5 Discontinued Duncan Hines Cake Mixes Boomers Will Remember Well

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

For boomers, homemade cake was a part of growing up. As kids in the 1950s and '60s, boomers watched their mothers spend hours in the kitchen in brightly colored aprons whipping up seven-layer salads, complicated meals to feed their whole family, and baked goods made from scratch. So when Duncan Hines came out with its boxed cake mixes in 1951, boomer-era moms welcomed them as a way to cut a few corners, pare down the labor, and still make something tasty that was (mostly) homemade.

Born in 1880 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Duncan Hines was a real dude. But before he was the man behind the cake mix, he was first a traveling salesman. Hines made a name for himself by frequenting restaurants in the many places he travelled and writing down his recommendations, and people paid attention. He penned "Adventures in Good Eating," a restaurant guide published in 1938 which ultimately made him a household name.

In addition to Hines' already-successful career, he later teamed up with food scientist Arlen Andre to become the king of cake mix. Packaged cake mix had been around since the 1930s, but Andre discovered that perfecting and patenting his own version was a piece of cake. Adding the already well-known Duncan Hines name to it was the key to popularizing the brand.

Originally called Hines-Park Foods, the company debuted with two cake mix flavors in 1951 and quickly expanded to include many more. Duncan Hines cake mixes soon infiltrated kitchens everywhere. Below are some of the cake mix flavors that boomers ate in their youth which didn't survive the decades.

Once upon a time, Duncan Hines introduced its caramel cake. It had caramel flavor in the cake itself and caramel flavor in the frosting, and it made many a boomer happy. This old-school mix eventually disappeared into the annals of cake history. They just don't make cake mixes like they used to.

"My grandma LOVED this cake mix. She was so sad when they discontinued it," someone posted on Reddit. Those whose childhood was made better by the consumption of this cake continue searching for a worthwhile replacement. If that sounds like you, you might consider seeking out a copycat recipe which comes close to replicating the bygone cake mix.

In the early 1960s, Duncan Hines released a series of cake mixes it called Early American. These mixes came in a variety of flavors, including Date Nut, Butter Pecan, Fudge Nut, Cherry Almond, and Applesauce Raisin. They were apparently meant to harken back to the days when our founding fathers were eating cake that was simple yet rich and made from ingredients cultivated from the Earth's bountiful harvests — just as cake is meant to be. 

Those were the days when petticoat-wearing colonialists boiled applesauce in a cauldron over an open flame in the hearth specifically for the purpose of being baked into a good cake. At least, that's the picturesque vision which the ads for these cake mixes depicted. Duncan Hines Early American Cake Mixes included chunky ingredients such as dates and nuts right inside the boxed mix. "Different from cake today," the ads exclaimed. "Simple, unfrosted, but inside rich and moist." Sadly, every last one of the flavors in the series has long since been discontinued.

Duncan Hines has put out many delicious cake mixes, but this one really takes the cake. Back in the 1970s, the company came out with a Sour Cream Chocolate cake mix that was so chocolatey it was said to be good enough to appease even the chocolate connoisseurs of Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of The Hershey Company. Made with sour cream to improve both the flavor and texture along with plenty of chocolate, this cake mix proved itself worthy in a town where the (chocolate) bar is set high.

Burnt sugar cakes (often called burnt leather cakes due to their characteristic color) have a long, sweet history. Sometimes associated with New England but more frequently connected to Southern black culture, this cake is a longstanding tradition that began as far back as the 1800s. The trick to making burnt sugar cake is incorporating a special syrup made with caramelized sugar that is then combined with the other ingredients. The end result brings together the flavors of crème brulé and home-baked cake.

Duncan Hines brought out its boxed-mix version of this cake in the 1950s, attempting to simulate the original, time-honored recipe by including its own caramelized sugar syrup alongside the mix in every box. A scratch version of the cake is especially labor-intensive to make, so having a mix that helped ease the process should have guaranteed its longevity; but as the popularity of the cake flavor slowly faded, so did the success of the mix. The glory days of Duncan Hines Burnt Sugar Cake were short-lived, as it was discontinued in the 1960s.

Duncan Hines has long sold itself on the concept of being the moistest cake around — so moist that they're supposed to be good even without the frosting. Today, the cake mixes are still labeled as "Perfectly Moist," but Duncan Hines' line of Moist Deluxe cake mixes (of which key lime, raspberry, and yellow were just some of the flavors) have dried up and been discontinued.

Considering much of the English-speaking world's aversion to the word "moist," it's interesting that Duncan Hines runs on an entire platform of moistness, but it certainly works for cake mixes. The cake company continues to make a Classic Yellow cake mix today (which we think rises above Pillsbury) minus the Moist Deluxe branding, but both raspberry and key lime are long gone.