If you’re on the hunt for a great gluten-free cake mix to doctor up to taste like it’s from scratch (or way better), you’re in the right place! I tested 5 different gluten free chocolate doctored cake mix recipes and we found a delicious winner and…. least favorite.

Make sure to keep reading so you can find out which one we’d avoid when selecting a gluten-free cake mix again, and which one (or a couple options) would be the one we’d reach for next time!

Doctored Cake Mixes

As many of you already know, I love a good doctored cake mix. I use them all the time! I teach bakers how to do the same and have written two cookbooks full of them. Bakeries use this method all around the globe use this tried-and-true method, and it’s a great way to use pre-measured dry ingredients in your cake batter. Having all the dry ingredients measured out perfectly saves time and takes the guesswork out of a process that we already want to keep as simple as possible. We start with a boxed cake mix, and then add in sour cream, buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and other flavorings. I love using Duncan Hines Cake Mixes for my doctored chocolate cake mix. For my experiments below, I wanted to keep the recipe as close to my doctored mix recipes (using vanilla, eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, and vegetable oil). So as you can guess – we aren’t dairy free for this line of experiments, by any means.

Gluten Free Chocolate Doctored Cake Mix

Enter our Gluten Free friends! I know that this is a specific need for so many bakers, clients, and families. I learned quickly that the price isn’t always friendly, and the availability isn’t always the same from store to store. I decided to head to my local Harmons grocery store, because I knew that they had a few mixes to choose from. I know that within these five mixes, there are still many more that I could have tried from other stores – I’ve even listed two more that you’ve all recommended below for you to try on your own. However, I figured that these 5 would be a great place to start. Five is quite the selection in one store, so I took home all five that they had for chocolate gluten free cake mixes, and headed to the kitchen.

Doctored in the same way across the board

I noticed right away that my experiment wasn’t going to be easy because each cake mix box had a different amount of cake mix inside. Some had a full pound of cake mix, some had much less. I also noticed that some of the mixes didn’t require the same ingredients on the back as others. So is this experiment going to be perfect? Mostly, but not entirely. However, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. So here are the rules I followed:

Experiment controls/rules:

  1. I kept the egg amount the same as the back of all the cake mixes. If it called for 3 eggs, I kept it three. No changes.
  2. Anytime the recipe called for vegetable oil, I used the same amount of vegetable oil – JUST as I would have for my regular non-gluten-free doctored mix recipes. No changes. For instance, one of the mixes called for 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, or even 3/4 cup. I just followed the recipe on the box for the vegetable oil quantities.
  3. Whenever the recipe called for milk or water, I used buttermilk.
  4. I added the same amount of vanilla for each recipe.
  5. For the sour cream, I tried to keep the ratio consistent or about the same as I would have for my doctored mixes. For some, I added a little more, but only because there was more mix to begin with in the cake mix box.
  6. I sifted them all the same, and whisked them all in the same sized bowl. I divided the batter evenly between the three 6″ pans.
  7. I baked them all at 325, just like my doctored cake mix recipes.
  8. I baked them all in 6″ rounds x3 pans.
  9. I baked them according to the directions on the packaging they came in.
  10. I understood that each box mix would potentially behave differently, so there’s a lot of wiggle room for adjustment to get each of them right. However, I was only testing to see which cake mix recipe would behave the best with my typical/traditional doctoring methods, not trying to perfect the recipes themselves as a doctored mix.

Bake and Taste Test

Next up was to bake them all up and taste test each of them on their own. Here’s what happened, and which ones we loved a lot (or didn’t love as much).

The results are based off my personal experiments in the kitchen with the rules aforementioned. They’re based off my personal results and our taste testing after.

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Doctored Simple Mills Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix

To doctor up this cake mix, here’s the recipe & method I followed:

RECIPE & METHOD

  • 11.2oz Simple Mills Cake Mix
  • 1/3 Cup Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
  • 2/3 Cup Buttermilk
  • 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
  • 3 Whole Eggs

Baked for 25 min at 325 degrees.

Results: 5/10.

The crumb was fine but a bit more dry and grainy than I would have preferred.

The cake layers rose pretty well with a slight dip in the middle. They baked up well enough to stack.

The flavor was just okay, but after tasting the other ones, it wasn’t nearly as strong or rich of a chocolate flavor.

My boys both voted this one in the bottom two – purely on taste alone.

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Doctored Cup 4 Cup Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix

To doctor up this cake mix, here’s the recipe & method I followed:

RECIPE & METHOD

  • 1.3 lbs Cup 4 Cup Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
  • 3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Vanilla
  • 1 1/4 Cup Buttermilk
  • 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
  • 4 Whole Eggs

Baked for 27 min at 325 degrees.

Results: 8/10

The crumb was moist, tight yet still fluffy, and the shape was perfect.

The cake layers were pretty tall so I think I could have split this one into 4 6″ rounds instead of 3.

The flavor was excellent – great chocolate flavor and rich delicious aftertaste. Couldn’t tell at all that this was a gluten-free cake.

We all had this one in our top two, and my husband had this one as his favorite.

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Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil’s Food Cake Mix

To doctor up this cake mix, here’s the recipe & method I followed:

RECIPE & METHOD

  • 15oz Gluten Free Devil’s Food Cake Mix
  • 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
  • 1 Cup Buttermilk
  • 1/3 Cup Sour Cream
  • 2 Whole Eggs

Baked for 30 min at 325 degrees.

Results: 5/10

The crumb/texture was good, but had a few larger air pockets (lose crumb) versus the others.

The cake layers baked up pretty well, but were a tad dry.

The flavor was lacking. We love baking with Betty Crocker cake mixes for my regular doctored mixes, so I was surprised to taste that this one had a weird aftertaste that wasn’t nearly as rich as the other ones we tested. It had more of an airy taste versus a fudgy rich taste.

This was my bottom pick, but was in the bottom two for my boys and husband.

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Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix

To doctor up this cake mix, here’s the recipe & method I followed:

RECIPE & METHOD

  • 16oz Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
  • 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
  • 1 Cup Buttermilk
  • 1/3 Cup Sour Cream
  • 2 Whole Eggs

Baked for 25 min at 325 degrees.

Results: 6/10

The crumb/texture was thick and fudgy. Not exactly stackable with the sinking.

The cake layers sunk dramatically. I don’t know if this is because of my baking time, mixing method, or doctoring methods. It could also just be the cake mix. Further testing would help confirm.

The flavor was actually VERY good. I thought this was going to be a loss by looks alone, but the taste was in our top 2 or 3. Wonderfully rich chocolate flavor.

I know they didn’t look right, but they tasted better than half of the other mixes we tested. I wouldn’t write this one off yet, but would test the doctoring method further.

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Pamela’s Gluten Free (and Dairy Free) Chocolate Cake Mix

To doctor up this cake mix, here’s the recipe & method I followed below. DISCLAIMER: I added dairy, so this cake was no longer dairy free.

RECIPE & METHOD

  • 21oz Pamela’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
  • 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
  • 1 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
  • 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
  • 2 Whole Eggs

Baked for 30 min at 325 degrees.

Results: 9/10

The crumb/texture was excellent! Thick & tight crumb with soft and moist texture.

The cake layers baked up beautifully. Very tall and thick, perfectly stackable.

The flavor was tremendous. Deep rich chocolate flavor and it was very easy to choose this one as our favorite overall. The taste was huge and perfectly what you’d want in a chocolate cake.

We wouldn’t be able to tell in a million years that this was a gluten-free cake. No graininess, not lacking in anything, and we couldn’t stop eating it!

Other Gluten-Free Cake Mix Options to try next time:

The availability of gluten free cake mixes is also something to consider. I wanted to walk into one store and find as many as possible, so I found the 5 that we tested. That’s a LOT of options for one store (Harmon’s). However, I noticed that these two other options are available at other grocery stores I frequent, so they would be a great option for testing in your own kitchens. I had quite a few of you recommend these, so I’d love to try them in the future to see how they stack up against the ones I tried in my kitchen test/experiment.

Conclusion – Which Doctored Chocolate Gluten Free Cake Mix is Best?

Obviously, there’s so many variables that could have affected our testing, but I tried my best to keep things as similar and controlled as possible. Overall, though, we LOVED the Pamela’s and Cup 4 Cup the best. I’d love to revisit the Bob’s Red Mill to see if I can make the cake layer texture work better next time. But for the first try, Pamela’s and Cup 4 Cup with the measurements for doctoring the mixes will be the best choice so far. Here’s how we ranked them after taste testing them:

  1. Pamela’s
  2. Cup 4 Cup
  3. Bob’s Red Mill (for taste, not the sinking issue)
  4. Betty Crocker
  5. Simple Mills

I also learned a lot about how much these alternative option cake mixes are. I know it’s a need for so many bakers and families to have a gluten-free option for their celebrations. It’s nice to know now that we have a couple options that taste wonderful and could be a great option without sacrificing taste an flavor (and knowing which cake mix I loved the most will hopefully help your pocketbook so that you don’t have to buy one for nearly $8 and have it flop). I’ve got you! I’ll continue to test more cake mixes (Stay tuned for my vanilla gluten-free doctored cake mixes) to see which one stands supreme for that one!

Happy Baking!

xo, Mandy