Rating 8 Long Island grocery store sheet cakes

A child’s birthday, a colleague’s departure, an impromptu celebration: The supermarket sheet cake is there to serve. The Feed Me team sampled eight widely available white or yellow quarter-sheet cakes in a blind tasting to determine which tastes the best. While there was a unanimous winner, we found that there are more similarities between these sheet cakes than there were differences.

HOW WE TESTED

We rated the cakes on the basis of taste, texture and appearance but we realized that, when it comes to an occasion cake, good looks are especially important: The centerpiece of a party spread — especially when the party is for kids — needs to look festive even if it doesn’t taste impressive. Stop & Shop’s cake, which ranked the lowest, was nevertheless one of the most attractive.

And while this crowd dinged cakes for too high an icing-to-cake ratio, we are mindful that, for some, cake is an excuse to eat icing.

All of the cakes tested were plucked directly from grocery stores' bakery cases on the same morning. And all bore long lists of multisyllabic ingredients; Whole Foods, Stew Leonard’s, King Kullen and Stop & Shop disclosed that theirs "contained a bioengineered ingredient."

The bottom line: There’s probably no reason to go out of your way for a supermarket cake unless price is a factor — and price did not at all equate to quality. At the low end, BJ’s and Walmart's quarter-sheet cakes both cost around $20, King Kullen's cost $28 and the rest ranged from $24 to $26.

1. BJ’s Wholesale Club

$19.99

BJ’s cake was the only sheet cake that contained two layers, and it made for a better eating experience. Much of the praise pertained to what the cake was not: "Not too sweet," frosting not overbearing." The texture was universally praised as "spongy and moist," "somewhere between a pound cake and a Twinkie." (Note that the bargain price of $19.99 does not include BJ's annual membership fee of $60.)

2. Uncle Giuseppe’s

$24.99

This was the only round cake in the bunch because Uncle Giuseppe’s only sells customized sheet cakes. We appreciated the classic "super pretty" look but the three layers made for "way too much frosting." On the positive side, the icing was deemed "marshmallowy" and the cake was "delicious," "tender, moist and fluffy," with distinctive, "fat" sprinkles.

3. Stew Leonard's

$23.99

Everyone responded to the relatively elaborate design: The riot of colors, balloons and squiggles that required three different piping tips made it "look like a party." We found the taste "not too sweet" and the texture "moist."

4. Walmart

$19.96

The combination of sprinkles around the side and "blobs" of icing on top gave this cake a "cute," "whimsical" appeal that reminded one taster of Dr. Seuss. No one loved the taste of that frosting, though, and some found the texture "dry" or "cottony-tough."

5. King Kullen

$28

The pink (or blue) rosettes gave this cake a retro (someone said "cheesy") appeal, but almost everyone objected to how much thicker the icing was around the sides than on the top. The taste was "acceptable" and opinion was split on the texture — was it "moist" or "dense, bordering on ponderous?"

6. ShopRite (TIE)

$25.99

ShopRite presented a bit of a bait-and-switch. We were all wowed by a cake that was "impressively tall and elegant" and "had presence." Once we cut into it, however, we realized just how much of the height was icing. The cake itself pleased most of us ("delish," "best taste," "pleasingly dense") but everyone noted there was "way too much icing," that, adding insult to injury, had a "waxy texture."

6. Whole Foods (TIE)

$25.99

This stark white cake, cornered with crimson and ivory rosettes and deep green leaves, was variously described as "plain," "subtle and sophisticated," "somber and, dare I say, funereal." Two tasters found the taste "floury," others found the texture "tough" and "dense." (Nobody much liked the icing either.)

7. Stop & Shop

$24.99

We all appreciated the bright, childlike appearance of this cake but the balloon motif reminded two of us of Pennywise, the malevolent clown from the Stephen King novel "It." Nor did things improve once we dove in. Complaints ranged from "salty with an aftertaste" and "cottony texture" to "soulless."

Newsday's Melissa Azofeifa, Andi Berlin, Erica Marcus and Marie Elena Martinez reported this story. It was written by Marcus.