My love for baking was born from a humble box of Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge.
I had been attempting to make Giada De Laurentiis’ recipe for a chocolate-raspberry layer cake — my first attempt at baking a cake, period. So instead of starting from scratch, I opted for something that leaned into the shortcuts, unapologetically. Giada called for one 18.25-ounce box of chocolate cake mix, which was blended with raspberry puree, vegetable oil, eggs and a dash of water in a large bowl. Within minutes, the batter was ready, poured between buttered pans and thrown into the oven. The finished dessert was a cake baked to perfection, with nary a crack, dome or sunken center in sight.
I’ve since improved my baking game, reveling in the science and process of turning raw ingredients into a sweet treat. Some may say that’s a marker of being a “true” baker. That engrossing yourself in every meticulous step — from measuring out your own leavening agents to bringing your butter and eggs to room temperature — is what qualifies as real baking. But the truth is, I still love a boxed cake mix. And seeking a bit of help from commercial emulsifiers shouldn’t be shamed. Nor should it shun folks from the baking community.
Some of our favorite culinary stars have made it clear that they’re not above using boxed cake mix, even if scratch baking is preferred. There’s, of course, Giada, whose recipes for Tiramisu Cupcakes and a Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate are also simplified with store-bought cake mix. In a 2003 episode of “Good Eats,” titled “The Icing Man Cometh,” Alton Brown noted that cake mixes are pretty commendable, producing highly consistent cakes that are often better than the ones we can make at home. Martha Stewart once recommended adding an extra egg to upgrade boxed cake batter. And while Ina Garten hasn’t explicitly endorsed or criticized cake mixes, her famous catchphrase — “store-bought is fine” — suggests that she’s probably OK with them.
In the past five years, boxed cake mix has grown in popularity, with interest reaching a recorded peak between October and November 2025. Bon Appétit previously put together a recipe guide for making boxed cake taste more homemade. Similar recipe guides consulted professional bakers and award-winning pastry chefs alike, asking them what their favorite boxed cake mix is and their best upgrades. Just this past summer, The New York Times’ Wirecutter ranked their top six boxed yellow cake mixes after trying both conventional and gluten-free varieties.
More recently, boxed cakes have become all the rage on social media, thanks to the viral Dotcups. Courtesy of The Dot Cakes, a bakery based in Roslyn, New York, the handheld confections are cups of either classic white, chocolate, vanilla chip, or red velvet cake topped with a generous layer of frosting and a clean coat of rainbow nonpareils. Despite their sheer simplicity, the Dotcups are elusive. In New York City, where the cakes are sold on select days in the Upper East Side’s Butterfield Market, people continue to show up in droves, lining up hours before the cakes are even stocked. They’re also expensive, especially for frequent sweet treat lovers — a single 8oz. Dotcup is $8 in Roslyn and $11 in New York City. An online order, sold in packs of four, totals to $32, or $42 if you want them as soon as possible. According to the official website, Dot Cakes is currently closing its custom orders due to “extremely high demand.”
@thecarboholic The viral Dot Cakes that I believe @Butterfield Market has been selling ~800 of each week! #cake #dessert #nyc ♬ original sound – Rachel
@ashleymarkletreats so we can officially make the viral dot cake at home and it’s my new favorite little treat 🧁🌈 Ingredients: 1 box @Funfetti cake mix 3 eggs 1 cup water 1/2 cup oil funfetti vanilla frosting rainbow nonpareils sprinkles Instructions: In a large mixing bowl, mix cake mix, eggs, water, and oil until well combined and transfer to a greased square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes, covering with foil halfway through. Allow to cool completely, then press greased ramekin into the center and twist to remove. Allow mini cake to slide out of ramekin and slice through the center to create 2 layers. Place bottom layer back in ramekin, top with a layer of frosting, then place top layer of cake with another layer of frosting spread evenly to the edges. Cover in rainbow nonpareils, allow to chill and slightly harden in the fridge, then take a center bite and enjoy! 😋 #cake #recipe #baking #dessert #creatorsearchinsights ♬ original sound – ashleymarkletreats
Those who have yet to get their hands on the cakes, or deem them too pricey, have resorted to making them at home. Dubbed dot cakes, they start with boxed cake mix to make the base and double down on that nostalgic flavor with store-bought frosting and sprinkles. Yes, the cake is meant to taste like a childhood birthday party — so sweet it makes your teeth ring and artificial, loaded with all kinds of preservatives we can’t quite pronounce.
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There’s a running myth that, in the 1950s, when General Mills first released the now-iconic line of Betty Crocker cake mixes, they expected the product to be a major hit because it saved time and effort. Instead, sales were abysmal. A team of psychologists had determined that it was due to consumer guilt, since many American housewives felt bad about deceiving their families by taking credit for baking delicious cakes that didn’t require any actual baking. As a result, General Mills relaunched a brand-new product that removed the powdered eggs and now required adding both water and a real egg. Sales allegedly soared.
The truth is that initial sales weren’t poor. They doubled between 1947, right before major food companies introduced their cake mixes to the market, and 1953. Sales flattened only a few years later, between 1956 and 1960. Up until then, food companies had already been debating whether or not to include powdered eggs in their mixes. The argument wasn’t anything new, and it certainly wasn’t influenced by plateauing sales or consumer complaints. Paul Gerot, the CEO at Pillsbury (a major competitor of General Mills at the time), reportedly said it was “the hottest controversy we had over the product” from the very start, when companies were still developing their cake mixes in the 1940s.
This is all to say that the so-called “boom” in sales that General Mills experienced can’t be attributed solely to the inclusion of fresh eggs. Indeed, fresh eggs prevented boxed cakes from sticking to pans, increased shelf life and produced better-tasting desserts. Author and historian Laura Shapiro wrote it best in her 2004 book, “Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America”: “Chances are if adding eggs persuaded some women to overcome their aversion to cake mixes, it was at least partly because fresh eggs made for better cakes.” But sales for both General Mills’ and Pillsbury’s mixes went up, even though the former called for fresh eggs while the latter kept the powdered stuff.
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Betty Crocker ultimately became a hit for other reasons. It provided consumers, namely women, with the gift of time — an incentive that appealed to the more modern woman as she gradually pursued more roles outside of the home kitchen. And, most importantly, it encouraged consumers to get creative with other aspects of baking: shaping, frosting and decorating. Boxed cake was marketed as a blank canvas. The home baker was the artist.
“Now, success in cakemaking is packaged right along with the precision ingredients,” author Myrna Johnston wrote in her 1953 cookbook, “Better Homes & Gardens.”
“You can put your effort into glorifying your cake with frosting, dreaming up an exciting trim that puts your own label on it.”
We’re seeing this yet again with the dot cakes trend. There’s the cutting and molding of the cake into a cup. Then, the slathering of icing (flavor and quantity are all up to the baker), along with the final dunking (sprinkle flavor and quantity are also up to the baker). It’s playful. It’s joyous. It’s whimsy. It’s everything boxed cake sought to be.
And sure, it may not be the kind of baking that’ll earn you a Paul Hollywood handshake under the “Bake Off” tent. But it’s still baking, regardless. Technically and spiritually. I like to think of boxed cake as training wheels. It provides a little aid, a little boost and a little fuel for inspiring some to get more serious about mastering a craft.
So, to that I say: Let them make and enjoy their cake, box style.
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