Not Pillsbury Or Duncan Hines: This Is America's Best-Selling Cake Mix Brand

Even the most reluctant home bakers know there's a slew of options when it comes to cake mix. Before you run out to buy just any cake mix, know there's a top-selling brand worth considering over Pillsbury or Duncan Hines. According to 52 weeks of Nielsen sales data for various dry cake mixes taken from 2025 to 2026, Betty Crocker is the leading cake mix brand in the country.

The statistic was shared in a press release by Betty Crocker announcing a giveaway of "one million free cakes" to celebrate America's 250th birthday. The brand surveyed 100 Americans in every U.S. state and found 76% of participants feel a cake is essential for a birthday soirée. Most are partial to classic chocolate cake, with 30% of participants saying it's their favorite; it took the crown in 49 states. 

Betty Crocker is a longstanding giant in the baking space with more than a century of history. Created in 1921 as a fictional spokesperson for the Washburn-Crosby Company (which merged with other mills to become General Mills in 1928) after a Gold Medal Flour promotion generated a flood of consumers asking for baking advice, Betty Crocker was invented to answer their questions in a more personalized way. The company's early years included teaching in kitchens and cooking schools, a radio cooking show, television appearances, and an iconic cookbook. The first Betty Crocker cake mix rolled out in 1947.

The first-ever Betty Crocker product was a dried soup mix, but the company has come a long way since launching its first-ever cake mix, a just-add-water ginger cake. Today, the brand offers 27 cake mixes, ranging from pound cake to gingerbread to strawberry. You can also find pancake, frosting, pie crust, and pizza crust mixes.

Plenty of people swear by Betty Crocker cake mixes, professionals included. When we asked five bakers and chefs for the best store-bought cake mix, Betty Crocker's Super Moist triple-chocolate fudge, devil's food, party rainbow chip, lemon, carrot, red velvet, German chocolate, and French vanilla mixes were all named as favorites. "Betty Crocker is my go-to for boxed mix," one Reddit user attested. "I find Betty Crocker to be more consistent and easier to dress up, and still get a great result," added another. "I use the Betty Crocker devil's food cake mix all the time and end up with moist delicious cakes [and] cupcakes," chimed a third Redditor.

The brand is a heavy hitter in the cake mix category. Compared to Pillsbury, which is also owned by General Mills, Betty Crocker's ethos is more about flavor variety, consistency, and brand recognition, versus family-friendliness that Pillsbury focuses on. As for competitor Duncan Hines, which generally sells fewer baking mixes than Pillsbury and Betty Crocker (via Report Prime), that brand has pivoted to bakery-style treats and Insta-worthy dessert kits to stand out against no-frills value mixes.