Each of these stores has premade cupcakes available in their bakery sections, but I wanted to see how the chains would handle my custom order.

I used the online ordering option for each store and chose cupcakes topped with white buttercream frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

All three chains had an easy-to-use system that let me quickly choose the options I wanted. Each of my orders was ready on time and accurate.

My priority was finding a good-value cupcake that my daughter loved, though I also wanted to see what the adults at the party thought.

I had seven kids, ages 4 to 12, and eight adults try each cupcake in a blind taste test.

Each participant rated which cupcake was the most aesthetically pleasing and which tasted best without knowing what store it came from.

I paid $8.13, including tax, for a dozen cupcakes at Walmart. They were the cheapest option by far.

These cupcakes were noticeably smaller than the rest, but if they'd been the only option, I don't think I would've thought they were small.

Even so, the kids unanimously agreed these were the most visually appealing and that they'd choose to eat them first.

It seemed fair considering these cupcakes had the most sprinkles in the most vibrant colors compared to the ones from Wegmans and Publix.

In my opinion, the frosting on the Walmart cupcakes was overwhelmingly sweet and the cake was dry with little flavor.

The other adults agreed and, as a result, we ranked these as our least favorite.

However, all of the kids rated the Walmart cupcakes as their top pick, likely due to the super-sweet frosting and pretty aesthetic.

The cupcakes from Wegmans were the most expensive at $24.90 for a dozen — more than triple the cost of the Walmart cupcakes.

The cupcakes were almost identical in size to the Publix ones and bigger than the Walmart ones. The frosting on these was swirled the highest.

The adults unanimously picked the cupcakes from Wegmans as their favorite. The buttercream frosting was light, airy, and perfectly sweet.

We also agreed the cake was also the most moist and flavorful of the ones we tried.

The icing didn't extend all the way to the edge of the cupcake, which made it look like it came from a more high-end bakery. This might have been a more important factor had these been for an adult gathering, not a kid's birthday party.

A dozen cupcakes from Publix set me back $10.81.

I personally found these cupcakes to be the most visually appealing, with large amounts of icing and an array of sprinkles on top. Their flavor was good, too.

Publix's frosting wasn't as light as Wegmans' frosting, but it wasn't as overly sweet as Walmart's.

The cake was also fairly moist and had more notes of vanilla than Walmart's, but wasn't as flavorful as Wegmans' version.

Even though we adults thought Wegmans' cupcakes were the best, I didn't think they were worth the high price tag.

For a child's birthday, I'll probably stick to the Walmart cupcakes since they were the least expensive and the clear kids' favorite.

For adult birthdays or celebrations, I still wouldn't pick Wegmans. The price is just too high for me to justify buying them.

Instead, I'd go for Publix cupcakes, which are almost as good and less than half the price.

First, I tried the beloved berry Chantilly cake.

This treat has had a longtime cult following and is probably the most popular bakery item at Whole Foods.

According to its ingredients list, it consists of vanilla cake, Chantilly icing and frosting, cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, raspberry syrup and puree, and a mixture of fresh berries — including strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

I got a 6-inch round of it for $30.

I've tried this cake before, and now for a second time, I still don't feel like it lives up to the hype.

Is it better than many other grocery-store-bakery cakes? Yes. It's also wonderful that there is real, fresh fruit in the cake. But I was still longing for something a bit more for it to live up to its fame.

The cake layers are pretty dry. However, the addition of the smooth Chantilly cream helps to make up for that. Though the ingredients list mentions raspberry syrup and puree, I couldn't seem to taste or find any of it.

A few berries were added to the layers, with a thin layer of cream between each. Before owning my own bakery, I was a grocery-store cake decorator, and I can certainly understand how tricky these layers would be to stack with chunks of fresh fruit.

Overall, the flavor is excellent, without the cake being too sweet — I just wish the texture of the actual cake layers were a bit more moist.

Whole Foods sells whole New York cheesecakes in its bakery case, but individual slices are also available in the cold case.

I grabbed a slice for $5.

To me, a good cheesecake should have a flavorful, textured crust balanced by a smooth, rich filling.

This cheesecake slice was almost there but had a few shortcomings. The crust was soggy and reminded me of a sugar cookie. I'm a graham-cracker-crust fan, so this was a bit of a drawback for me.

The texture of the cheesecake filling was wonderfully smooth and rich, and the flavor wasn't too sweet. However, it was pretty overwhelming. It had a very robust cheese flavor, and I wished for a bit more balance.

I only tried one bite because I found it too overpowering, but I could see it being an excellent choice paired with a fruit sauce or fresh berries.

A store employee told me that the chocolate-eruption cake is another customer-favorite dessert (alongside the berry Chantilly cake, of course).

I had a 6-inch cake boxed up from the bakery display cake for $27.

I'm still thinking of this chocolate cake, which means it was a top winner for me.

The cake itself was stunning with a ganache drip, piped details, and chocolate curls to spruce it up even further. The three layers of chocolate cake were wonderfully moist and tender — and pairing them with a chocolate-mousse filling made it even much better.

As the name suggests, it was incredibly chocolaty, but it wasn't too rich. It was well-balanced for a chocolate lover to enjoy every bite.

Packaged up and ready to grab out of the cold case, the family pack of tres leches looked quite unassuming.

The plain-looking piece cost me $14.

What this dessert lacks in appearance, it certainly makes up for in flavor. Talk about finding a hidden gem!

The simple cake-layer base is soaked in cream and sweetened condensed milk and finished with a whipped topping. The texture was incredible with an excellent balanced flavor.

Every bite contained subtle notes of coconut and caramel that weren't too sweet or overpowering.

It's perfect on its own, but there's certainly room to dress it up at home if you plan to serve it for a special occasion. A few sliced strawberries on top will go a long way.

There are plenty of cookie options in the Whole Foods bakery, but I chose something classic with a slightly elevated twist.

I picked up a pack of four brown-butter chocolate-chunk cookies for $7.50

Perfectly chewy and packed with flavor is the best way to describe these tasty cookies. I loved that they had chocolate chunks rather than chips — and there were plenty of them!

Thanks to the brown butter and vanilla extract, the flavor of this cookie was slightly enhanced compared to a typical chocolate-chip cookie.

Overall, excellent in every bite.

I found several flavors of Parisian macarons in the bakery display case. I chose one vanilla, one chocolate, and one salted caramel.

Each macaron was $2.

I will always get macarons if they're offered at a bakery. I'm a forever fan, and I had high hopes for these offerings.

I tried three different flavors, and although each tasted decent (especially salted caramel), their textures were a bit off.

The interiors of the macarons were chewy, but the exteriors were far too crunchy and dry to me.

Brownies are a classic, and every bakery should offer a great version of this treat.

Whole Foods sells brownies in packs of four, or you can grab individually-wrapped ones for $2.75 each.

It's hard for me to believe that a grocery-store bakery would produce a lackluster brownie, but I think Whole Foods has.

The top of the brownie was surprisingly dry and crackly, yet underneath there was actually a wonderful cakey-meets-fudgy balance.

Unfortunately, the dry top detracted from that.

In terms of flavor, I expected a wonderfully balanced, chocolaty brownie — but I thought it was relatively bland and disappointing.

The Whole Foods bakery had several flavors of pie, from pecan to four-berry to apple.

To get a taste for the crust and fruit filling, I chose a 9-inch cherry pie for $15.

Even for seasoned bakers, putting together a homemade pie can feel like a lot of work. For $15, this is a decent option if you aren't up to the task of making your own.

The not-too-sweet flavor was excellent. However, the crust wasn't one bit flaky or buttery and seemed a bit soggy, like it had been pulled out of the oven a few minutes too early. Still, I may have just gotten a dud.

Overall, I wished for a better pie crust, but it's a decent option in a pinch.

Among the bakery's cookie selection, I found shortbread shaped like little Scottie dogs that were partially dunked in a chocolate coating.

The cookie four-pack cost me $5.50.

I hoped for an adorable cookie that also tasted fantastic, but I ended up disappointed.

These were definitely an impulse buy based on the cute shape and design of the cookie, but biting into one let me down.

The texture was fine, but the flavor was oddly artificial to me. I don't think they tasted balanced or buttery, and the hint of vanilla I was expecting didn't come through.

Whole Foods sells tiramisu dessert cups, but there's also a whole tiramisu cake available in the bakery display case.

I got a pretty 6-inch tiramisu cake for $27.

Making tiramisu isn't necessarily difficult, but it requires a few steps. If you want to skip them and buy it premade as a cake, this one from Whole Foods is a worthy option.

The two-layer dessert had terrific flavor thanks to the vanilla cake paired with a creamy, coffee-flavored filling. The top was dressed up nicely with even more piped cream, a dusting of cocoa powder, and chocolate curls.

I think it's a bit pricey for what it is, but a good option if you need to pick up a showstopping dessert for a special occasion.