Sometimes it's worth skipping the boxed chocolate cake mix and heading straight to the bakery section at your favorite grocery store. Many stores have ready-to-eat cakes that you can easily grab from the fridge or order at the bakery counter. I visited seven different grocery chains to sample slices and full cakes to see which ones deliver indulgent, crowd-pleasing results and which are best avoided.
In our ranking of 13 popular boxed chocolate cake mix brands, we taste-tested several different Betty Crocker varieties. Alas, the highest any of the products ranked was No. 6 (chocolate fudge Super Moist). Across the entire category, boxed mixes by Pillsbury, Krusteaz, King Arthur Baking Company, and Duncan Hines outranked Betty Crocker's offerings by a longshot.