6 Store-Bought Coffee Cake Mixes, Ranked

You know that coffee cake doesn't actually have coffee in it, right? If not, don't worry, you're in good company — it was only when I made my first coffee cake over a decade ago that I learned that coffee is not, in fact, a typical ingredient in the bake (though it can certainly be added). Rather, the scrumptious baked good has come to be named as such because it makes for a perfect morning pairing with coffee, the ideal pick-me-up on days when not even your favorite bean juice can make you perky enough.

Coffee cake is notoriously easy to make, and you can take advantage of endless variations of it, but the convenience of a boxed mix is undeniable. Even though most of the mixes I tried for this tasting included added steps of spreading cinnamon sugar between layers of batter, none were too labor-intensive to dissuade even the sleepiest morning baker. I picked up one of every box of coffee cake mix I could find at my local grocers; I was somewhat surprised to find that there weren't more on offer than the six I brought home, but at least that made my ranking process a bit easier. I ranked the following mixes from worst to best based primarily on flavor, texture, and the quality of the cinnamon swirl component. 

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Reese's Coffee Cake Mix ultimately fell too short of the bar for me to declare it a fantastic coffee cake. Now, this may be a hot take, and peanut butter lovers should feel free to disagree with me on this one (in fact, my PB-loving friend who tried these cakes alongside me declared this as her favorite). Is it a good peanut butter bake? Totally, but if it didn't have the "coffee cake" moniker, I probably wouldn't have identified it as such. It's also worth mentioning that the Reese's cookie mix didn't fare well in our ranking of Betty Crocker cookie mixes. 

For starters, this was the only coffee cake mix that didn't instruct the baker to spread a layer of cinnamon sugar between two layers of cake batter. I consider the internal cinnamon layer to be a pretty crucial part of coffee cake, so that automatically knocked this selection down a few options. Its peanut butter flavor is strong, and it also has peanut butter chips studding the inside. I can't call either of those a bad thing, but again, it took away from the coffee cake appeal. At the end of the day, the top layer of streusel was the only element that signified what type of bake this was, and it feels like the "coffee cake" name was used to make it feel more familiar to potential buyers. 

I'm not at all familiar with White Lily's baking mixes — I believe this is the first one I've ever tried, and had I not eaten it alongside the others in this lineup, I'd have called it pretty good. Actually, I can still call it pretty good. It doesn't host any egregious flaws, but unfortunately, it couldn't match up to some of the following selections. It got very close, but there was one deterrent I couldn't get past.

Accompanying the perfectly fine flavors in White Lily's coffee cake was a mild extract flavor that I noticed immediately. It's quite a shame, because I think this coffee cake mix could have scored higher had that not been present. Its texture was sublime, with a light, fluffy crumb taking center stage and inviting the cake to melt in my mouth. But not even a killer texture could make up for that extract flavor. Again, I'm not sure the average consumer would notice this, but because I tried this mix alongside five others, the tasting note stood out to me. 

Dolly Parton's strawberry cake mix didn't fare too well when I tried it, so I was happy to see the country music persona's Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Cake Mix do a little better. But still, I didn't think it was superb compared to the others on this list. For one, the cinnamon streusel component was somewhat lacking both on the inside and on top. Given that some of the other boxed coffee cake mixes featured here included ample amounts of their cinnamon component, that made this bake feel a little lackluster. 

I didn't find any extract tasting notes here as I did in the last mix, which is why I ranked it higher. Still, though, I could kind of tell it came from a box — it had that distinct flavor that boxed yellow cake mixes have, and while I don't think it's a bad flavor, it removed any illusion that this could be homemade coffee cake. Other than that, the cake was moist and structurally held together well, with a soft and spongy crumb. I'd never advise you to steer clear of Dolly Parton's coffee cake mix, but I think you'd fare better with one of the following options. 

Up next is a gluten-free coffee cake mix from Open Nature, which made a surprising bake that I found well worth taking the third-place spot on this list. I'll get the obvious question out of the way: Can you tell this mix is gluten-free? Nope, not at all. The gluten-free industry has definitely stepped up its game since I practiced a gluten-free diet over a decade ago, and the apparent result is some bakes that are indistinguishable from their gluten-filled counterparts.

Moreover, I liked the crumb structure of Open Nature's coffee cake mix. It held together well, and you can see from the above picture that the piece cut away cleanly. The cinnamon ribbon was tangible throughout the bake, another major pro, and the cake as a whole boasted a great flavor (likely due to its use of rice flour, which I usually find to be a more neutral flour substitute than some other popular options). The only reason this mix didn't rank higher was because it was a tad drier than my following two choices. Again, I was being picky — I'd never call this mix "dry" when trying it solo, but it wasn't quite as moist as my top picks. 

Admittedly, I do love Bob's Red Mill (as a Portlander, I went through a mourning period when the company's retail location closed in 2025), so I wasn't surprised to have a particularly fond opinion of its coffee cake mix. I was surprised it didn't come in first place, but alas, the following bake blew my mind. Still, Bob's was exquisite, and I liked its added instruction that no other mix featured: Bob's Coffee Cake instructs the baker to swirl the cinnamon sugar mix throughout the bake, which resulted in a great, gooey cinnamon-flavored topping that held a lot of interest for me. 

This cake got really tall, which I loved — it made even small pieces feel very substantial. Texturally, it's impeccable, with a light, moist crumb and an exterior crisp that's enviable. I could have been fooled into thinking this was homemade had I not put the box mix together myself. The pockets of cinnamon swirl throughout give plenty of flavor without overwhelming the bake, making this a quality homestyle offering that I'll definitely be keeping on hand from now on. Unfortunately, it couldn't quite beat my top choice. 

I called my mother after doing this taste test, and when she heard I'd tried coffee cake mixes, she got a little too excited about one mix in particular: "Did you try Krusteaz?! I love their coffee cake. I tried it randomly one day, and it was so good that I went right back to the store to buy another box." Admittedly, my mother is right about most things, but she absolutely hit the nail on the head with that proclamation. Krusteaz easily beat out all of its competition, and I still don't quite understand how — all I know is that I ate significantly more of this than I intended, and ended up with a healthy stomachache after.

If I could only say one thing about Krusteaz's coffee cake, I would laud its absolutely packed flavor. I'm at a loss as to what gives the bake its rich flavor, nor do I quite know how to describe it except by using the word "decadent." Plus, look at the undeniably thick layer of cinnamon mixture lining the coffee cake's interior. The streusel topping is as moist as it looks, and the texture throughout is fluffy, moist, and spongy. The whole thing was like a dream from which I've yet to wake up, but you know what? I've decided I'm perfectly okay with that. 

I judged these mixes back to back, baking each exactly as instructed on the box — the only modification I made was lining my baking pan with parchment paper, so I wouldn't have to wash it between bakes. Each required the same basic steps to mix, though some asked me to melt butter or mix together the streusel topping. None of these extra steps was too labor-intensive, so I didn't consider labor when ranking these mixes.

Rather, I ranked them purely based on the end result's flavor, texture, and cinnamon swirl. My bottom pick had no swirl, making it a pretty easy contender for last place. My top few mixes, however, boasted a stellar flavor, tender crumb, and ample cinnamon-y interior and topping. Krusteaz's coffee cake mix was the easy winner, with an explosion of flavor that blew the other selections out of the water.