Just four years ago, M&S took Aldi to court for copying their iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake. Whilst this benefited both retailers from the publicity, the public still stayed loyal to Colin as the best caterpillar cake. But a recent study comparing rival caterpillar cakes reveals the harsh truth- does M&S suck now?
According to the Guardian, a recent study in March, 2026, ranked Colin to be the driest caterpillar.
The chocolate judges conducted a blind taste test of various Colin lookalikes such as Sainsbury’s Wiggles the Caterpillar, Tesco’s Slinky the Caterpillar, Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar and Waitrose’s Cecil the Caterpillar cake.
Top Ranked Colin the Caterpillar lookalike cakes and prices:
- Waitrose Cecil Chocolate Sponge Cake, £9.50
- Co-op Party Time Charlie Chocolate Cake, £9.85 and Sainsbury’s Birthday & Celebration Wiggles Caterpillar Cake, £8.50
- Aldi Cuthbert The Caterpillar Cake, £6.99 and Morrisons Morris The Caterpillar Celebration Cake, £9
- Asda Letty The Caterpillar Cake, £9
- Lewis & Green Caterpillar Celebration Cake, £4.50
- Tesco Slinky The Caterpillar Cake, £9
- M&S Colin the Caterpillar Cake, £9.50
Does M&S suck now?
Waitrose’s Cecil the caterpillar cake won the vast majority of the votes for being “remarkably moist”.
The Co-op and Sainsburys claim the runner up ranking.
Aldi and Sainsbury’s claim the third spot, and considering Aldi’s long and complicated history with M&S, Colin fans may be petty.
Despite the M&S version being the original and iconic UK favourite for years, Colin the Caterpillar ended up at the bottom of the rankings during the blind taste test.
M&S are not taking the loss well. They are in denial. An M&S spokesperson implies that the rankings mean nothing to them since: “over a million (Colins) are sold every year”.
Especially when you take the prices of each cake into consideration, maybe M&S isn’t the right caterpillar for you anymore. (Unless its covered in yellow sale stickers then its absolutely coming home with me).
Fourth Year English and Journalism Student
