This Food24 Taste Test reveals which vanilla store-bought cake mix is the best

A boxed vanilla cake mix is the ultimate convenience when it comes to sweet pantry staples. Whether you’re looking to make a quick layer cake, a large tray bake cake, cupcakes, or a sticky and spongy dessert, a vanilla cake mix has many uses!

We put six different vanilla cake mix boxes to the Food24 Taste Test. Each sample was anonymously sampled to determine which yielded the best-tasting vanilla cake. Most of the cake mixes required three basic ingredient additions, namely eggs, oil and milk. Each sample was tasted plain, without the addition of buttercream icing, even though some of the cake mixes came with vanilla icing mix included.

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Aspects such as sweetness, vanilla flavour and texture were taken into consideration when awarding each sample an overall score.

Pick n Pay Vanilla-flavoured Cake Mix: 4/5

This sample was the winning vanilla cake for the day. Not only did it taste great but it is also super affordable. The batter was easy to mix – all you have to do is measure and mix everything together. The cake had a beautifully golden crust with a delicate, white sponge centre. Voters felt it set the benchmark for boxed vanilla cake mix. They noted it was wonderfully light and fluffy with a pleasant vanilla flavour. Despite being light and fluffy, it was also perfectly moist without being dense.

Pillsbury French Vanilla Cake Mix: 3/5

This was the most expensive cake box mix out of those sampled and it was the only sample that used water instead of milk in the batter. The cake itself was easy to mix in a matter of moments and baked evenly with a beautiful golden finish. Some samplers noted that the cake had a very artificial vanilla flavour, which left a bit of a lingering aftertaste. But, otherwise, it was well-balanced in terms of sweetness and had a good crumb to it, while still being moist.

Golden Cloud Vanilla-flavoured Cake Mix: 2.5/5

The cake batter mixed easily and had a good rise after baking with a pleasing golden finish. But voters felt this sample lacked sweetness and did not deliver on the vanilla flavour. While the cake was moist, the overall taste was on the bland side, which caused the overall score to suffer quite a bit.

Woolworths Vanilla Cake Mix: 2.5/5

This was the only sample where the flour mix was separate from the sugar. The method for making the batter also differed slightly to the other samples. The eggs and sugar have to be beaten until light and fluffy before adding the other ingredients. The cake itself had a nice rise to it with a pleasing golden finish. However, voters felt this cake mix was far too sweet, which overpowered the delicate vanilla flavour and the overall enjoyment.

Ina Paarman’s Vanilla Cake: 3/5

The batter used hot milk instead of cold. The cake had quite a domed appearance after baking, but the finish was golden with a spongy crumb centre. The voters were most divided when it came to this cake sample. Some noted it was a good and enjoyable vanilla cake while others felt it was a bit too sweet, noting that the sweetness overpowered the vanilla flavour. Some voters also noted that there was a prominent baking powder aftertaste. The mixed reviews highlight just how important personal preference is when it comes to taste-testing cake samples.

Snowflake Creations Vanilla-flavoured Cake Kit: 3.8/5

A close runner-up to the winning sample, voters noted many similarities between Snowflake’s vanilla cake mix and Pick n Pay’s cake mix. Both samples were the top picks of the day. The cake had a good rise to it with a visibly golden outer crust. Voters noted this sample was nice, spongy and moist while not being too sweet. A good balance was noted between the sweetness and the vanilla flavour, which came through nicely.

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The rules of Food24 Tastes:

– All tasters tasted and scored all five samples.

– The samples were tested without packaging and were not easily identifiable.

– The samples were not labelled and were tasted in random order.

– Each sample was rated on texture, flavour and dunk ability and crunch.

– This article is not sponsored in any way, and Food24 was not paid to come to any particular result.

Our taste tests are always unbiased and intended for your entertainment. You may, however, have come to this article through various paid-for advertising.