Not Betty Crocker, Not Duncan Hines: This Is The Best Carrot Cake Mix In Stores

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It takes careful consideration to get carrot cake just right. The complex dessert usually requires a significant time investment and ingredients list to make sure the final product hits all the right notes. This extra effort might persuade you to reach for a convenient boxed mix instead of making a carrot cake from scratch, but with many pre-made options available it's hard to know where to begin. We wanted to find out which store-bought carrot cake mix reigns supreme, so we tested eight different options before coming to a surprising conclusion. Cravings, a relative newcomer to the boxed cake aisle, beat out household names like Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker to take the cake in our taste test.

Tasting Table applauded Cravings for its superior cinnamon flavor and "genuinely homemade feel." We noted that the crumb could have been lighter, but still praised the moist texture. The Cravings cake required the most hands-on time, but the box mix includes everything from dried carrots to the ingredients for making a cream cheese frosting with caramel drizzle. To keep the playing field level across the test, frosting was not evaluated in our review, but the box's inclusion of these ingredients helped set Cravings apart.

In comparison, we ranked the Betty Crocker version as the fifth best boxed carrot cake mix in part because of its strong ginger flavor and overly loose crumb. Additionally, Duncan Hines, which took the sixth spot, presented "an unpleasant, astringent, burnt flavor."

Following the success of her debut cookbook by the same name, Cravings by Chrissy Teigen launched as a lifestyle brand in 2018. Since then, the brand's offerings have been lining store shelves with everything from cookware to a line of pasta sauces, and, of course, a handful of popular baking mixes. Released in early 2026, the Cravings carrot cake mix has earned a review on its website from one home baker who says, "The cake was very moist and tasteful. It was easy to make." Over on Target's product listing, one reviewer remarked, "Tasted like I'd made it from scratch. The perfect balance of using fresh ingredients with boxed items for an easy cake." Not everyone was a fan of the mix's cooking process and overall yield, though. A Target shopper explained, "This mix makes only half as much as a standard cake mix which makes all the extra steps annoying for what little payoff there is."

If you're willing to put in a little extra work, Cravings carrot cake mix might just become your new favorite. And when it's time to widen your pantry's cake mix reserve, check out our rankings of the best yellow cake mixes and chocolate boxed cake mixes.