Duncan Hines Vs Pillsbury: This Brand's Yellow Cake Mix Is The Hands-Down Best

Baking, as the saying goes, is science. This maxim is certainly true and it's a skill that not everyone has. My wife can bake from scratch and I admire her for that because I cannot. Fortunately, for amateurs like me, there are cake mixes that make things a bit easier. Two of the best known brands are Duncan Hines and Pillsbury. They make mixes for many different flavors, including one of the classics. Yellow cake is tasty and versatile. You can make one from a good mix. But which of these two national brands has the best mix hands down?

That's what I set out to find. I baked two cakes, using both Duncan Hines and Pillsbury. Despite having access to an expert, I baked them myself. How else to fairly evaluate how easy each is to prepare and how clear the directions are? I did not use the simple temperature adjustment to make a box mix bakery-level. I followed the directions exactly. When they came out of the oven, I sampled each for its texture and mouthfeel, taste on its own, and taste with frosting. Let's find out who came out on top in this battle of baking giants. 

The purpose of a boxed cake mix is to allow people who are not skilled bakers (like me) to produce a tasty cake that looks pretty good. Simple, easy to follow directions are the key. The Duncan Hines mix was just that. All I needed was the mix, three eggs, half a cup of vegetable oil, and a cup of water. Items that are pantry staples. The directions suggested possible substitutes for the oil: plain Greek yogurt or applesauce. I went with the straight up recipe. No tricks. I popped the ingredients into my wife's handy stand mixer and I was off and running. First, 30 seconds on low, and then two minutes on medium and the batter looked, well, like cake batter. I decided to go with a sheet pan, because that seemed easier than building a layer cake and I am no Buddy Valastro. 

The directions called for 23 to 28 minutes in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven. At the minimum time, I checked the cake. It sprung back when pressed, the toothpick came out clean. That was easy enough. I put it aside to cool and was pretty impressed that Duncan Hines could guide me through the process so painlessly. Top marks for the brand in ease of baking. Let's check out the competition.

Moving on to the Pillsbury cake, I was at first surprised to find that the recipes were nearly identical. The ingredients were the mix, eggs, oil, and water in the same measurements. Pillsbury also suggested the Greek yogurt and applesauce substitutions. Thinking about the precision required of baking, I realized that it made perfect sense for the recipes to be the same. The only difference was in the stand mixer. I only needed the two minutes on medium. I saved 30 seconds, which was nice. One plus for Pillsbury was the alternate recipe on the side of the box for mini cakes. Versatility is always welcome, but I stuck with the standard cake. The batter looked nice and I was tempted to taste it. However, the cake mix is not one of the Pillsbury dough products that are safe to eat raw.

The oven temperature was the same at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, but the time was 34 to 38 minutes, so I lost my 30 second advantage. Just like its worthy competitor, the Pillsbury cake showed a clean toothpick at the minimum time. When I did the spring test, I noticed that it was firmer than the Duncan Hines as well as slightly darker. Putting it aside to cool, I turned my attention back to Duncan Hines.

I may not be an expert cake baker, but I am a pretty experienced cake eater. One thing I know is that texture and mouthfeel are important parts of the experience. I prefer a light, airy texture with a good crumb. Most people I know do as well. The Duncan Hines definitely had that appearance. It was a nice sponge with the air pockets and had the squishiness of a quality cake. The right look and the right feel to the fingers. A pretty good looking cake if I do say so myself. Now, how did it feel in the mouth?

I'll rate the flavor in the next section, but as for texture, the Duncan Hines cake had a nice chewiness. Not too firm or dense, but with enough substance to make for a very nice bite. It was light and had a creaminess. I'm not sure where that came from but it was there. I really enjoyed this cake and was surprised that it was me who baked it. Top points for texture. Duncan Hines continues its roll.

Appearance wise, the Pillsbury cake had an attractive texture. It looked like sponge with the requisite air holes and seemed to have a decent crumb. Now, if you remember, out of the oven, it felt firmer than the Duncan Hines. After cooling, it had that same firm feel. Not necessarily a bad thing, but what about in the mouth? Well, it definitely lacked the softness of its competitor. The Pillsbury cake was chewier, but not in a bad way. I preferred the Duncan Hines texture, but the Pillsbury was just fine. Now to the bad news.

The Pillsbury cake had the sin that bakers on competition shows often get dinged for. It was dry. Dry while eating, and it left that dry feeling after I swallowed the bite. I know many people like to wash down cake with a glass of milk, but I've never been a milk drinker and I feel a cake should be able to stand on its own without the help of a beverage. Not to mention the box labeled this mix as the "moist supreme." The applesauce or yogurt is probably the way to go. This was a major knock against the Pillsbury cake. Can it bounce back? Let's move on to taste.

Flavor and texture go hand in hand, but I will try to separate the two. The Duncan Hines cake was an ideal yellow cake to my taste buds. I'm not a fan of overly sweet anything, and this tasty treat had a nice subtle level of sweetness. It was delicious even without frosting. Unlike Pillsbury, the Duncan Hines cake was perfectly moist, which contributed to the creaminess I experienced. It was almost like a hint of vanilla. It was a textbook example of why yellow cake is among the most popular of all. I couldn't wait to get some frosting on it. It was that good.

Did I say it was good? I couldn't stop sampling it. I told myself I was just being thorough, but honestly, I just wanted more cake. It wasn't easy, but I made it a point to save some for the frosting test. With its performance in plain flavor, Duncan Hines continued its strong showing and began to open up a wider gap to Pillsbury. Even without frosting, it was a great bite. So far, not a single weakness has been detected in the Duncan Hines mix.

If I base this rating purely on flavor, Pillsbury came out pretty well. It had about the same level of sweetness as Duncan Hines, which for me is perfect. It had a nice yellow cake flavor as well. It lacked that hint of vanilla I detected in the competition, which puts it a notch behind. It was actually pretty close. Closer than the texture test. Unfortunately for Pillsbury, texture does affect taste, and that dropped it further behind in this category.

The dryness of the sponge downgraded the overall taste, making each bite less pleasant than it could be. The creamy texture of the Duncan Hines elevated it, and since Pillsbury didn't have that, it opened the gap a bit wider. The cake clearly needed the help of frosting, but since this was the plain test, it did not stand a chance. Adding the applesauce or Greek yogurt certainly would have helped. If you decide to try the Pillsbury mix, I recommend using one of these alternate ingredients. Or, instead, you could just try one of Pillsbury's new bakery-inspired treats.

For the frosting test, I decided to use two different flavors to really get a measure of how the cakes' flavors stood up. Chocolate is classic with yellow cake. Hard as it may be to believe, not everyone likes chocolate so I also tried it with cream cheese frosting. These were store-bought frostings. Pillsbury in fact. I'm spoiled by my wife's homemade recipes, but these were pretty good and suitable for the test. I didn't try this, but you can also make store-bought frosting a whole lot smoother by adding butter.

The cake paired beautifully with the chocolate for that iconic baked good pairing. The subtle sweetness of the cake allowed the much sweeter chocolate frosting to do its job while maintaining a good balance. Two thumbs up for that one. The cream cheese frosting took things to another level. This was a moist frosting with just enough sweetness. Combined with the moist cake, each bite was sublime. I enjoyed it so much I didn't even notice how poorly I spread the frosting. Zero presentation points for me, but a maximum score for Duncan Hines yellow cake with frosting. This was quickly becoming a blowout.

Now for Pillsbury's turn. Same two frostings, classic chocolate and tasty cream cheese. Pillsbury enjoyed a home frosting advantage. I didn't use the butter trick here either because that would not be fair, although by this point, Pillsbury could use a handicap. Nevertheless, the store-bought frosting right out of the can did help. The yellow cake's flavor paired nicely with the chocolate and was a little less dry, but not enough to make it delicious. The dry aftertaste remained, and the cake was not much better than it was plain.

The cream cheese frosting added plenty of moisture. As long as I got a bite with a sufficient amount of frosting, it was a good-tasting piece of cake. I can safely say that if you bake the Pillsbury, the cream cheese frosting can elevate it to a nice box-mix dessert. You might even want to make your own and take some inspiration from our list of every type of frosting ranked by difficulty. There is hope for the Pillsbury yellow cake with frosting, but not nearly enough to reach Duncan Hines' level. 

Summing up the results for the Duncan Hines yellow cake leads to an impressive finish. Now, I certainly can't say it's as good as my wife's or any other good baker's cake from scratch, but it was very tasty. The fact that I was able to make it myself was pretty incredible and says a lot for the mix. It was very easy to prepare, had little prep time, and baked quickly. The flavor and texture were on point. Except for my clumsy hands trying to smooth on the frosting, this was an easy task with a strong result.

Both plain and with each type of frosting, I really enjoyed sampling this yellow cake. I think an experienced baker who knows the tricks to elevating box mixes and how to decorate and make a layer cake could put together something pretty fabulous with this pick from Duncan Hines. Especially given a novice like me managed to bake a pretty decent cake. Even my expert baker wife liked it. Duncan Hines absolutely shined in this showdown.

Pillsbury is an iconic brand that makes all kinds of quality baked goods. With all due respect to the Doughboy, the yellow cake mix is not one of them. It was every bit as easy to make as Duncan Hines and baked quickly. I had no trouble in popping out a cake in a reasonable amount of time. From there, it went a little downhill. The flavor was actually pretty good, but texturally it came up way short. The dryness of the sponge could not be overcome with the chocolate frosting, and although it was better with the cream cheese, it couldn't touch the Duncan Hines.

Once again, if you are a fan of Pillsbury and an experienced baker, you could probably fix the dryness problem with the addition of moist ingredients such as those suggested on the box. But if you are a baking newbie, this may be a bit too much of a challenge. Maybe try dipping a small piece of cake into a big wad of frosting. But then, of course, the cake would not be the star.

No need for a drumroll or anything so dramatic. If you've made it this far, you know who the winner is. It's Duncan Hines by 30 lengths. With the two mixes equal in ease of baking, Duncan Hines was a bit better in flavor and crushed Pillsbury in the texture category. This led to its impressive victory. I actually enjoyed baking these cakes much more than I thought I would, and I truly liked eating the Duncan Hines. It provided dessert for the rest of the week.

So, if you are a rookie baker, or even have some experience under your belt, go with the Duncan Hines. With a bit of creativity, you can make a birthday cake or one suitable for a holiday celebration. If you end up with a big crowd of guests, fear not. You can use the genius technique for cutting a cake in 56 slices. Make the whole neighborhood happy.