5 Duncan Hines Cake Mix Flavors That Deserve More Love

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Boxed cake mixes are a great way to save time when you want a tasty cake without a lot of extra work. Even professional bakers sometimes start with boxed cake mixes because they're easy and affordable, and the finished cake can rival ones made from scratch. Those mixes were professionally developed to make a consistent and reliable cake every time, after all. Duncan Hines has been selling cake mixes since 1951, and while its classic yellow cake and devil's food may be highly rated, there are a handful of others that deserve more attention.

When Tasting Table ranked the best boxed cake mixes, Duncan Hines took the top two spots with its yellow cake and Dolly Parton's yellow cake. Obviously, the company has yellow cake down. But there are some lesser-known flavors that are more distinctive and well worth trying. We're not saying these cake mix flavors are poorly rated. In fact, some have a surprising number of positive reviews. It's just that they don't get the same attention as the more obvious Duncan Hines favorites. They're easy to overlook in the cake mix aisle because they're more specialized than basic yellow or chocolate cake and are often associated with specific types of desserts.

That's part of what makes them worth a closer look. A cake mix doesn't have to be the final word on what you're making. It can be a starting point, and some flavors lend themselves particularly well to adding fruit, frosting, spices, fillings, or other ingredients to create something that tastes considerably different from the cake on the box.

Strawberry cake is a hit or miss for some people. If the flavor is too artificial, it can be off-putting, and not everyone likes a fruit-flavored cake. Duncan Hines Signature Strawberry Supreme cake mix has over 1,700 five-star reviews on Walmart's website and has proven itself to be a fan favorite, even if it doesn't share the spotlight with the more well-known flavors. Duncan Hines suggests some ingredient swaps on the box, like trying Greek yogurt instead of oil, to make an even tastier version, but the possibilities don't end there.

Duncan Hines Signature Strawberry cake mix lends itself to a variety of additions and upgrades that can take the cake to a whole new level. The product website even offers recipes that use the cake as a base, including an ice cream cake made with freeze-dried berries and Peeps, and strawberry cupcakes topped with white chocolate buttercream. Other recipes online include fresh strawberries and raspberries to boost the berry flavor and make the cake taste bright and summery.

Strawberry pairs incredibly well with lemon, chocolate, banana, rhubarb, peach, and vanilla. It works with creamy frosting, chewy marshmallow, coconut, crunchy cookies, crumble toppings, and soft, juicy fruit fillings. Though it may seem less versatile than a basic yellow or vanilla cake at first, strawberry offers plenty of possibilities and is worth a second look when you're planning a new dessert.

Duncan Hines teamed up with Dolly Parton in 2022 to introduce a line of cake mixes inspired by some of Parton's favorite Southern recipes. The mixes include staples like yellow cake and chocolate cake, but Parton also brought some more unique flavors to the lineup. Her Banana Cake Mix is a standout not just for Duncan Hines but for boxed cake mixes in general. Though Pillsbury makes a banana cake mix, most other brands, including Betty Crocker, do not.

Dolly Parton's Banana Cake Mix has just under 500 ratings on Walmart's site, and nearly 400 are five stars. Though not nearly as popular as the yellow cake, it still has plenty of fans. It also offers a very unique flavor and texture. Banana is more commonly associated with quick breads than with boxed cake mixes, and banana bread is typically denser than cake.

"This is by far the best cake mix on the market," said one reviewer, noting that they swap the butter in the recipe for mashed bananas. That kind of substitution is one of the reasons this cake deserves more attention. Like the Signature Strawberry mix, banana cake lends itself to the addition of real fruit. Bananas contain less water than many berries and can add body and a more concentrated fruit flavor to a cake. They also pair naturally with flavors like nuts, caramel, and peanut butter. Banana cake is also one of the best cake pairings for chocolate frosting.

Betty Crocker used to have a Sunkist Orange Layer Cake mix that was inspired by a classic orange chiffon cake, but the company no longer makes it. It does offer a Supermoist Orange Cake mix, but it doesn't seem to be available in North America. There are some less well-known brands of orange cake mix available, but many seem to be imported and cost significantly more than Duncan Hines.

On Walmart's website, 86% of the ratings for Duncan Hines Orange Supreme Cake Mix are 5 stars. Reviewers talk about adding marmalade in the center, serving the cake with fresh fruit on top, or substituting orange juice for water in the recipe. You can find recipes online that mix pudding into the cake for a moister, denser crumb, while others include chocolate chips as an homage to a Terry's Chocolate Orange.

Compared to other flavors like chocolate, banana, and even coconut, orange feels lighter and more refreshing. Citrus naturally brightens up other dishes, and we associate it with freshness. Combined with orange juice or zest, fresh fruit, or light whipped cream, the mix can become a dessert that feels very different from a heavier traditional cake flavor.

When Tasting Table ranked all of the Dolly Parton cake mixes, coconut cake came in third overall. That means coconut cake outshone all the other fruit flavors, including strawberry, banana, and her blueberry muffins. Sometimes coconut-flavored products can be overwhelming, but not so with this cake mix. Our taste tester found the flavor pleasantly understated, suggesting that the mix might even appeal to those who aren't big fans of coconut products.

Dolly Parton's Coconut Cake Mix may be the most versatile of her more unusual flavors because coconut pairs well with a range of flavors and spices. You can combine it with lime, pineapple, and other tropical fruits for a cake that tastes bright and summery. It also works with warm baking spices like cardamom, nutmeg, and cloves for a cozy fall or winter cake. Plus, it pairs extremely well with vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter, coffee, or caramel.

The subtle coconut flavor means you can treat this mix less as the main flavor and more as a complement to other ingredients. So instead of simply making a coconut cake, you can make a chocolate and coconut cake, a pumpkin spice Coconut Cake, a coconut mojito cake, or a coconut cream cake. Your creativity is the only limit with this one.

Duncan Hines Signature Spice Cake Mix is arguably the most unique of all Duncan Hines' flavors. Standard cake flavors like vanilla and chocolate often rely on fillings, frostings, fruit, or nuts to turn a basic cake into something more elaborate, but spice cake feels like a fully composed dessert right from the jump. The warm spices we usually associate with pumpkin pie, like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, give the cake a nostalgic, homemade feeling. It brings to mind pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner or a warm mug of cider. That's a feeling most cake mixes can't mimic.

When Tasting Table ranked spice cake mixes, our reviewer was impressed with the taste and texture of Duncan Hines. They liked the spice-forward flavor and found the cake moist and spongy, suggesting that it would make a great layer cake.

Many of the other cakes on this list benefit from the ingredients you can add to them, but spice cake is appealing for the opposite reason. If you're in a hurry and want a flavorful, tasty cake without a lot of extra work, the spice mix is doing the heavy lifting for you. Of course, you can enhance it if you want. You can add cream cheese or maple frosting, candied ginger, apples, nuts, or even something more elaborate like a bourbon caramel. The spice mix works with simple or more complex preparations.