aldi’s cake represented “a breach of intellectual property rights”, which led to a comical Aldi advert which showed the rival characters involved in a brawl at a party.
But while the Aldi and M&S caterpillar cakes may look very similar, Which? taste testers thought otherwise on the flavour. Consumers gave the “dry” Cuthbert version, which is a cheap alternative at just £5.49, 68 percent.
