After Taste-Testing 8 Chocolate Cake Mixes, These Are the 2 Our Editors Would Serve to Guests

Boxed cake mix is a go-to for anyone in a pinch. Some, including my boyfriend, even prefer it to homemade. Every year, he requests Funfetti on his birthday, but he doesn't want a from-scratch cake—he'd rather have the specific flavor of a boxed mix, which brings him back to his childhood. I'm more than happy to comply: Boxed cake mix saves time, energy, and dishes, and it costs a fraction of what a bakery cake would. Add some frosting and candles, and you have a birthday cake, all for less than $15. Even I, a self-proclaimed bad baker, can make eight of them at once without breaking a sweat. 

But not all mixes are created equal. Some deliver a perfect, moist crumb, while others have the bitter, soapy flavor of too much baking soda, or rise (or even fall) unevenly. To find the best chocolate cake mixes actually worth your time, we taste-tested eight widely available brands you're likely to find at your local grocery store. We baked them according to the package directions, sampled them in random order, tabulated the results, and crowned two overall winners.

The Criteria

We entered this taste test assuming all the products would be for layer-style cakes, but as you'll see in our winners section, our absolute favorite pleasantly surprised us with its decidedly fudgy consistency—not suitable for layer cakes, but great for chocolate lovers.

For layer-style cakes, a good mix needs to thread a needle: It should be moist but not gummy, and fluffy without being dry. It should have a pronounced chocolate flavor that's dark, rich, and bittersweet, and not cloyingly sweet. Structure is also key: The cake should bake without collapsing or excessively doming, and have enough structural integrity to be stacked and frosted without collapsing under its own weight or crumbling when sliced.

Overall Winner

The Best Layer-Cake-Style Boxed Mix: Bob's Red Mill Decadent Chocolate Cake Mix

This was the only mix that nailed the balance of being moist but structured, with plenty of chocolaty flavor without tasting artificial. Our associate culinary editor, Laila, described it as having a "pleasant, clear chocolate flavor." She noted a "nice chew with a slightly gummy, somewhat dense crumb," but found it very enjoyable to eat overall.

Our editorial director, Daniel, identified this as the most versatile option for bakers. "Good basic chocolate flavor, no off flavors…seems like the one to beat," he wrote in his tasting notes. He added, "This is more or less what I'd want—light, tender, not overly fluffy but not in any way dense or dry. This will stack and layer with frosting perfectly."

While our associate visuals director, Amanda, noted that this mix was "a little dry" compared to the pudding-like textures of some competitors, the trade-off was a firmer structure that would actually function well as a layer cake without crumbling.

The Best Boxed Mix for Chocolate Lovers (Who Don't Plan to Make a Layer Cake): King Arthur Chocolate Indulgence Cake Mix

This mix is in a league of its own. The caveat: It's more of a fudgy torte than an American-style chocolate cake intended for layering. The mix came with chocolate wafers and instructions for making a ganache topping with heavy cream, which we left out, as the other chocolate cakes were served without toppings.  

While Amada wasn't sold on this cake style (possibly because it was among a group of more classic layer-cake samples), the other tasters thought it was top-tier. Daniel extolled it for its "excellent chocolate flavor," a sentiment Laila shared. "Very sweet and strongly chocolatey, with a rich, fudgy profile that reads closer to a brownie than a cake," she wrote. Daniel put it clearly: "As a standalone chocolate dessert in the style of a flourless chocolate cake, it's pretty awesome." 

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Classic Chocolate Cake Mix 
• Betty Crocker's Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• Bob's Red Mill Decadent Chocolate Cake Mix
• Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• King Arthur Chocolate Indulgence Cake Mix
• King Arthur Deliciously Simple Chocolate Cake Mix 
• Miss Jones Baking Co. Organic Chocolate Cake Mix 
• Pillsbury Moist Supreme Chocolate Cake Mix

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Chocolate cake mix is typically made with flour, sugar, cocoa powder, leaveners—such as baking powder and/or baking soda—salt, and natural flavors. One of our winners, Bob's Red Mill Decadent Chocolate Cake Mix, is made with sugar, a flour blend that contains malted barley flour and potato starch, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and natural flavors. 

Though Bob's Red Mill Decadent Chocolate Cake Mix has sugar as its first ingredient, our tasters didn't find it overly sweet. Interestingly, it also contains a non-flour-based starch: Bob's Red Mill uses potato starch. In his guide to potato starch, Serious Eats contributor Tim Chin notes that in baked goods, the ingredient "improves crispness, and inhibits gluten formation in wheat flour formulations, resulting in a more delicate texture." 

One other favorite mix, King Arthur Chocolate Indulgence Cake Mix, may not fit the mold of a classic American chocolate cake. However, our editors still loved it for its fudginess and rich chocolate flavor. It, too, lists sugar as its first ingredient, followed by a "quick and easy mousse mix," cocoa, sea salt, and natural flavor. The pudding-like cake is hands-down the best option if you want a deeply chocolaty cake—just keep in mind it won't hold up to stacking and frosting. 

All of our top picks are also made with Dutch process cocoa powder, or cocoa processed with alkali. Cocoa is naturally acidic, which can lead to a sharp, tangy flavor. Processing it with alkali helps to neutralize that acidity. In her guide to the best Dutch cocoa powders, former Serious Eats editor Stella Parks notes that Dutch-process cocoa powder is often "higher in fat, lower in starch, and more aromatic all around, with a mahogany color and a flavor profile that emphasizes cocoa's darker, nuttier, earthier tones."

Our editors found that cake mixes containing sodium aluminum phosphate (SAP), a leavening agent made with aluminum, tasted metallic. Our winner from Bob's Red Mill uses sodium acid pyrophosphate, a leavener made without metals. 

For a classic birthday cake that stacks well, tastes clean, and stays moist, we recommend choosing a cake mix with a short ingredient list that includes Dutch-process cocoa powder and a starch of some kind.   

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets, ranking the samples according to various criteria. All data is tabulated, and results are calculated with no editorial input to provide the most impartial representation of actual results possible.