Marks & Spencer Jaffa Cakes €1.49 for 125g €11.92 per kg

Highs:These rectangular shaped cakes have a really nice, sharp flavour. The orange centre is particularly zingy and weirdly fresh-tasting although it is presumably as heavily processed as any of the competition. These cakes go a long, long way to disproving PriceWatch's long-held belief that only McVities could make proper jaffa cakes. The dark chocolate is nice and bitter and the spongy base is light and delicate.

Lows: One person's light and delicate might, however, be another's largely irrelevant. There's not a great deal of sponge to speak of and it will pass you by unnoticed. These cakes are on the small side and can be eaten in a single bite. They also lost a point for being the dearest we came across.

Verdict: Delicately delicious but dear

Star rating: ****

McVities Jaffa Cakes €1.32 for 150g €8.80 per kg

Highs: McVities are as synonymous with jaffa cakes as Kellogs are with cornflakes so you'd expect them to deliver a fine offering and they pretty much do, with reservations. They are very familiar and very widely available. They are made with 8 per cent orange juice and don't have the artificial taste which an over-zealous use of sweeteners can often bring about. If you're fond of the spongy base, these are certainly the option to go for.

Lows: While we fully expected these to be the best we were left a little disappointed. They're grand but not as nice (or as big) as we thought they were when we were young. The jelly is a bit ordinary and there is far too much sponge to eat and barely enough chocolate.

Verdict: Grand but a bit of an anti-climax

Star rating: ****

Burtons Big Value Jaffa Cakes €1.99 for 405g €4.91 per kg

Highs: These are very cheap and taste absolutely fine. If you are really fond of your jaffa cakes and have a sweet tooth, this bumper box might well be for you. They are very sweet and are made with 22 per cent chocolate. The 36 cakes are split into three packs of 12 so you won't have to eat them all in a single sitting to stop them going stale. They are among the cheapest of the cakes.

Lows: The sponge was weirdly crunchy which is one of the last things you'd expect and it might be a bit off-putting for traditionalists. While they are densely covered in chocolate, we were not really mad about it.

Verdict: Cheap and crunchy

Star rating: ***

Jacobs €1.44 for 147g €9.60 per kg

Highs: We made all the jaffa cakes reviewed take part in an identity parade to see which was the biggest and nicest looking and this one from an Irish-company came out on top. It has a good spongy base and a very citrusy orange filling which gets the balance of sweet and slightly sour spot on. Although less chocolate has been used in the baking, it still tastes pleasingly rich. While some of the other cakes have an unidentifiably orange mush at their centre, this actually has the texture of orange jelly.

Lows: Which is great if you like jelly and considerably less so if you don't. The price goes against them too. While these are certainly nice, you'd have to question whether it is a price worth paying.

Verdict: Nice but pricey

Star rating: *****

Baker's Finest Jaffa Cakes €1.49 for 300g €4.97 per kg

Highs: These are another cheap option that will certainly fill a gap. There are 24 cakes in a pack so they should last more than a couple of days. They are very sweet and the chocolate looked nice and dark.

Lows: However, we could not be entirely sure what it tasted like, because the orange centre was so overpowering it rendered the rest of the cake utterly redundant. The orangey bit, while tasting very strong, lacked the freshness and zinginess of some of the competition. The nutrition information on the packet was also obtuse to the point of useless. It gives the information only per 100g and not per cake so to work out how many calories we consumed was nigh-on impossible.

Verdict: Low price but too sweet

Star rating: **