12 Store-Bought Carrot Cakes, From Worst To First

When you think about it, the idea of making a dessert out of carrots is pretty bonkers. Considering their woody earthiness, transforming carrots into a sweet treat feels like an unlikely proposition. But the reality is that carrot cake is perhaps the most alluring form of this bright orange root vegetable.

Carrots have a sweetness to them that allows them to be incorporated well beyond savory dishes, into sweet applications. They also have a nice crunch, which can bring an exciting texture to the dishes they're included in. Carrot cake capitalizes on these advantages, showcasing the delicious complexity of the humble carrot in all of its glory. Carrot cake is typically made with ingredients like grated carrots, brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The cake is often accentuated with crumbles of walnuts, pecans, or raisins. Carrot cake is slathered with cream cheese icing, which adds a luscious, tangy twist to its spiced sweetness. 

Tasty and rewarding as it is, making carrot cake from scratch — or just about any cake, for that matter — is fairly time-consuming. It's definitely way easier to just score a store-bought carrot cake and dig in when a craving hits. The problem is that there can be huge differences between store-bought cakes. The consistency of the cake, the sweetness of the icing, and the overall balance of flavors are some of the factors at play. Read on to see which store-bought carrot cakes to steer clear of, and which ones are worth every penny.

With 11 locations scattered around the area of Minneapolis, Kowalski's is a humble regional chain of grocery stores that first opened its doors back in the 1980s. The company smartly added a bakery hub in 1991 in order to provide its stores with fresh baked goods. This focus on delivering high-quality carries on in its stores today. Kowalski's even offers cooking classes and dinner parties with chefs.

Kowalski's bakery department offers everything from seven-layer bars and ginger cookies to different kinds of brownies. The store also whips up its own carrot cake, which is made with carrots, walnuts, raisins, and a hint of pineapple for some extra fruity sweetness. It's also topped with cream cheese icing. This carrot cake certainly has its strengths, starting with its visual appeal. The crumbled nuts sprinkled around the base of the cake give it some decorative charm, while a dollop of orange icing on top adds some beautiful color. If you don't want a whole cake, you can also get individual slices to go.

At the end of the day, what really matters here is the taste of the cake. While we certainly expect some level of sweetness in carrot cake, Kowalski's carrot cake is a bit too heavy on sugar. If the frosting were a little less sweet, perhaps this would taste more balanced. The good news is that there are better carrot cakes sold at different grocery stores.

Harris Teeter is a chain of over 250 grocery stores that's now owned by Kroger. The company's locations are mostly scattered around the Southeast in Virginia and the Carolinas. Harris Teeter is well-known for its VIC card that offers customers special deals and discounts. The grocery store is also known to have a fairly good carrot cake that comes in a variety of sizes.

Harris Teeter's carrot cake has a long list of ingredients, including sugar, cream cheese, carrots, cinnamon, and raisins. There are also a couple of different types of nuts, including walnuts and pecans. Most of the time, carrot cakes either have one or the other, so we appreciate the inclusion of both in this recipe. Together, they add some additional texture and flavor complexity to the cake that makes it extra tasty. The pecans, with their naturally sweet and buttery flavor, truly give the carrot cake a delicious boost. 

Tasty as it is, this carrot cake is almost exceedingly sweet, though. One single slice is nearly 70% of the daily recommended sugar intake. We understand that this dessert is supposed to have some level of sweetness, but we have to admit that this feels a bit excessive. Even so, there's no denying a slice is a surefire way to satisfy your sweet tooth, and we love that it comes in three different sizes. At Harris Teeter, you can score a whole carrot cake, a half portion, or just a single slice.

Albertsons has close to 400 grocery stores mostly located in and around the West Coast. The company offers various types of carrot cake that have different recipes, depending on which one you buy. There is a whole cake and there are also single-serving slices.

The single-serving slice of carrot cake at Albertsons is cut into a small square and has a shorter list of ingredients. Some of these ingredients include sugar, cream cheese, and crushed pineapple. The crushed pineapple adds some extra moisture to the cake, while also imparting a hint of fruity sweetness. There are little flecks of carrots and bits of walnuts visible in the cake, which both add some nice texture to contrast the cake's bounciness. 

The whole carrot cake has a much longer list of ingredients. One of the most noticeable differences in the whole carrot cake is the addition of raisins and coconut. These ingredients give the carrot cake more depth and texture, making it tastier than a single slice of cake. At the same time, raisins can be particularly divisive, since their flavor is often either loved or despised, so it's nice to have a choice in the matter. Overall, we'd recommend the whole cake over a single slice of it.

Since opening its first store in 1980, Whole Foods has bloomed into a large, well-known chain with a lot to offer. With over 500 locations across the country, Whole Foods has a sprawling presence on the market along with a massive inventory. The company is popular for its high-quality products, including top-notch produce, meat, and baked goods. At Whole Foods, you can expect to find everything from butter croissants and organic maple syrup to creamy peanut butter and marinated olives. 

Whole Foods is a step up compared to a lot of other grocery store chains, thanks to its elevated line of healthier, fresher products. The company's aim to offer high-quality goods also crosses over into its bakery department. The company has banned the use of more than 260 preservatives and other additives in its baked goods. This health-conscious choice leads to fresher quality and better taste, which gives its carrot cake a boost of flavor. 

On top of that, when someone on Reddit asked the internet what dessert they prefer at Whole Foods, many people recommended the carrot cake. Whole Foods' carrot cake is made with ingredients that include the usual suspects: carrots, shredded coconut, crushed pineapple, walnuts, cream cheese frosting, and vanilla. The cake is moist and sweet, and the flavor of coconut and pineapple complements the carrots. All in all, there's no doubt that this is a delicious carrot cake. That said, it's not exactly cheap — but you get what you pay for.

If you love carrot cake, shopping at The Fresh Market is a good move. The grocery store has been known to carry three different types of carrot cake, including an eight-inch carrot cake, a carrot bar cake, and a carrot cake Napoleon. The grocery even generously provides a carrot cake recipe for customers interested in making a fresh batch from scratch at home.

The first ingredient in Fresh Market's eight-inch carrot cake is carrots. That shouldn't seem like such a big deal, but it's actually a refreshing change since so many other recipes start with sugar. Because carrots are so prominent in the recipe, you can really taste the earthiness of the carrots in this cake, which is truly delightful. The brown sugar adds notes of toasty sweetness, while the pineapple juice infuses a pleasing hint of tropical tartness.

The carrot bar cake is shaped like a thick rectangle and comes with three layers. The three layers of cake in this carrot bar cake give it an extra luxurious feel, as your fork moves through continuous layers of frosting. The carrot bar cake also has a hint of sweetened dried cranberries, which provides a surprising and tasty twist. The addition of cranberries in this carrot cake gives it a deliciously creative edge that helps it beat out most of its competitors.

Publix takes the cake, earning the top slot for a variety of reasons. The company's carrot bar cake uses real carrots, which you can easily see and taste in the cake. It's also generous with the cinnamon, which gives the cake a bolder, richer flavor. The cream cheese icing is sweet and tangy, yet thick enough to stick to the cake without being overly dense. In fact, people often say that this carrot cake is the best they've ever had.

This carrot cake is also very affordable, which makes it especially tempting to scoop one up on a regular basis. Let's face it — no one wants to break the bank over the fleeting frenzy of devouring a slice of cake. Even though it may not contain particularly fancy ingredients, this carrot cake is absolutely delicious. It strikes that ever-elusive balance of sweetness and tanginess with miraculous accuracy. 

It's also the perfect portion. Sometimes, scoring a whole cake is just too much. But this bar of carrot cake is enough to easily split with someone else and still have your fill without feeling overly indulgent. The container that it comes in also makes it easy to seal and lock in the cake's freshness, which means you can take your time pecking at this with a fork without fear of it drying out. All things considered, Publix's carrot bar cake is the one that we always reach for.