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HuffPost
16 Dec 2023
Claudia Santos
Hello bakers, non-bakers, and boxed cake lovers alike. My name's Claudia, and in case you haven't heard, I like to bake. And while you probably won't find me on "Great British Bake Off" any time soon (although, Paul and Prue, let's chat), you can find me constantly making baked goods for my friends and family.
Claudia Santos
Since we're officially in holiday mad-dash mode and you probably have enough to worry about without thinking of dessert, I wanted to go ahead and try out different boxed cake mixes to find which one would stand out (and save you the holiday baking stress). Here are the six brands I grabbed.
Ross Yoder
And because I could not possibly eat six cakes all by myself, I enlisted the help of my wonderful BuzzFeed coworkers to participate in a blind taste test.
Claudia Santos
Each cake was assigned the same numbers as listed above, and everyone was asked to fill out a form ranking the taste, texture, and moistness (sorry) of each cake from a scale of one (terrible) to five (amazing). The average rating was then calculated for each category, and the average of those was calculated to get an overall rating for each cake.
Claudia Santos
Although not everyone regarded themselves as a baker per se (I actually think that's an even better perspective to have), we definitely all had A LOT of thoughts about each cake and were surprised at how different they all were. So let's not delay this any longer and get into it.
Claudia Santos
6. Jiffy — The brand best known for its cornbread mix delivered a yellow cake with a wildly confusing texture and flavor. I believe the overall consensus here was 'Huh?'
Claudia Santos
A couple of us compared it to angel food cake, and others found that it was reminiscent of cornbread (remember, no one knew this was Jiffy!). Ross also thought it tasted "like the frosted sugar cookies you get in the grocery store, and not in a good way." Like those cookies, it had a very closed crumb and felt fragile, like it could easily dissolve if you dropped it in water. There was also a slight lemony aftertaste that was so off-putting and not at all what you'd expect when biting into a yellow cake.
Claudia Santos
5. Whole Foods — While the flavor of this cake wasn't totally there, it was really the texture that threw everyone for a loop. Half of us described it as a sponge in the worst way possible. As Raven put it, "It's a little bit of a confusing experience."
Claudia Santos
There's no denying that this cake was utterly confusing. Sarah specifically noted that it "tasted like a wet sponge that had been left in the Sahara Desert to dry," and Ross echoed this, saying it was "simultaneously moist and dry." I think I could see visible question marks above everyone's heads as they were eating.
Claudia Santos
The flavor was just...dull with a lack of sweetness despite it having a comparable amount of sugar to the rest of the mixes. I don't even think a hefty scoop of frosting could salvage this unfortunately.
Ross Yoder
In a surprising twist, it was actually the cake most people grabbed from the kitchen at the end of the day. Which was a mystery to EVERYONE.
Claudia Santos
4. Trader Joe's — Yet again, we were confused with this dense, short cake. I wouldn't say the issue with Trader Joe's was that we didn't like it, but that it more closely resembles a poundcake than the standard yellow cake it's sold as.
Claudia Santos
Reviews here were a little mixed. No one outright said they didn't like it, but a couple of us equated the taste and texture to pound cake more than a yellow cake. Raven thought it was "not crumbly at all and pretty moist without feeling like a wet towel in your mouth," while Sarah thought it "tasted like a pancake" and "not like a traditional yellow cake." So thoughts were a bit all over the place. Having eaten six slices of cake at this point could've also been a contributing factor.
Claudia Santos
It was dense, short, and slightly on the drier side. It was also the last cake everyone tried so we definitely had a lot to compare it to. The richness of the butter did give it a bit of a higher-quality feel, but I actually think a mix of butter and oil could've given it a rich taste while maintaining moisture. On the plus side, the sweetness level was perfect.
Claudia Santos
Funnily enough, a majority of the testers guessed that this was Trader Joe's, probably because it was so different from the other five (and TJ's is always trying to be a lil' different).
Claudia Santos
3. Duncan Hines — Although a little less yellow and a little more brown, this felt like a run-of-the-mill, exactly-what-you'd-expect boxed cake. It wasn't quite a winner in anyone's eyes, but certainly not a loser.
Claudia Santos
Overall, no one was singing the praises of Duncan Hines, but we all thought it was a solid cake. Ajani found it to be "not overwhelmingly sweet nor too bland," which most of us agreed with. However, Sarah thought it "could have been a tad sweeter." There was definitely more of a subtle taste to it, and given that I thought the dry mix resembled Jiffy's, I found it funny when both Raven and Victoria compared it to cornbread.
Claudia Santos
The crumb was a little more open, and it rose a bit higher than the other cakes, making it super fluffy. But I found the texture to be ever so slightly too spongy.
Claudia Santos
2. Pillsbury — This nostalgic-tasting cake didn't disappoint anyone with a sweet tooth. This is exactly the flavor (and color) you'd remember from so many childhood birthday parties.
Claudia Santos
A few of us compared the flavor of Pillsbury to a Funfetti cake, and that's really the best way I can describe it. It was sweeter than the rest with that distinct artificial vanilla taste. Even though I thought it could easily knock me into a sugar coma, both Ross and Sarah found it to be "sweet but not too sweet." For better or worse, it also had the most attention-grabbing yellow color of any of the cakes.
Claudia Santos
The texture was really nice, albeit with a bit more of an open crumb than I'd like, and, as Ross put it, it was "moist without being wet" (i.e. that sliminess you can sometimes get with a boxed cake). For what it's worth, people who grabbed it in the office also loved it.
Claudia Santos
And almost everyone knew this was Pillsbury from the start. It's probably safe to assume this was a brand a lot of people grew up with and immediately recognized.
Claudia Santos
1. Betty Crocker — Perfectly balanced with a consistent crumb, Betty really is *that* girl. While this one tied with Pillsbury, I had to give the edge to Betty for delivering a boxed cake that wasn't overwhelmingly sweet nor too spongey.
Claudia Santos
The fact that this was the fifth cake we ate and I had no problem taking several bites is a sure sign of how good it was. I found the sweetness to be the perfect balance of Pillsbury and Duncan Hines, and it hit on that nostalgic taste without tasting too artificial. Sarah compared it to "eating a sugar-laced cloud," and Ross thought it was "a little more substantial and rich" than Pillsbury.
Ross Yoder
This had more of a closed crumb than Duncan Hines or Pillsbury, but more open than a cake like Jiffy, giving it that signature fluff without the sponginess. The moisture level felt just right, with Ajani noting that he "could literally hear the *squish*" when cutting through it. That's when I discovered Betty Crocker had a secret ingredient: corn syrup, which can help cake batter retain moisture.