The best grocery store cupcakes should meet the following cupcake criteria: thick frosting that doesn’t immediately dissolve on your tongue like aerated fluff, moist cakes with a balanced density and sweetness, and no artificial aftertaste. (That’s not to say the ingredients can’t have artificial flavors—the cupcake just shouldn’t taste like it was injected with chemicals.) I want to be fooled. Bamboozled. Convince me that a real person made these in a real kitchen. I’m not asking too much, am I?
If you can’t already tell, I have a fraught relationship with grocery store cupcakes. Here’s why: About a half-hour before any birthday party I’m ever invited to, you can find me in the bakery section of the nearest grocery store, perusing their selection of mini cupcakes with crippling indecisiveness. I’m searching for the best grocery store cupcake on offer, but I never know what to buy. (As a Floridian, I’ve also been spoiled by Publix cupcakes from the Greenwise Bakery, which are top tier—but you can’t buy cupcakes from Publix on the West Coast, unfortunately.) If I was a chef, I’d look at ingredients, but I’m decidedly not a chef, so I’m always going off vibes. Vibes, cupcake aesthetic, and more vibes.
But now, after this taste test, my entire life has changed. I’m a freaking grocery store cupcake connoisseur. I’m never going to bring a dry, sickly-sweet cupcake to a party ever again. The Sporked taste test team and I tasted twenty grocery store cupcakes and we found the seven best store bought cupcakes available, including the best chocolate cupcakes, the best vanilla cupcakes, and even the best vegan cupcakes. Here they are, in all their frosted glory.
- Favorite Day Bakery Chocolate & Vanilla
Here’s something to consider when trying to find the best store bought cupcakes: People are fickle. Maybe one day your pal is a chocolate fiend and the next they can’t get enough vanilla. How are you to anticipate their current dessert mood?. Luckily, if you can’t decide between chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, Target’s Favorite Day Chocolate & Vanilla Cupcakes are the yummiest mixed batch of the bunch. The frosting is slightly thicker than typical frosting fluff, the sprinkles are decently sized and crunch nicely with every bite (though they could be more evenly distributed, if you ask me), and the cake is soft and moist. You might notice a slightly artificial aftertaste, but look, we tried so many grocery store cupcakes, and that aftertaste is really hard to escape. We can’t have it all. But we can have some of the best chocolate cupcakes and the best vanilla cupcakes in the same tray, at the very least.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Two Bite Oreo Mini Cupcakes
Here’s the deal: If you bite into these Oreo Mini Cupcakes expecting to taste an Oreo cookie in cupcake form, you’re going to be a little disappointed. These don’t taste like Oreo cookies—they do, however, taste alarmingly similar to Oreo O’s, Oreo’s briefly discontinued but now back-on-the-shelves cereal brand (and some of the best chocolate cereal you can buy). These cupcakes have muted chocolate and vanilla creme flavors, and the frosting, much like an Oreo’s center, leaves a distinctly milky aftertaste. It’s weird, sure, but it made this list of the best store-bought cupcakes for a reason. It’s pretty damn good—especially if you manage your expectations.
Credit: Merc / Vons
- Rubicon Vegan Chocolate Blackout Cupcake
The best vegan cupcake at the grocery store was hard to find—they don’t sell very many. I was concerned we weren’t going to find a decent contender, but then came Rubicon’s vegan chocolate cupcake. If it wasn’t advertised on the package, you really wouldn’t know this was a vegan cupcake. (I know, because I asked several people to try it without telling them!) Unlike most of the mini cupcakes gracing this ranking, this vegan chocolate cupcake is large and dense. It’s extremely decadent. The cake itself has a thick, fudgy consistency, which gives way to a rich chocolate icing in the middle. If you’re looking for the best grocery store cupcakes to buy for a vegan, look no further.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sprouts Two Bite Chocolate Cupcakes
Out of all the mini chocolate cupcakes I tried—and I tried a lot—Sprouts two-bite chocolate cupcakes stole the show. They check off nearly all of my cupcake criteria. The cake itself is light and moist (check). There isn’t a trace of artificial, sickly sweet aftertaste (check). And the frosting? Well, okay, that is mostly aerated fluff. But you know what, I don’t mind. These mini chocolate store-bought cupcakes aren’t meant to be super decadent. Their purpose is to be consumed, one after the other, until they mysteriously disappear.
Credit: Merc / Sprouts
- Just Desserts Classic Carrot Cupcake
After putting an oatmeal cookie in first place for our Aldi cookies ranking, I hope some of you at least saw this coming. Yes, a carrot cupcake made our top five best grocery store cupcakes. But it’s seriously so good and rich and soft and dense. That thick cream cheese frosting? Those delicate carrot flakes in the cake? This blew my cupcake criteria out of the water. I’d give it 10 sporks, but I know we’re talking about a cupcake that has a vegetable in it, and that’s going to put a lot of you off. And I respect that. But if, by chance, you’re searching for the best store bought cupcakes that someone without the biggest sweet tooth would really enjoy, you’ve found it.
Credit: Merc / Kroger
- Marketside French Vanilla Cupcakes
Here’s a message for anyone who knows me and is reading this: Buy me these cupcakes for my birthday. Marketside French Vanilla Cupcakes are Walmart’s answer to perfect mini vanilla cupcakes. The cake is moist, delicate, and tastes like real vanilla. If I found these in the window of a patisserie, I’d totally believe they were handmade by a pastry chef. The simple touch of granular sugar on top of the frosting is the real star of the show. That added crunch on an otherwise beautifully simple cupcake elevates it to something elegant and unique. These are the best store bought vanilla cupcakes, and no one will convince me otherwise.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Publix Bakery Fudge Iced Chocolate Cupcakes
If you want the best chocolate cupcakes, book a trip to the South, because the Publix bakery simply can’t be beat. These Fudge Iced Chocolate Cupcakes (emphasis on fudge iced) blow literally every other brand of chocolate cupcakes we tried out of the water. Why? Because most grocery store cupcakes plop a bit of fluff on top of their cupcakes and call it a day. Not Publix. Their whipped fudge icing is rich, thick, and oh-so decadent—and since these are big cupcakes (not mini), there’s a lot of icing to savor. The chocolate has a bold cocoa flavor. Really, Publix chocolate cupcakes are impossible to fault…hence all of our top three store bought cupcakes earning 10/10 Sporks! (I won’t apologize for the truth.)
Credit: Liv Averett / Publix
- Publix Bakery Buttercream Assorted Cupcakes
“Of course the Floridian ranked two Publix cupcakes in the top three,” says you, probably. I get it. You don’t trust me. That’s okay. Let me explain what makes these buttercream cupcakes from Publix so darn delicious—but first, do you want to guess? Hint: It’s pretty much the same reason we loved Publix’s chocolate cupcakes. Just like the fudge icing on the chocolate version, the buttercream frosting sitting neat and pretty on top of these mixed chocolate-vanilla cupcakes is simply immaculate. It’s so rich and dense, with a sugary, slightly granulated texture and irresistible vanilla sweetness. Also, the fact that these cupcakes are dyed green to match the Publix brand colors? Cute touch, Publix.
Credit: Liv Averett / Publix
- Bakery Fresh Cookies & Creme
Well slap me in the face and shower me in sprinkles. I’m never going to have to deliberate for twenty minutes in the bakery aisle ever again. I’m only ever bringing these Kroger bakery cupcakes to parties for the rest of my life, because these are pure bliss. The delicate, spongy chocolate cake and vanilla swirl frosting blend together in perfect harmony, carrying just the right amount of sweetness with every bite. The frosting is dusted with cocoa powder, allowing the flavor to permeate from top to bottom. They may seem like Oreo cupcake dupes, but these taste closer to cookies and cream ice cream. While I’m personally more of a vanilla cupcake fan (please see my call to action in #4), I can’t deny that these are easily the best grocery store cupcakes you can find. (On both coasts!)
Credit: Merc / Ralphs
Best Chocolate & Vanilla
Best for Oreo Lovers
Best Vegan Cupcakes
Best Mini Chocolate
Best Wild Card
Best Vanilla Cupcakes
Best Chocolate Cupcakes
Best Chocolate Cupcakes
Best of the Best
Other store bought cupcakes we tried: Bakery Fresh Goodness Strawberry Mini Cupcakes, Bakery Fresh Goodness Mini Vanilla Cupcakes, Bakery Fresh Goodness Mini Chocolate Cupcakes, Kimberley’s Bakeshoppe Vanilla Flavored Filled Gourmet Cupcakes, Kimberley’s Bakeshoppe Chocolate Filled Gourmet Cupcakes, Marketside Red Velvet Cupcakes Filled With Real Cream Cheese, Marketside Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes, Sprouts Two Bite Vanilla Cupcakes 12 Pack, Vons 6 White & 6 Chocolate Cupcakes, Vons Two Bite Cupcakes Vanilla, Vons Two Bite Cupcakes Chocolate, Sweet P’s Vanilla Cupcakes 6 ct., Sweet P’s Mini Chocolate Cupcakes, Pavilions Cupcakes, Publix Carrot Cupcakes
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