Cake mixes are convenient, to be sure, but no matter how convenient they are, it’s not worth using one if it’s not going to taste good. The Ad Hoc cake mix I tried recently is very tasty, but at $14 per box, it is priced way above a regular grocery store cake mix. How do those mixes stack up? Good Housekeeping put a few more widely available yellow cake mixes to the text in a recent issue (April 2010) to see.
They tested a total of 11 brands, but ended up only rating their top three finishers. The winner was King Arthur Flour’s Golden Vanilla Cake Mix. This mix was described as not-too-sweet with a homemade flavor, but some tasters noted that it was “a tad dry and ‘a little gritty.'” The runners up were Betty Crocker SuperMoist Golden Vanilla Cake Mix, which had a light, fluffy texture and a well-balanced, buttery flavor, although it was knocked down slightly for having a slightly artificial vanilla flavor to it. Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden Premium Cake Mix was close behind, also with a light and moist texture. The buttery flavor of this cake tasted artificial and “buttered-popcorn-like” which did not earn high marks with the tasters.
So, all had their drawbacks, but had enough high points (light, fluffy textures) to make they worth it in a pinch, especially when they all came in under $5 per box. I have to guess from the descriptions of the “winning” cakes that the Ad Hoc mix was better than all of these, as I had no reservations about the flavor or texture of the cake, but since I still do have reservations about its price, I’m not sure that I would put it in my pantry as a backup before any of these.
marcella
April 2, 2010Have you tried the Trader Joe’s vanilla cake mix? It only makes a 9″ square pan or 12 cupcakes, so it’s smaller than the standard box mix. However, we really like and and think it tastes more homemade than other brands.
Richard @ The Bewildered Brit
April 2, 2010Blimey! 14 bucks for a cake mix?! It sounds like it was good, but: Blimey O’Riley that’s a lot of money! 🙂
JanH
April 2, 2010You can also make your own cake mix from scratch-much better flavor than store-bought mixes and you can control exactly what goes in it. It won’t require a chemistry degree to read the package, nor a bank loan to purchase the stuff.
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April 5, 2010I’ve tried Ad Hoc cake mix and yes it is very tasty. for me it’s worth the money.
LJ
April 5, 2010Interesting that the King Arthur mix got dinged for being dry. I’d presume its ingredient list was the cleanest of the bunch–most like a homemade cake. I’ve found that many people that have grown up eating squidgily moist, open-crumbed supermarket or mix cakes end up feeling that a real, homemade butter cake of impeccable taste and texture seems dry… *sigh*
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April 6, 2010True…It’s not worth to use a cake powder that taste is not good. I will ask to my wife to try this cake powder.