Not content with occupying half an aisle with its 150 flavors (slightly exaggerated, obviously, but have you seen how many there are?), Duncan Hines expands its Perfect Size for 1 cake mix line to include other established brands and fun toppings.
There are four flavors at the moment – Chocolate Chip Cake Mix with Chips Ahoy Cookie Pieces, Chocolate Cake Mix with Chocolate Candy Pieces, Cookies and Cream Cake Mix with Oreo Cookie Pieces, and S’mores Cake Mix with Honey Maid Graham Cracker Pieces.
They all have straightforward instructions like the previous mug mixes – it’s pretty much add water, stir, and microwave! One interesting thing is that while the official instructions tell you to sprinkle the toppings on after baking there is also a suggestion to try them blended in before nuking. I decided to do both and put some of the toppings in before and then sprinkled some afterward so that I could have the full experience.
Chips Ahoy
This one had a nice and fluffy texture with good chocolate flavor throughout. Considering it’s a microwaveable powdered cake mix it’s not entirely fair to compare to a regular cake. It’s all about being economical and convenient, and this suffices in that regard. Sure, it could be a little more moist and flavorful, but it gets the job done.
I had a hunch the reason the toppings are added later is that the cooking process would affect them and that was the case with this one especially. The pieces added before blending in too well by turning into different colored elements of the cake. Those added later maintained their consistency and added a nice crunch. The chocolate pieces added a decadent touch and seemed evenly dispersed. In essence, this is like a very simplistic version of a dessert at a fancy restaurant in which it would be called Chocolate Chip Cookie – TWO WAYS.
Purchased Price: $3.19*
Size: 2.4 oz. cup
Purchased at: ShopFoodEx.com
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 Container) 300 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 350 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 29 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
Candy Coated Chocolates
This one is heavy on the chocolate, like really, really heavy and almost to the point of being too rich. It’s a one-note chocolate cake with more chocolate. I’m sensing a theme here as the toppings seem to be the stars here.
The cake part, like the previous one, was serviceable as it was nice and fluffy, but a little dry. The bootleg M&M’s though are amazing in this one and make up for the mediocre cake. Whether you add them before baking or after, the heat melts them so that the insides are like molten chocolate. It’s like you’re digging for treasure and when you find one of the candies, it’s oh so satisfying. Again, the crunch adds another satisfying element when eating this. This one is a joyous textural adventure through chocolate.
Purchased Price: $3.19*
Size: 2.4 oz. cup
Purchased at: ShopFoodEx.com
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 Container) 290 calories, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 350 milligrams of sodium, 53 grams of carbohydrates, 2 gram of fiber, 32 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
Oreo
Not breaking with the trend with the others, this was also fluffy, but a bit dry. It has Oreo cookie crumbles as part of the batter with what seemed like white chocolate chips.
With the topping, there’s a little bit of a cookies and cream flavor, but this whole endeavor ended up tasting mostly like sugar to me even though it has about the same amount as the other three. The white chips weren’t large enough to stay molten, so they blended in and faded away, while the Oreo topping pieces weren’t as crunchy as I was expecting them to be. In a nutshell, this was a lightly chocolatey and creamy, but way too sweet cake.
Purchased Price: $3.19*
Size: 2.4 oz. cup
Purchased at: ShopFoodEx.com
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 1 Container – 300 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 52 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 29 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
Honey Maid
This one perplexed me. I prepared it in the same way as the others, but the cake here turned out to be a little gummy, which was very odd. It’s supposed to be a s’mores base, but I didn’t get any of that except for the little bits of chocolate.
There’s no graham flavor even though I added a few of the pieces and there’s certainly no marshmallow even if I did see a few white chips buried in there. The graham pieces were a nice addition that added a bit of extra flavor, but they were not as crunchy as the other toppings. Unfortunately, though, nothing could save this one as I couldn’t get past the weird texture.
Purchased Price: $3.19*
Size: 2.5 oz. cup
Purchased at: ShopFoodEx.com
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 1 Container – 310 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 370 milligrams of sodium, 55 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 30 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
Other Things:
- You’ll notice that three of four are all well-known brands. This is because Duncan Hines partnered up with Mondelez to gain access to their snacking portfolio that includes those three. M&M’s, though? It’s another company entirely, so I’m assuming it wasn’t worth the effort, hence why the generic candy-coated chocolates make an appearance.
- I tried the toppings both as an add-in with the cake batter and afterward on top. Here are my suggestions for you: Chips Ahoy – Add them later as they pretty much vanish once cooked. Candy Coated Chocolates – Do what I did and put half before and half after. You will get a range of molten chocolate that’s glorious. Cookies and Cream – The batter already contains small bits of the Oreo wafer so save them all to add as toppings. Honey Maid – I would skip this one entirely but if you do partake, add the graham as a topping.
- Regardless of the actual food product, one thing that’s a total upgrade with these is the single serve cup. With the boxed versions, you had to take the plunge on four servings and with so many different flavors to try one may end up with too many extras. Also, all you have to dirty up to indulge is a spoon whereas previously it was a spoon, mug, and measuring utensil.
*Editor’s Note: The cups were purchased from an online grocer, so the prices are slightly higher than they are at stores.