I Asked 6 Bakers To Name the Best Boxed Cake Mix—They All Said the Same Brand

Cake mixes don’t take up much real estate in my pantry. When it comes time to bake a birthday cake, I turn to the beloved Best Birthday Cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen. However, I’m all too familiar with the late-night run to the grocery store to pick up a boxed mix and icing when the inevitable “Oh shoot, THAT’S tomorrow?!” happens.

I’ve tried several boxed cake mixes, some better than others. I put all of them in the same box—good, not great.

Is there one brand out there that's as good as the best homemade vanilla cake? I had to find out, so I reached out to the pros—and they have opinions. Too dry, too sweet, too artificial, too dense, too complicated, and not worth the price. The good news is that six bakers and pastry chefs I asked named the same brand as their go-to.

The Pro Bakers and Pastry Chefs I Asked

• Dorothy Kern: Author and blogger at Crazy for Crust
• Lindsey Ann: Kid-friendly recipe blogger at Lindsey Ann Bakes
• Kennedy Meyers: Blogger and baker of @kennedymeye
• Fatima Chehab: Blogger and baker of The Fairy Who Bakes
• Aunt Jane: My real aunt Jane, and one of the best bakers I know
• Melissa Kauper: Author, chef, and baker at @melissajorealrecipes  

The Best Boxed Cake Mix, According to the Pros

Despite the many options of boxed cake mix available on the grocery shelves, one response came back the loudest: Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Vanilla Mix. It’s beloved for its moist texture, delicious flavor, and affordable price. It sounds like a win-win-win to me!

Not only did the bakers I talked to share a united opinion, but in a taste test for Simply Recipes, Megan Splawn, a professional baker and food editor, taste-tested seven boxed cake mixes and came to the same conclusion. Betty Crocker is a winner!

What the Pros Love About This Boxed Cake Mix

Dorothy loves Betty Crocker for its nostalgic flavor: “I love Betty Crocker because it’s the one I grew up using.” This resonates with me. My Aunt Jane’s baking creations are the highlights of all our family get-togethers, and while she typically relies on her homemade recipes, I recently found out her classic coffee cake recipe uses Betty Crocker box mix as a base. She opts for Betty Crocker because the other popular options taste artificial.

Famed chef and baker Melissa says, “It’s so hard to choose my favorite box cake mix; however, I feel the Betty Crocker Super Moist takes the cake because it’s not too sweet and super fluffy and bouncy!” That’s an endorsement I’ll take any day.

Lindsey also proved that Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow comes out on top in her own taste test. Baking extraordinaire Fatima adds, “Regardless of the fact that baking a cake from scratch hits differently, my go-to boxed cake mix would be Betty Crocker Super Moist. It reminds me of my childhood! 

Much like my aunt’s coffee cake technique, many bakers use a boxed mix as a base for a more complicated recipe or doctor up the boxed mix. Pastry chef Kennedy says, “My go-to is Betty Crocker. With a little vanilla bean paste, you’d never be able to tell it wasn’t made from scratch! I use it for anything: tiered cakes, cake pops, cupcakes! It'll melt in your mouth as long as you don’t overbake it.”

The experts of spoken: Of all the boxed cake mix options, Betty Crocker Super Moist is the one you should reach for.