Make The Chocolate Cake Of Your Dreams With Our Favorite Store-Bought Mix

Preparing a decadent chocolate cake from scratch isn't rocket science, but it does involve careful measuring. Using a store-bought mix makes the process much easier because the dry ingredients come pre-weighed, but how do you know which of those colorful boxes on the shelves is the best? We baked, tested, and ranked eight store-bought chocolate cake mixes to find out (it's a tough job but someone's got to do it). The one brand that's guaranteed to make the chocolate cake of your dreams is the Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Devil's Food Cake.

We prepared the cake mix with the standard addition of water, eggs, and vegetable oil, and the result was a wonderfully moist cake that was rich and satisfying. It had a soft and fluffy texture and an incredible spongy quality to it. Plus, it rose better than any of the other brands we tried. Put simply, it blew us away because it looked and tasted like a classic chocolate cake ought to. Perfect for making up to 24 cupcakes, a large sheet cake, or two sandwich cakes, the basic mix can be supplemented with richer ingredients too. For instance, you can replace the water with milk to elevate its tender crumb or substitute the oil with Greek yogurt, refined coconut oil, or applesauce to boost its moisture content.

Duncan Hines Devil's Cake contains the standard ingredients found in similar boxed cakes, such as flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and a leavening agent. However, it also contains cornstarch, which may account for its soft and fluffy texture (this powdered starch makes baked goods tender and light by reducing some of the protein content in the batter). The cake mix has some incredible five-star reviews on the Duncan Hines website too. "Easy, moist, rich, and decadent," said one shopper. "You can't beat the price or the sweetness of this cake mix. Great chocolate flavor, beautiful bouncy look, for a celebration or an any day indulgence." Meanwhile, another said, "I have bought this cake so many times that I just [cannot] stop! Delicious is a beginning, but what I like the most [is that] I can make it and know it will not let me down."

Duncan Hines carries several other yummy cake boxes, such as classic yellow cake, lemon supreme, red velvet, and even a line of baking mixes made in partnership with Dolly Parton, which includes banana nut muffins, buttermilk pancakes, and cinnamon swirl crumb cake.

The worst product in our taste test was Walmart's Great Value Deluxe Moist Devil's Food Chocolate Cake Mix. It was priced at an affordable $1 per box, but the flavor wasn't chocolatey enough, and it had an artificial taste that made it not worth the buck.