CONOR POPElooks at Christmas cakes

The DIY cake, €26.50 for 1kg

There is a feelgood factor about making your own cake that cannot be replicated by any of the store options and this is only intensified by the homely smells that will waft through your house when it is in the oven. Whether or not these warm fuzzy feelings are worth the hunt for ingredients, the planning, the stress and the mess is open for debate. Unlike many DIY options this does not save you money – the dried fruit set us back nearly a tenner – and while you can make the cake to your own taste, you do need a degree of skill and Pricewatch is not entirely sure we have that talent.

Verdict:Dear, hassle-filled and fun (kind of) **

Tesco full iced Christmas cake €19.99 for 1.36g, €14.69 per kg

If first impressions were everything, this cake would win every single time. The icing is head and shoulders above the rest when its comes to festiveness and the red and green stockings and snowflakes would make Scrooge feel Christmassy. The icing was sweet and sticky but very nice and the thick layer of the marzipan gives it in an authenticity which was lacking elsewhere. The actual fruit cake is rich, dark, sticky and very dense.

Verdict:Very good *****

Supervalu Supreme Matured Iced Christmas Cake €20 for 1220g, €16.39 per kg

This is rich and boozy and very nice indeed. While some of the other options we tried were a bit too heavy and sticky for our tastes, this is light and crumbly and almost has a bready texture. The icing is dotted with

silver stars and is absolutely plastered all over the cake. It is chewy but nice tasting and while it is undoubtedly heavy and sweet, the lightness of the cake means you wont feel like you've made an absolute pig of yourself after a slice.

Verdict:Lovely (hic) ****

Specially Selected glazed Irish whiskey christmas cake from Aldi, €9.99 for 900g

This cake has some features we loved and some we were not so keen on. It is fruity and pleasingly rich and we liked the brazil nuts that sit on top. We were less keen on the glacé cherries, which were a bit sticky and sweet for our tastes and we would have liked a boozier flavour. The cake is dry and comparatively light and entirely pleasant. It is also good value for money. It is missing the icing that makes other cakes so festive but if you can get over that hurdle then you'll not go far wrong here

Verdict:Full of cheer ***