I'm a professional baker. I tried chocolate cupcakes from 3 grocery stores, and the best were pretty cheap.

Molly Allen
Updated ·5 min read
2
cupcake from walmart, safeway, and kroger
I got chocolate cupcakes from Safeway, Kroger, and Walmart to see which I liked best.Molly Allen

  • I'm a professional baker and I tried chocolate cupcakes from Safeway, Kroger, and Walmart.

  • I thought the chocolate cupcakes from Safeway lacked flavor and the frosting was too sweet.

  • Walmart's chocolate cupcakes were fluffy and well-balanced — they were also the cheapest. 

I compared chocolate cupcakes from the bakery sections of Safeway, Kroger, and Walmart.

cupcakes with sprinkles
Sometimes you just need a dessert in a pinch.Molly Allen

As a professional baker, my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe is packed with rich chocolate flavor and features a fluffy, moist crumb. But there's not always time to bake a batch from scratch.

To find the best option for cupcakes in a pinch, I put three grocery-store bakeries – Safeway, Kroger, and Walmart – to the test.

I ordered cupcakes from each grocery-store bakery ahead of time.

three cupcakes in a row
Left to right: Walmart cupcakes, Kroger cupcakes, and Safeway cupcakes.Molly Allen

Although these grocery stores often have packs of cupcakes available for grab-and-go, I ordered mine ahead of time.

My hope was the bakery would give me fresher cupcakes it had set aside for in-house decorating and I could avoid ones that had already been decorated and put on the shelves. Plus I could customize the cupcakes with the flavor combo and sprinkles I wanted.

To keep things fair, I ordered chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles from each store two days ahead of when I planned to pick them up.

I bought a six-pack of chocolate cupcakes from Kroger.

pack of kroger cupcakes
The sprinkle distribution could've been more even.Molly Allen

The Kroger bakery offers packs of six, 12, and 24 cupcakes. Some locations even offer a two-pack.

I ordered a pack of six chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles over the phone for $4.99.

The Kroger cupcake lacked flavor, but the frosting was so soft and fluffy.

kroger cupcake on a plate
Kroger's frosting was pretty impressive.Molly Allen

In my opinion, the cupcake from Kroger wasn't very flavorful and it was super dry. Luckily, the frosting was so good that it helped to improve the overall bite and balance out the dryness of the cake.

The frosting was whipped, making it light and airy. It had a great texture and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't sweet at all.

I bought a six-pack of chocolate cupcakes from Walmart.

six walmart cupcakes
I ordered the smallest pack available at Walmart.Molly Allen

I called the Walmart bakery to order the cupcakes, but they can also be easily ordered online.

Cupcakes from Walmart come in a pack of six, 12, or 24. I ordered a pack of six chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles for $4.48.

The Walmart cupcake was super fluffy and well-balanced.

walmart cupcake on plate
Walmart's cupcake was nicely balanced.Molly Allen

The cupcake from Walmart was tall and fluffy. It wasn't super moist, but it wasn't too dry either. I wish the chocolate flavor of the cupcake was stronger, but it was decent.

There was a great ratio of cupcake to frosting, which created balance. The frosting was sweet, but it wasn't overbearing. Given the balance, the sweeter frosting added to the experience of each bite, creating a delicious cupcake.

I bought 10 chocolate cupcakes from Kroger because it was the smallest pack available.

pack of 10 safeway cupcakes in container
Kroger didn't have six-packs available for the cupcakes.Molly Allen

The smallest package of cupcakes Safeway offers from its bakery is a pack of 10. The store also offers packs of 12 and 24 or giant single cupcakes.

I ordered a pack of 10 chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles for $7.

The Safeway cupcake was moist, but the frosting was super sweet.

safeway cupcake on plate
I didn't love Safeway's frosting.Molly Allen

I had high hopes for the chocolate cupcakes from Safeway since I typically buy its white or chocolate options when I need to get a cake from a grocery store.

However, I thought the cupcakes fell flat. They only had a hint of chocolate flavor, which made for a pretty bland cupcake. The cupcake was moist with a great crumb, but the flavor just wasn't there for me.

The ratio of cupcake to frosting was great, but the frosting was far too sweet for me. I thought it had more of an artificial flavor compared to the frosting on the other cupcakes.

Overall, each option was solid, affordable, and easy to buy.

photo of all of the cupcakes together on blue background
The cupcakes from Walmart, Safeway, and Kroger were all decent and affordable.Molly Allen

Although I wished for more of a rich chocolate flavor in each cupcake, all three options still had delicious qualities. Plus, they won't break the bank with each store offering cupcakes at under 85 cents per treat.

However, there was one that took that cake for me.

The chocolate cupcakes from Walmart were my favorite.

three cupcakes with arrow pointing to bottom cupcake with "Winner" written
A good cupcake should provide the perfect balance between cake and frosting.Molly Allen

I was shocked Walmart's cupcakes were my favorite because I honestly haven't enjoyed many of the bakery items I've tried from the chain.

But overall, I thought Walmart's cupcakes had a better flavor and texture than the others I tried. Plus the chain's frosting wasn't overpowering nor was it too sweet.

Even better, being able to get six cupcakes for under $5 makes it possible for people to enjoy a sweet treat at an affordable price point.

I'd totally consider ordering cupcakes from Kroger again, mainly because of how great the frosting is. If I were to order from Safeway again, I'd ask to try a different frosting option such as fresh whipped cream to be sure the sweetness isn't too overpowering for me.

Read the original article on Insider