6 Store-Bought Frozen Cakes, Ranked

Baking a cake for someone for a special occasion is one of the nicest and most hospitable things that you can do. But, let's be honest — who has enough time to bake a sponge, cool it, frost it, and decorate it? That's right — not you. 

The frozen cake market has come so far that you can find nearly any type of cake tucked into the frozen aisle of your local grocery store. All you need to do is pick one up, let it defrost in your fridge, and you'll have copious slices of cake waiting for you to taste and enjoy. There's virtually no mess, and as long as you select a good frozen cake, the folks you're serving it to may just think it's homemade.

For this review, I stuck to tasting and reviewing some basic cakes and excluded store-bought cheesecakes (read as: glorified cheese pies) and ice cream cakes (which I despise, on account of both their texture and the fact that they are just confused ice cream sundaes). My top considerations for a good store-bought cake were its texture, both for the sponge and the frosting (if applicable), as well its taste. I wanted to find a cake that I could legitimately serve to family and friends. Was I able to succeed in this quest? Read on to find out. 

I had a sinking (pun intended) feeling here that the chocolate lava cakes from Taste of Inspirations would not hold up to the other competitors in this race. This isn't my first run-in with this brand, as I've had horrendous experiences with its store-bought sorbets, too. Granted, I had to put that aside to taste this microwave cake as objectively as possible. And boy, was I in for a molten surprise. 

Each box contained two cakes, which needed to have their plastic seals removed before they could be placed upside down in the tin and microwaved for about a minute. The instructions vaguely stated that I needed to push in the edges to separate (not remove) the cake from the tin. After a short trip in the microwave, I removed this cake to find that the cake itself was stuck. When I slammed the plastic cover down, the cake came out in a molten mess, with the "lava" already leaking out of it. How's that for cinematics? 

I missed my "wow" shot and was instead left with a cake that was half stuck in the tin with a molten mess dripping everywhere. When I took a bite, I found the sponge itself wasn't impressive in any capacity; it had a flavor oddly reminiscent of hot chocolate powder (and not good hot chocolate powder, nonetheless). There wasn't any of that dark, deep, fudgy, and molten flavor that I remember from when I ordered a chocolate lava cake from Chili's during my youth. 

It takes a lot for me to say cake is bad. But, considering that I lost the functional magic of a chocolate lava cake, and that the sponge was far too dry, I think "bad" is a nice way to put it when it comes to this dessert. 

Pound cake is a really, really hard cake to mess up. After all, its name comes from the fact that it's original recipe required a pound of each of its ingredients: sugar, flour, eggs, and butter. It should be simple, easy, and not at all complicated. 

But, here we are, with Sara Lee's pound cake ranked near the bottom. This loaf is oddly spongy and soft — like what I imagine would be like biting into a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser would feel like. It doesn't have that toothsome give that I look for in a quality pound cake. I also found that the flavor was a bit dull. I appreciated that the slice wasn't super sweet, but it didn't really have a ton going on as a whole. The vanilla profile was comparatively weak, and it was clear that there was some unanticipated grittiness that shouldn't have been there. 

I will give Sara Lee its due graces here. Pound cake doesn't have a tall icing or a fancy garnish to hide all of its mistakes, whereas some of the other store-bought frozen cakes on this list did. If you covered this dish in strawberry sauce and served it with whipped cream, you may not notice the numerous issues in both its flavor and its texture. But, if you eat it plain, you'll see right through it — which is why I couldn't even consider ranking it higher than almost last place. 

While there is little that can go wrong with pound cake, there are many, many things that can go wrong with lemon cake. Mainly, if you're not careful, you can cross into the territory of it tasting like a bottle of lemon Pledge. This Pepperidge Farm lemon layer cake, luckily, does not cross that very, very fine line. Its bright yellow topping, as well as the slightly yellow hue of its frosting, suggests that it will be very strong in lemon flavor, but the essence is actually quite subdued. It's still artificial — not like a light, summery lemonade — but it doesn't make you want to put down your fork after the first bite. Overall, I wouldn't say that this cake is bad by any means, but it just wouldn't be my pick of the litter when it comes to cakes. 

The sponge was mild in sweetness and had a more vanilla flavor than it did a lemon flavor, which I was grateful for. I can appreciate the balance that Pepperidge Farm tried to offer when it comes to this cake, but I just wish that there was still a little more natural lemon essence to the entire dessert. Another issue I had with it was that the icing slid more easily off the cake in the box than other Pepperidge Farm frozen cakes, thus requiring a bit more work to piece this Humpty-Dumpty of a dessert back together again. 

Besides its classic fudge cake, Pepperidge Farm also makes a chocolate stripe cake, which is essentially a three-layer cake with a vanilla sponge in the middle. The frosting is about the same as the stuff on the regular fudge cake — the only real difference is the added vanilla layer. However, I did think it was odd that the icing on top of this cake tasted slightly fudgier and richer than the frosting on the actual fudge cake.

When I went to pull this cake out of the box, I noticed that the layers were seemingly separate and very fragile. As I sliced into the cake, I found that I could separate the sponge layers and the frosting layers easily; it's almost like someone tried to just build the cake without going through the work of piping that frosting onto it. I can't exactly explain this, as it wasn't the case with some of the other cakes that I sampled from Pepperidge Farm's brand.

The sponge layers of this cake had a lot in common with the ones in the regular ol' fudge cake. They weren't super sweet, and I couldn't really pick out the flavor of the chocolate or the vanilla in the respective sponge. In fact, if you closed your eyes and took a bite, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that there was, in fact, a layer of vanilla cake in the center. It kind of defeats the purpose of the vanilla layer, in all honesty. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick up this cake, and I overall thought the flavors were quite boring. Paired with the structural issues, this was one cake that was better off being left in the frozen aisle. 

When you sell a "fudge" cake, there is a certain standard that you have to reach. I expect something that is so decadent and so stick-to-my-ribs that I can't take more than two bites without having to lie down and take a nap to sleep off that chocolate-laden bliss. The experience that I got from eating this cake was not that. 

I would classify Pepperidge Farm's chocolate fudge cake as a lighter alternative to the fudge cake I know and love. The sponge itself is quite light and bouncy, like a chocolate cupcake, rather than the molten, sticky, brownie-like base that I was expecting (and craving, by this point in the ranking). The frosting was also a gritty middle ground between a ganache and a buttercream — it was almost like someone infused chocolate into the cheap whipped cream frosting you'd get on a store-bought birthday cake. The chocolate shavings on top didn't do this cake any favors, either. 

This cake would have been more successful if it was advertised as it should have been: a double chocolate cake. Pepperidge Farm just promised customers something it couldn't deliver, which is where things ultimately went awry. However, this cake deserves a spot near the top of the list because it wasn't necessarily bad in taste, consistency, or overall eating experience — it just was a sorry excuse for fudge cake. 

I will be the first person to admit that I don't like coconut. Virgin piña coladas? Hostess Sno Balls? No, thank you. So, you might be wondering how a cake like this one would manage to weasel its way to the top spot. The truth is, I really appreciate the balance of flavors and sugar in this cake. Coconut, like lemon, has the potential to become really, really overpowering. This coconut cake entices you with an aroma that you think is going to be in-your-face, but a flavor that's quite mild and light. 

The sponge on this cake is subtly vanilla. Could it have a bit more vanilla flavor to it? Sure, but the whisper of coconut really distracts you from thinking too much about it. The coconut flavor is remarkably not artificial and runs throughout the sponge as well as through the sprinkle of coconut topping on the outside of this cake. I also found that this cake had a slightly better construction than the other sponges. There was no separation of layers like with the fudge stripe layer cake. Rather, everything stayed together in a cohesive, orderly bite. 

I won't say that the classic coconut layer cake is the best cake I've ever tasted — and I probably don't think that it will be the best one you have in your lifetime, either. But if you're just looking to get something on the counter in time for your guests to arrive, this one isn't a bad option.

As a home baker and someone who has enjoyed their fair share of cakes in their lifetime, I can admit that my standards for a slice are quite high. I scoured freezer aisles from several grocery stores near my home in Southern Rhode Island to get a wide selection of cake styles and flavors for this review. Once I had an array of products, I thawed and prepared each according to the package directions. 

There are several factors that I considered for this ranking. The first thing I looked at was the consistency and texture of both the sponge and the frosting. The cake should be moist and supple, while the icing should be sweet (yet not too sweet) and smooth, rather than gritty. I also looked for a flavor that matched the product description. A lemon cake should taste like lemon, while a coconut cake should taste like coconut — but those flavors should be balanced with the sweetness of the icing and the moistness of the sponge. Above all, I really wanted a memorable bite from each of these cakes. While I will admit that I was not entirely blown away by the options I sampled, I can admit that there are certain products that are more worthy of your dessert table than others.