Caterpillar cake is a staple celebration food for many Brits, and King Charles III's Coronation is no different.
There's something so quintessentially British about a tasty chocolate log, encased in another layer of choccie, with a caterpillar's face stuck on the front - even more so when the sweet critter has a crown on its head for the royal occasion.
But when two leading supermarkets wheel out their own Coronation caterpillar cakes, how on earth are you meant to know which one is worth spending your hard-earned money on?
Luckily for you, I decided to pit the cakes against each other and decide on a clear winner. And to make it a fair competition (because we all have our supermarket biases don't we?) I decided to complete the taste test without knowing which was which.
Both Marks and Spencer and ASDA have launched their own caterpillar cakes for the Coronation - Colin, and Letty, no less. With Colin coming in at £10, and Letty at £7, I was intrigued to see whether I'd be able to taste the difference in quality for £3.
Having celebrated numerous birthdays with Colin, I was curious whether this special edition would be as tasty as they usually are. And I've never tried an ASDA celebration cake before, so I was eager to know whether Letty would hold her own when faced with the OG.
The noticeable differences I saw before even opening the boxes were that the M&S packaging looked a little bit more luxurious, and Colin is a bigger cake. On closer inspection, the decorations adorning Colin also looked fancier and were made out of chocolate, as opposed to the icing robe and face on Letty.
To mitigate any supermarket-related biases, I decided to cut the pieces of cake, get my boyfriend to shuffle them around for me, and I tasted them blindfolded.
From the taste alone, I must say that the M&S Coronation Colin is a firm winner. This simply boils down to the buttercream being a lot more decadent. Don't get me wrong, the ASDA cake is a strong contender, but it felt a little more like a cake that may be served up at a kid's party, whereas Colin is a little more luxe.
The icing face on Letty looks a little more aimed at children, but the taste is definitely still pleasing. It's covered in chocolate, and much like its more expensive counterpart, has a chocolate buttercream filling - but it tastes and looks a lot more like chocolate sauce than the M&S one.
The Colin has a thicker, sweeter buttercream, that would tantalise the tastebuds of any chocolate cake lover looking to celebrate the Coronation in style.
Personally, I thought the red, white, and blue confetti on top of the Coronation Colin was a little bit excessive, however.
From a purely decorative perspective, it looked cute, but there were a couple of mouthfuls I took that tasted a little too much like icing for my liking. However, the hundreds and thousands adorning Letty weren't too strong to overpower the chocolatey taste.
I would say, if you're hosting a Coronation party where there will be lots of kids, I'd recommend grabbing yourself a Letty. For just £7, it's a pretty good chocolate cake, and I'm sure you won't have any complaints. It works out at just over 58p per slice as the cake serves 12 people.
But if you're looking for something that's going to seriously impress your guests, and be a failsafe option, I'd say Colin is your best bet. With a moreish deep chocolate flavour that makes you do a little satisfied sigh, for an extra £3, I'd say he'll go down really well with the whole family. Colin works out at £1 per slice as he serves 10 people - but I'd say it's worth the investment.
Will you be buying a Coronation caterpillar cake? Let us know in the comments.
