Which supermarket makes the best plain Christmas cake?

HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST

IT'S FREE AND FAIR!

To make it a fair tasting, we purchased plain Christmas cakes from four leading retailers and gathered a group of home bakers for a blind tasting. 

All the cakes were stripped of their packaging and numbered before being served to the tasters, who rated them on appearance, aroma, taste, and whether they would buy them. 

Auditor Jade Craig checked the scores and collated the results.

THE RESULTS

FIRST PLACE: CHECKERS

Limited Edition Festive Fruit Cake

Price: R89.99 for 800g 

What the judges said:

• Kathy: Nice aroma, quite traditional and quite moist.
• Gino: Good -tasting, whole fruit, good balance of fruit to cake.
• Glenn: Nice citrus flavour, would certainly buy to enjoy with custard. My best!

SECOND PLACE: PICK N PAY

Brandy Fruit Cake

Price: R109.99 for 800g 

What the judges said:

• Kathy: Tasty, good aroma, nice and fruity.

• Penny: Fruity and malty/molasses flavour.

• Pam: Not bad in terms of fruit - it was fairly plump and not too crumbly.

THIRD PLACE: WOOLWORTHS

Brandy Fruit Cake

Price: R139.99 for 1kg 

What the judges said:

• Ann: Very dry and crumbly which spoilt it.

• Annabel: Crumbly and over-spiced. Strange aftertaste.

• Pam: Crumbly, fruit has better flavour though it didn't have a taste of brandy.

FOURTH PLACE: SPAR

Christmas Fruit Cake

Price: 750g R94.99

What the judges said:

• Marguerite: Didn't enjoy the cake from the aroma to the taste. Way too crumbly.
• Kathy: Not particularly attractive and quite crumbly but tasty.
• Gino: Crumbly and is mostly raisins and no other fruit.