Top News

The original Colin the Caterpillar cake has become a national icon. For the past 35 years the tasty, easy to slice treat from Marks & Spencer has been a staple of birthday celebrations for children and adults alike. Much easier to divide into even slices than a traditional circular birthday cake and, at £10, still comparatively affordable Colin has wiggled his way into the nation's heart.

Colin has some celebrity fans too. David Beckham is known to have celebrated his 43rd birthday with a Colin the Caterpillar cake and in 2017 Dame Judi Dench tucked into the chocolatey treat at 83. M&S developed the cylindrical cake at a time when "illusion" cakes were in vogue. While Jane Asher published a recipe caterpillar-style cake in 1990, M&S had originally been considering launching a fish-shaped version.

Time hasn't stood still for Colin over the past 35 years. While he hasn't yet sprouted wings and transformed into a butterfly the classic cake has acquired white chocolate feet and a chunkier, 3D faces.

For Colin's 30th birthday in 2020, M&S released images of the original 1990 design to highlight how he has has changed, and declared August 26 as "National Colin the Caterpillar Day".

Despite Colin's continuing evolution, his price has remained fairly steady though, with the cake's £7 launch price rising below the overall rate of inflation to just £10 today.

There have been innumerable spinoffs too; a mini version,, an ice-cream filled variant, and even a "female" companion for him with a pink icing bow. And of course where success comes, imitators follow. There was even a High Court dispute between M&S and Aldi over the rights to Colin.

But there are still at least half a dozen caterpillar cakes on the market. Are any of the various Colin substitutes a patch on the real thing? Food writer Xanthe Clay set out to find out, comparing eight of Colin's rivals to the original caterpillar.

One of the closest rivals to the "original and best" caterpillar cake, Xanthe told the Telegraph, is Sainsbury's Wiggles the Caterpillar. Slightly cheaper than Colin at £8.50, the rival cake has a "grainy, jammy texture." She says, and a good finish with the sweets and sprinkles well-arranged. One sour note was a somewhat disappointing flavour to the cake's ganache-filled ridges.

There was a better showing from posh peoples' supermarket Waitrose, with their upper-class Colin-alike Cecil. At £9.50, Xanthe says, Cecil has "a proper chocolate face," although she notes that his shoes are "too small." Overall, though, Cecil is a solid choice and 50p cheaper than Colin.

Small shoes also marked Tesco's Slinky caterpillar cake as an also-ran. The £9 treat scored well for its white chelate stripes but was let down by a "slightly bland flavour" and you should note that the "scary clown face" might upset younger party-goers.

Rather than having small feet, Iceland's Lewis and Green offering has no feet at all, making it a "Sally Slug than a crawly caterpillar," Xanthe said. At a very competitive £4.50, Iceland's caterpillar cake is by far the cheapest of the cakes on offer, but it's also the smallest, and doesn't come on the stiff board that makes Colin so office-friendly.

On the upside, though, Xanthe noted, the Iceland cake's marshmallowy filling is "moreish in a nostalgic way, like artificial cream."

Faring more poorly in the taste test, the Co-Op's "Party Time Charlie" boasted "a nice rich texture," that was let down by an overall lack of flavour, while the Asda version suffered from "definite pound-shop vibes both in appearance and flavour."

Another caterpillar let-down was Morrison's Morris cake. Which tasted strongly of veritable fat and was "appallingly dry," Xanthe said.

Finally Aldi's Cuthbert Layered Buttercream Chocolate Cake - which was the subject of that High Court action back in 2022, may have been close enough in appearance to Colin to trouble M&S's lawyers but not, it seems, fans of the original Colin, with Xanthe pronouncing it "oversweet and dry."