I compared sheet cakes from Publix, Kroger, and Food Lion, and my favorite choice had impressive frosting and texture

I've personally come to know sheet cakes as a key component of any large celebration, and it's common for supermarkets to have them on display for purchase.

I drove from Charleston, South Carolina, to Savannah, Georgia, and ended my trip in Atlanta.

While leaving Charleston, I stopped at Food Lion. Then on my way out of Savannah, I made a pit stop at Kroger before heading to my final destination where I made a late-night Publix run.

Each cake was available for purchase with no prior ordering needed.

When I was shopping at Food Lion, I asked if I could purchase a slice of their basic sheet cake or a smaller version. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, so instead, I went with this party-sized dessert. At the Charleston location I visited, it cost me $19.99.

Since I couldn't eat the entire thing by myself, I cut one piece and gave the rest to the employees at a restaurant next door.

As soon as I took the lid off this cake, I was hit with a chemical-like sweet smell.

This rectangle cake was minimally decorated — which was totally fine, in my opinion — with white icing, ribbons of blue icing, some blue and white sprinkles, and four fake flowers dotting each corner.

When I took a bite of this bakery section treat, the first thing I noticed was the frosting. It was crystallized in texture, which meant I could feel all the little sugary bits on my tongue — it wasn't a pleasant experience, in my opinion.

The frosting was lacking in flavor, and I really thought it had a chemical taste rather than something that's naturally sweet, like vanilla. (As a note, I don't know what ingredients the store uses to make its frosting.)

After biting into the blue frosting, my entire mouth was coated the same color including my tongue, lips, and teeth.

The cake was a beautiful yellow color with a very thin, dark brown layer around the bottom. If you've ever baked a cake before, you know that's usually what happens when the batter touches the pan.

The cake was sweet, moderately moist, and had more of a crumbly texture than that of a sponge cake.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with this one. I wouldn't choose it for a celebration if I had access to other options.

I've always heard of the fanfare around a Publix sheet cake. Strangers and friends have all confessed their love for this cake to me in person or through messages on social media.

I was able to find a small, round version of this cake at the Atlanta Publix I visited, and it cost me $11.49. (Still, I couldn't finish it myself, so after cutting a large slice, I shared the rest with hotel staff.)

While it was smaller than the Food Lion cake, it had more decorations. There were three puffy balloons made of the same buttercream that covered the entire cake. It also featured freckle-like, colorful, flat sprinkles on top.

Customers have a strong connection to the fluffy icing and fresh-tasting cake from Publix, and I can totally see why.

When I cut into this cake, I saw a four-layered yellow cake with three interior layers of buttercream. The cake was moist and held together while I picked up the full slice as one piece.

The first bite showed me why everyone loves this treat for special occasions. It tasted sweet in a natural way, and had what I would call a medium-density — it wasn't too heavy and rich, but it didn't fall apart from being too airy. The flavor of the yellow layers was mildly sweet and rich with butter. If someone offered me a slice, I would definitely be excited.

However, I thought it smelled kind of strange when I first took the lid off. After tasting the buttercream frosting on its own, I noticed that it had a lovely silky, light, whipped texture, but I didn't think it tasted like frosting at all. It tasted artificial, but not in the same sugary way as the Food Lion frosting.

As I expected, the red balloon on top of the cake dyed my mouth the same way the blue coloring on the Food Lion cake had. But that's just part of the fun of eating food coloring.

While the frosting wasn't my favorite, it did taste better when I ate it in conjunction with the cake layers. But since I'm someone who enjoys scooping frosting with my pinky finger and eating it on its own, I don't think I would request this cake at my birthday party.

Unfortunately, I struck out again when it came to finding a miniature sheet cake at the Savannah Kroger location I visited — so the majority of this $20.99-dessert also went to grateful hotel staff.

In terms of decoration, this was somewhere in between the plain cake from Food Lion and the balloon-topped one from Publix.

The frosting was white and there was blue piping around the bottom, but there were also large light and dark blue dollops around the top. The top looked like it had been airbrushed with light blue food coloring and then dotted with various shapes of sprinkles.

Again, the smell of icing and sprinkles hit my nose when I took the lid off of this sheet cake. It was the only one of the three sold frozen, so I had to wait for it to fully defrost before I could dive in.

Once I was finally able to tase it, I found it consisted of two layers of spongey yellow cake with white icing in between. The interior icing felt lighter and more whipped than the outer layer, but I suspect that's due to the moisture inside rather than it being a different recipe.

I noticed the dark blue frosting was lighter and more whipped in texture than the light blue and white dollops on top of the cake. It took two bites of the dark blue topping for my entire mouth to turn the same color.

The cake itself reminded me of a classic yellow sponge cake: it was slightly sweet but mostly plain. Though the layers were bright yellow in color, they also sported a thin layer of brown, which I always appreciate.

Between the deliciously sweet frosting and the moist and flavorful cake, this Kroger dessert would be my own pick for celebrations. But when it's between Publix's and Kroger's offerings, I think it really comes down to personal preference.