The 12 Absolute Best Packaged Cake Mixes, Ranked

Baking a cake can be quite a tedious process. Not only do you have to source all of your ingredients, but you have to go through the arduous process of measuring every single one of them. Luckily, cake mix simplifies the process and allows you to focus on toppings, frosting, and the like. And, as my mother would say, "Why would anyone make their own cake when there's perfectly good cake mix at the store?" 

Duncan Hines was her go-to cake mix brand, but I headed to my local grocery store to see what other cake mix brands were worth trying. Not only did I find an array of standard mixes at varying price ranges, but there were also plenty of keto-friendly, gluten-free, and low-sugar options to indulge in. I went with 12 different yellow cake mixes and ranked them based on several factors, including sweetness levels, texture, and overall tastiness. Above all, it should boast a balanced, flavorful sponge with notes of real vanilla. That way, you can top this versatile type of cake with any frosting or garnish of your choosing. Did Duncan Hines retain its spot on the throne, or is something better out there? 

I had a very "The Great British Baking Show" moment while making this Duncan Hines keto-friendly cake mix. If Paul Hollywood judged it in the technical round, he would have either said, "Well that's all wrong," "You've got some issues here," "I'm disappointed," or a combination of all three. Regardless, I'm packing my bags and going home — because this cake mix was downright awful. 

The keto diet limits the amount of carbohydrates one consumes — and cake is one big carb. To counteract the carbs from wheat flour, Duncan Hines introduces ingredients like almond flour and coconut flour in this mix. Fundamentally, these flavors are incompatible with a basic yellow cake mix because they're too bold. There is essentially no way to make this cake mix keto and still make it taste good — and that's a hill I will die on. 

But taste wasn't the only issue we had here. No, no, its texture also made it a big flop. When I was mixing it, it quickly formed a thick paste akin to marzipan (which is the exact same thing I noticed with the brand's muffin mix – what a coincidence). It's gloopy, stodgy, and almost the complete opposite of what you would want from a cake mix. To make matters worse, the baked cupcakes had the exact same consistency as the wet batter, which made them unpalatable. I can leave my feelings about the keto diet aside here to state one very clear and blunt truth: This is the worst cake mix I've ever tried. 

Pillsbury's brand dominated this ranking. Not only does it make a regular mix but also a zero-sugar option and this gluten-free mix. I started to notice some issues with this mix as I was preparing it. When I mixed it in the bowl with the eggs, water, and oil, it didn't come together as thickly and smoothly as a normal cake mix would. I suspect this is due to the lack of gluten in it. 

While it would be fine if these issues were just contained to the batter, the textural woes persisted with this brand even after it was baked. It broke apart as soon as I picked it up. When I picked up another gluten-based cake mix and tested it, I didn't find any of the same issues. Moreover, I could tell that this mix was made with rice flour before I even confirmed it on the ingredients list. Rice flour tends to have a hair-like texture that leaves a gritty film on your teeth. As you can suspect, this mix did not get "pleasure to have in class" written on its report card. 

I'm not going to give it a pass solely for being gluten-free either, because the other gluten-free cake mix I sampled was still able to turn out a product that was halfway tasty. I appreciate Pillsbury trying to make folks with all diets feel included, but it needs to reevaluate its product a little bit. 

I'm all for people trying lower-sugar diets, but I don't think that cake mix — and baking in general — is the place where you want to cut corners and calories. Baked goods need sugar and fat to help hold their structure together, so when you swap these ingredients out, issues may arise. 

Take this Betty Crocker's lower-sugar yellow cake mix for example. To the eye, it's indistinguishable from a "normal" cake mix. But, when you bake it, you immediately notice that its structure is all out of whack. I was worried about picking up these cupcakes and transferring them to the cooling rack because of how soft they were. It's almost like there was no gluten. This cake was powdery and soft, with a consistency similar to the inside of a buttermilk biscuit.

Flavor-wise, there wasn't much sweetness here either — as I expected. Though, I don't think the lack of sweetness is this cake's biggest issue. The main problem is if you were to top it with a heavy frosting or use it in a layer cake, it would absolutely disintegrate, leaving you with a pile of cake-flavored mush. 

The first thing I did when these Pillsbury zero-sugar cupcakes cooled was the pull-apart test. While Betty Crocker's lower-sugar version and Pillsbury's gluten-free cupcakes both failed to hold together, this Pillsbury zero-sugar cake held together with enough strength to give it passing marks. Its color was also on par with what I was looking for, as it shone bright like the golden treasure it should have been. 

But the taste of this cupcake set it back into fool's gold territory — for several reasons. When I first bit in, I didn't think too much of it. But then I noticed that I was quickly being enveloped in a shroud of artificial flavorings. It's mild in flavor when it hits your palate initially, but after that, the artificial sweetness takes over, unfortunately ruining the bite entirely. I couldn't point to a specific artificial sweetener, though I later learned that the mix was made with acesulfame potassium and sucralose – which certainly explains things. If you were served these cupcakes at a party, I think that you would know something is off about them, but I don't think you'd necessarily point to a zero-sugar sweetener as the cause. All in all, if you can avoid this cake mix, I would highly recommend doing so. 

Hey, look: It's Casper the Friendly cake mix! 

All jokes aside, Miss Jones, who made this cake mix? Please show them where the yellow food dye button is on the machine — because I certainly went frantic when I thought I bought white cake mix instead of yellow. But luckily, color was the biggest issue here. 

Gluten-free cakes tend to have a heaviness to them but this one did not. I expected to have something more dense and sunken in — but this cake gave me a teensy-tiny rise that, yes, paled (pun intended) to the rest of the brands, but wasn't bad enough to push it into the last spot. Though the middle did sink in every cupcake, it's nothing a little frosting can't hide. The sweetness was also approachable enough that I could eat it with frosting and not gasp for water afterward. 

I was also surprised that this cake mix did not have a very dense mouthfeel to it because it called for melted butter rather than oil. It's certainly a pain to have to melt down butter for this batch when most of the other cake mixes simply call for oil, eggs, and water. That being said, I don't think the butter was really needed here, as it didn't do much for the overall flavor of the cake.

I don't know whether or not someone on the line forgot to add the yellow food coloring to Aldi's Baker's Corner, but it went into the oven pale white and came out equally as ghastly. And I honestly would have suspected that this mix would have a bit more color to it, considering how sweet it was. It did singe a little bit on the edges, but I reckon that it had more to do with its placement in the oven rather than its composition.

There were some flavors and structural issues with this mix. For one, it's too sweet. Cake mix needs to be bland enough to support a frosting, but this one took the sugar and ran with it. Interestingly enough, I think it tastes like cake batter in that overtly sweet and fake vanilla sort of way. Plus, it's very soft — so soft that it crumbles with ease into your fingers and turns to mush in your mouth. That being said, it did not have the same artificially-sweet profile as the lower ranking brands, nor did it have as many issues with structural stability as Miss Jones' classic yellow gluten-free cake mix.

Jiffy, oh, my sweet old friend. I honestly don't know how it ended up here with the big kids, but I have to say that it's a regrettable decision. This pint-sized cake mix, which makes a batch of 12 cupcakes, seems like a silly concept. It's not enough for a layer cake, so it seems like a waste to have to buy two separate boxes of it to equal one of the big boy brands. 

I also noticed something was off with this mix the minute I started to stir the batter. It had the grittiness of a cornbread mix, which is not something that transfers well into a cake. When these cupcakes came out of the oven, they were obviously very porous and flat. Jiffy lacked the signature rise of many of the other brands — and its density was translated into its bite too. Its one saving grace was that it wasn't hurt-your-teeth-sweet, which earned it a spot on the higher end of this ranking.

That being said, the flaws of this mix still outweigh its merits. The flavor of this cake was like a cornbread muffin that decided to dress up as a cake mix. It has that slightly sweet and nutty-esque flavor to it, but it wasn't plush or mild-flavored enough to pass for a true cake mix. Nice try, Jiffy. Maybe go back to the kid's table.  

As you can probably guess already, Betty Crocker's regular cake mix fared better than its lower-sugar variety. For one, the structure was much better. These cupcakes held together easily as I removed them from the pan. 

Curiously enough, I found that these cupcakes were a little too moist for my liking. I personally think that cake should be moist, but Betty Crocker took it a step too far with its yellow cake mix. Biting into it was almost like biting into an already-saturated sponge. It bounced back against my molars, which may have suggested that I had overmixed it. However, I don't think that's the issue here, seeing as I followed the precise directions on the package.

The moisture content of this cake teeters on the edge of being problematic. On one hand, it prevents the feeling of a dry mouthfeel. It's not so wet that it turns into a soupy mess, but when I bit into it, I found a squeakiness akin to biting into a cheese curd. 

Great Value is a budget-friendly brand, and it's one that makes pretty good baking products, including boxed brownie mixes. But, I've found that it usually doesn't outrank premium name brands. 

When I took a big whiff of this cake, it instantly smelled sweet. The aroma wasn't as complex as my top choice, but it still was vanilla-forward. I found those same familiar vanilla pudding notes that I detected in the higher-ranked items on this list as well. Despite the sweet smell, I would say the sweetness of this cake was about average. 

This cake was drier than some of my top picks. If you used it in a layer cake, where it was interspersed with frostings and fillings, then it would help hide some of this consistency and dryness. However, I don't think I would want to eat a cupcake made with it because there would be too much dry cake present. 

The Pillsbury cake mix didn't really sway me either way in this ranking. Right off the bat, I could tell that it was very well-sweetened. Each bite was filled with the childhood, saccharine bliss of eating a batch of cupcakes at a neighborhood pool party. I think from a nostalgia aspect, that's a very welcomed sentiment. But, I think, like many of the other sweet brands, it may come to this cake's detriment. 

The ideal cake mix doesn't need to be so sweet that it knocks your socks off with sugar since you're going to top it off with icing. I wouldn't be able to eat a batch of these Pillsbury cupcakes coated in classic vanilla buttercream because of how sweet it would be, but I can handle this mix sans frosting any day.

This original Pillsbury yellow cake mix outranked Great Value for a few reasons. While it is slightly more expensive, it has a more plush structure — meaning eating it is less of a chore. It's not as soft as the cake mix in first place, though, which is ultimately why it got a comfortable seat on the high end of the ranking — but not the top. 

Duncan Hines is just too good that it had to bring in reinforcements: country music star Dolly Parton. Parton, I don't know why exactly you're here, considering that Duncan Hines makes a perfectly wonderful cake mix without you involved. 

At first glance, this yellow cake mix was indistinguishable from many of the other brands. But when I bit in, I was able to discern some of the flavor nuances. For one, it had a flavor that was slightly vanilla, but it was more balanced and less sweet than Pillsbury's original yellow cake mix. It also outcompeted Great Value's yellow cake mix because its structure was a little more plush and soft, which made it easier to eat. Despite its softness, I have no doubt it would be sturdy enough to handle some frosting or garnishes without shattering as Betty Crocker's lower-sugar cake mix would.

I would even venture to say that the flavor is nearly indistinguishable from my top pick if not for the pesky butter. Why do you need to have a cake mix made with butter? Is it really that necessary? The oil suited every other mix just fine, but there must have been a Southern food decree that said anything with Parton's name had to call for butter. The fat doesn't do anything for the flavor of this cake mix. If anything, it's a nuisance. 

The original Duncan Hines yellow cake mix was always my go-to brand for cake mix, so I know how good it is. And after this review, I can confirm it is that good. 

The smell alone was super enticing. On the nose, there were strong notes of vanilla and it almost smelled like what vanilla pudding tastes like. I found that this flavor carried through in the sponge as well, which made it pleasant to eat. While some of the other cake mixes I sampled were stodgy and hard to get through, this one was ethereally light.

The thing that I appreciate most about this sponge is that its flavor was inoffensive in a way that a vanilla cake should be. Rarely do people eat plain yellow cake (yes, I did for this ranking, but that's beside the point). You could pair this one with a fudge frosting and it would not only support it in terms of heft, but also in terms of compatible flavors. Oh, and did you see that golden color? It's positively immaculate. Why wouldn't you want to eat this cake? 

I sourced out a variety of different cake mixes from grocery stores in the southern Rhode Island area. While there are certainly a ton of different cake mix flavors to choose from, including chocolate, red velvet, and spice cake, I wanted to select a standard option to compare the brands against; yellow cake just happened to be the most widely-available and standardized option. 

I prepared all of the cake mixes according to the directions on the package. This included measuring out the add-ins, which included things like butter, milk, eggs, water, and/or oil. While these cake mixes can all be made in a standard square or round cake tin, I decided to make cupcakes since they were easier to handle and compare against each other. 

Once all the cupcakes were made and cooled, I tasted them sans toppings or extra additions. While I believe that the cake is just a vehicle for frosting, I wanted the focus here to be on the cake. I looked primarily at the taste and texture as I ate each cupcake. A good yellow cake should be supple enough to support the weight of a topping, but not too dry that it becomes laborious to eat. The flavor should also be slightly sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, as it needs to be able to coexist with a sweet frosting or filling.