Pillsbury, Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker: Which brands make the best yellow cake mix? Our team tried eight different boxed mixes to find out.
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.
Learn more.
This yellow cake recipe with chocolate icing has a perfect five-star rating. However, we know that stirring up a top-rated cake isn’t always in the cards on a busy night. That’s when you open up the pantry and pull out the best yellow cake mix you can find.
But which mix really is the best? Our Test Kitchen team had to find out! With a great cake mix, you can make a basic cake in a flash—or even stir up these recipes that start with cake mix.
King Arthur Baking Company Golden Yellow Cake Mix
Forgot it was your turn to bring the office birthday cake or to stir up some sweets for the bake sale? If you ask our Test Kitchen, no one will suspect that your tender yellow cake came from a box when you use King Arthur Baking Company Golden Yellow Cake Mix.
Yes, this boxed cake mix is that good. “This one really does taste like a homemade cake,” says Mark Neufang in the Test Kitchen.
Taste testers remarked on how this cake had all the classic yellow cake flavors of butter, sugar and vanilla, but it also had a hint of almond to create a more complex taste. Little touches like that can take a cake from plain ol’ box mix into homemade territory.
Yes, this cake was slightly denser than others in our taste test, but our team still enjoyed the moist texture. This cake didn’t crumble very easily and was a really wonderful bite.
Mark summarizes the appeal of this cake best: “Please serve me a piece of this with thick fudge frosting,” he says.
Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix
Creating a light and fluffy cake from scratch can be a challenge. But with Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix, you can get a perfectly lofty cake with minimal effort.
“What stands out is the nice height and tender crumb of this cake,” says the Test Kitchen’s Maggie Knoebel.
Betty Crocker makes a yellow cake mix that has lift and a wonderfully light texture. It’s the sort of cake that may have you asking for a second slice.
Besides the texture, our team explains that the vanilla flavor of the cake is prominent and the color is beautifully golden. The fluffy nature of this cake may make it more challenging to frost with thick icing (think storebought frosting), but a super light buttercream would be the perfect match.
Pillsbury Moist Supreme Yellow Cake Mix
When you’re frosting a cake, you need a cake that won’t crumble under the spatula. That cake, according to our Test Kitchen, is Pillsbury Moist Supreme Yellow Cake Mix.
Having a good structure is key, especially when stacking a layer cake or carving cakes into a new shape, like with this classic Easter bunny cake. A cake that’s too soft will collapse under the frosting or will leave crumbs tangled in the icing. Fortunately, this Pillsbury yellow cake mix “makes a sturdy cake that would be easy to frost,” says Shannon Norris in the Test Kitchen.
But don’t let the term “sturdy” scare you! This cake is still springy and tender with a classic yellow cake flavor. You’ll get notes of vanilla without any cloying sweetness.
Baker’s Corner Classic Yellow Cake Mix
