Cake and Ice Cream Taste-Test Winners!
You won’t find many boxed-cake mixes in online recipes and “best-of”collections. But we found taste-test winners – white, chocolate, lemon and red velvet cake mixes, mind you – that with a little effort in the icing department, are sure-fire hits. And, when you top them with the winners in the ice cream taste tests, you can’t miss with these any-season combinations.
White Cake Mix Winners
You can find these taste tests all over the internet and the criteria seems to vary slightly between them, but for the most part the tasters are after flavor, and if the intent is multiple layers, texture for stacking and frosting. Southern Living’s staff specifically blind taste-tested white cake mixes to go with their tangy cream cheese frosting, or layered between fudgy mounds of chocolate ganache.
First place went to Miss Jones Baking Co.’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake Mix. The staff raved about it with one saying, “If someone said they made this from scratch, I’d believe them.” The instructions call for melted butter instead of oil which produces a richer flavor, denser texture and fantastic flavor. From the grocery store website, it looks like the Sprouts in Lafayette carries it. If they’re sold out (and with these reviews, we wouldn’t be surprised) we’re inclined to try the runner-up and maybe switch out butter for oil and see what happens!
Second Place went to Pillsbury’s Moist Supreme White Premium Cake Mix (which also wins for the most superlatives to fit into a name). The flavor is more a traditional boxed-cake-like taste – and it was given points for a light spongy texture which would make for a sturdy layered cake. Plus, if you don’t want to fire up the oven, use your slow cooker for a crockpot cake – on low for three hours!
Spruce Eats picked Betty Crocker’s Super Moist Vanilla Cake Mix, for $2 at Target (and also reviewed chocolate, lemon, red velvet and gluten-free cake mixes).
Yellow, Chocolate and Gluten-Free
Epicurious taste testers picked their favorite yellow cake mix: Pillsbury’s Moist Supreme Classic Yellow. Editors gave it three-and-a-half forks out of four, for its melt-in-your-mouth texture.
We weren’t far off with switching out the oil for butter for a better-tasting cake. Check out these boxed-cake hacks from Dinner Then Dessert. Private Chef and Blogger Sabrina offers two more suggestions to turn that boxed cake into from-scratch perfection!
And if you want to watch a taste-test in action (and reaction), check out the Ultimate Chocolate Cake Taste Test from the Stay at Home Chef channel on YouTube, in an episode of Bored Shorts TV. Five minutes of while-it-happens fun.
Taste-Tested Ice Cream Favorites
The debate over whether vanilla or chocolate is the superior ice cream flavor will never be resolved – people have their preferences and brand loyalties, but it’s interesting to see which one of these won top honors. The Southern Living staff tested eight different store-bought brands of vanilla ice cream, because as one of them said, “Vanilla is a highly underappreciated ice cream flavor.”
Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla was voted favorite classic vanilla ice cream. This brand is extra creamy and has visible vanilla flecks prompting one tester to remark that it, “almost tastes like homemade without being too sweet.” We like to think a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s would be the perfect complement to cake, pie or in a Coke® or root beer float. (Pop quiz: can you guess any of the top 12 Ben & Jerry’s longest-served flavors?)
Eat This, Not That! begs to differ with Southern Living. The ETNT tasters picked Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream as the softest, fluffiest, highest-quality ice cream and thought it was irresistible. One editor said it “tastes like what you would get at an actual ice cream shop,” and another compared it to soft-serve.
And in second place? Jeni’s Honey Vanilla Bean. The editors noted that it tastes different from the other nine candidates thanks to the honey. It probably never met a waffle cone it didn’t like. Ten out of 10 testers would recommend this brand.
If you’ve ever watched Good Mythical Morning, a YouTube talk show hosted by two Texans, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, you’re in for a treat with this episode of the pair testing a variety of ice cream flavors and brands. And not just vanilla.
We All Scream for Ice Cream in Colliers Hill!
Sweets Ice Cream in downtown Erie is open for business and serving Little Man Ice Cream, made right here in Colorado. Living so close to the quirky, historic town is one of the benefits of living in the master-planned community of Colliers Hill, along with a bevy of awesome amenities. Check out the beautiful model homes from Richmond American Homes and Century Communities – and coming this fall – K B Home – which will be offering paired homes to interested buyers. It’s a great time to purchase a new home in this north Denver community – with rates so low – and lots of possibilities from the high $300s.
