A plate full of various slices of Christmas cake is shared among family members on a weekday evening.

There's a moment of silence before someone expresses their disappointment with an 'oh dear'.

While it's not a common tradition in most households to sample a variety of nearly identical Christmas cakes, it seems to be becoming one in mine.

After indulging in festive sandwiches and Christmas dinners at supermarket cafes, my next task this holiday season is to guide you to the best Christmas cake.

This year, I'm adhering strictly to formalities. No 'finest' or 'very best' ranges will be included in the count - I've sourced the cheapest ones from seven supermarkets to compare their taste.

The results are varied. They range from one that strangely tastes of treacle despite it not being listed as an ingredient, to another that was dry and, in my opinion, poorly baked.

We'll examine each one individually before declaring an overall winner. 

Lidl's Top Iced Christmas Cake offering, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired right off the bat, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Lidl

With a holly design, the cake is quite dry and doesn't seem to have much fruit inside. The thick white layer of icing adds a bit of something extra, but it's sadly not enough to redeem it.

This cake had a high fruit content, filled with sultanas and raisins. And at £5.99, it's one of the more affordable options.

However, one family member described it as a 'terrible bake', which is quite a savage remark to make. But nobody was able to really disagree or offer any counterargument.

Looks: 2/5

Taste: 2/5

Price: £5.99

Weight: 907g

Overall rating: 2/5

Asda

Asda's cake, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise with its delightful whoosh of festive smells and sweet taste. However, the heavy dollop of marzipan and overwhelming taste of almonds divided opinion.

Morrisons' Top Iced Christmas Cake, adorned with yet another festive holly design, left us wondering if these cakes are actually all identical and made at the same factory.

However, whether it's my senses playing tricks on me or not, this cake seems to have less fruit than the others.

It's heavily spiced, making it somewhat of an oddity as you're unsure what you're actually eating - a festive jumble, if you will.

Is it cinnamon? Cherry? Even edible? Uncertain.

Looks: 2/5

Taste: 3/5

Price: £7

Weight: 907g

Overall rating: 3/5

Morrisons

The moment we taste the Morrisons cake, a family member exclaims 'oh dear'.

Hardly a glowing review. With its dense and sticky texture, it's not easy to swallow and you'll need several glasses of water (or Sherry) to help it down.

Priced similarly (£7) to most of the others, it's noticeably the smallest - weighing in at just 800g, over 100g less than most. Given its dry flavour and smaller size, it's not our top pick.

Looks: 2/5

Taste: 1/5

Price: £7

Weight: 800g

Overall rating: 2/5

Aldi

Surprise, surprise, another holly design, and indeed, Aldi's cake even boasts a holly-inspired name.

Their Holly Lane Top Iced Christmas Cake weighs 907g and was perhaps the most polarising of the lot.

Some enjoyed its darker tone, with fruits including sultanas, glacé cherries, raisins and a 'small cluster' of red berries (whatever that implies), while others felt it lacked flavour. However, one very strong flavour was unmistakable to me.

For some reason, I found there to be a really distinctive 'soapy' taste to it, which was just really off-putting.

I am absolutely not suggesting there is any soap in this (it's certainly not listed as an ingredient, anyway), but it's just one of those tastes that is really difficult to overcome once you've noticed it.

Looks: 2/5

Taste: 1/5

Price: £7

Weight: 907g

Overall rating: 1/5

Tesco

Tesco's festive cake offering is unique in the sense that, unlike pretty much every other cake, it does not feature a single holly design on the top. This time, we've got a 'Love From Santa' tag (albeit one with a holly).

It's certainly a refreshing change. Cutting into it for a slice, the icing is incredibly tough to the point that I start to worry for everybody's teeth when biting into it.

But, actually, it's quite good. Made with vine fruits and glacé cherries, it's topped with marzipan and white icing.

Santa's little note is also edible too. All-in-all, it's a decent but basic offering.

There's a richness to the marzipan which takes things up a notch with the almond taste. There's also a fair bit of fruit inside too, and the cake has got quite a nice and moist consistency to it.

Whilst lemon peel and orange oil are listed further down in the ingredients, there is quite a strong citrus taste to proceedings too - which could either be seen as a good or a bad thing. I personally quite liked it.

Looks: 2.5/5 (extra half mark given for daring to do something different)

Taste: 3/5

Price: £6.75.

Weight: 907g.

Overall rating: 3/5.

Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's Christmas cake proved to be the most elusive in Manchester, with one store worker simply shrugging when asked about its availability. Another stated they 'only put them out when they arrive'.

This meant a separate taste test was required for Sainsbury's cake, which may have skewed the results. However, this is entirely on Sainsbury's and I refuse to take any responsibility.

The cake itself, made up of dried vine fruits and glacé cherries, has an immediate fruity flavour, complemented by a generous layer of marzipan and icing. It strikes a good balance between dryness and moisture, and offers a rich blend of festive spices and fruit flavours.

It was a hit with the family, with some even asking for seconds.

Looks: 2/5.

Taste: 4/5.

Price: £7.

Weight: 900g.

Overall rating: 3/5.

Marks and Spencer

Marks and Spencer's Top Iced Christmas Cake, priced at £8, features 'plump' vine fruits and glacé cherries, along with the usual marzipan and icing. Weighing 835g, there are larger options available for a similar price, as well as smaller ones.

The cake has a unique treacle-like flavour, which was quite surprising and divided opinions. Some found it a refreshing change, while others were put off by the fact that it didn't taste like a traditional Christmas cake.

It's one of the darker cakes and doesn't quite meet the expectations you'd have for an M&S product. However, it wasn't the worst overall.

Looks: 2/5

Taste: 2/5

Price: £8

Weight: 835g

Overall rating: 2 /5

When it comes to my least favourite, it's a close call between Aldi and Morrisons.

Considering size and price, I'd have to reluctantly name Morrisons as the worst cake. While Aldi's tasted somewhat soapy to me, some of my family members did enjoy it.

As for the best, Sainsbury's takes the crown. Its decadent, fruity and flavoursome cake was far superior to the rest.

Although I'm no Christmas cake expert, it gets my top recommendation this year. Tesco also deserves a mention for its unique design and surprisingly good citrusy flavour.

In general, the cakes tasted and looked quite similar. I hope that next year there will be more variety, rather than manufacturers simply adding edible holly and stencil outlines on top and declaring it festive.