Duncan Hines Keto Friendly Classic Yellow Cake Mix, 10.6 oz.

I have followed a low sugar, low carb diet for years, going hard core Keto intermittently. I have done quite a lot of Keto baking too. I have purchased and tried baking with all the flour and sweetener alternatives. I have had varied levels of success in achieving a satisfactory result without wasting expensive ingredients. Getting consistently good end products that actually taste like something you want to eat is a problem. At least it has been for me. I know what to expect with baked goods that are more almond flour based and I know what the keto sweetners taste like. I know not to expect the results to taste or have the texture of regular flour and sugar based baked goods. That being said, after reading the ingredients list on the Duncan Hines Keto mixes I decided to give them a try. I have baked the yellow cake and the brownie mixes. I am IMPRESSED. First off, neither is overwhelmingly sweet. I prefer to under rather than over sweeten things, especially when using Keto sweeteners. I have found most other Keto packaged or baked 'treats' to be cloyingly sweet. A huge NO for me. So the fact that these are sweet but not TOOOO sweet is a major plus. They are at the top of my sweetness threshold but not past it. Secondly, the texture of both mixes baked up is very good. The yellow cake has the recognizable graininess of an almond flour based mix, but they add in coconut flour and other modifiers to the mix so it lightens the crumb and gives the cake a pleasing texture. Almost like pound cake. Dense but not leaden. It has a nice neutral vanilla-almond flavor. I spread a thick schemer of plain full fat greek yogurt on as a "frosting' when iIeat it which cuts the sweetness even more. For a splurge, add some berries. The brownie mix is equally good. the texture is even better than the yellow cake in getting close to a 'normal' brownie. The sweetness is on the verge of too much for me. Or maybe it is that I can detect a little of the dreaded stevia aftertaste. But the stevia is not overpowering, which would kill it for me. I sprinkle a light pass of coarse sea salt over the mix before I put it in the oven. This contrasts the sweetness and adds an interesting note. I think both the yellow cake and brownie mixes would hold up to some customized mix ins. Nuts, berries, maybe lemon-poppy seed for the yellow cake. I know how expensive it is to stock your pantry to do good keto baking, so these mixes are really pretty cost effective. Especially if you are an occasional baker or if you just need to make something for a special event. The only substitution I did was I used whole milk instead of water in the yellow cake and I used flax milk in the brownie mix. I think any milk alternative would work fine. I purchased my first mix at the grocery and it was quite a bit more expensive than here on Amazon. When i knew I liked it enough to repurchase I bought both the yellow and brownie mixes here. It will be a pantry staple for me now.

This was a hit with people with sugar issues and those that dont. Slight coconut flavor. And i even replaced the coconut oil for melted butter. I topped with zero sugar whipped cream, sugar free strawberry jelly and fresh strawberries. Really delicious and refreshing. Please know: 1) this box makes 1 x 9" cake. Single layer. 2) it's very crumbly and sticks. I used only butter to grease and it stuck to the bottom of the pan. It looked pretty sloppy. So I just covered it with my topping and used a spoon to serve. That said, I'd buy this over and over. It was delicious and everyone that ate it wants me to make it again.

So sweet. I wish it was less sweet. I find a lot of these "no sugar" baking mixes are over the top way too sweet. WHY?! Simmer down on the sweeteners! Use frosting at your own risk. This is really more of a snacking cake that does not need frosting. That being said, it is within the realm of normal, taste & texture wise. Texture is as expected for a coconut flour and almond flour base. You know, moist but kind of gritty and dense (like cornbread), not fluffy and airy like white flour cakes. Again, within realm of normal. Because it uses coconut flour, this is going to have a coconut flour taste. You must like coconut. It calls for coconut oil, which will further boost the coconut flavor. If you want less coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil, or some other oil that fits your dietary needs. But coconut will still come through. It cooks up moist. Definitely allow it to cool before cutting into it lest it falls apart. Holds together well, but is borderline crumbly. Definitely tastes better the NEXT day. I dont know why, but I find that true of other keto cake mixes. Definitely not a low calorie food, 10 servings. Happens to be the one thing I can not eat much of at once. If it were a normal cake, I would easily eat this as 1 or 2 pieces of cake. But this super intensely sweet cake is easily 6-8 servings of good size, 10 if just taking a few bites at a time (which is likely good enough). Contains CHICORY, so if you eat too much or are not used to chicory, know that this is a form of fiber that may make you very gassy. That combined with the sweeteners (that can cause digestive distress) and this cake may be as painful as it is sweet. Again, within the realm of normal for products of this nature. lol I DO NOT rate on price. Prices vary, and everyone can see the price when they buy it. Also prices fluctuate. And we all have different budgets, values. BUT I do comment. . Currently the price is $4.98. I thought that reasonable for a brand I know and trust. It was an impulse purchase because of the fair pricing. I have spent as much as $13 for a similar yellow snacking cake , which I will never do again for any cake mix. However at <$5 I would say that it is worth the try. If you dont like this one, you likely wont like any of them. I'm at the spot where I am going to try to make my own from scratch. Overall, it is "good" in that it meets expectations. I am not "keto" but I do try to reduce my sugar intake. I dont consume stuff like this with abandon. I count it like I was having a regular dessert. I dont indulge in regular desserts (or not often) because it is more likely to trigger a binge, or trigger a growing desire for me. I am not triggered by these sweeteners to eat more. If anything it works as an aversive. I dont know enough about the sweeteners to know if it still spikes blood sugar or not. I am assuming not since I am not craving more sweet when I eat this stuff. If it was less sweet I would like it more. Not sure what I can do to it to make it less sweet. I dont know what order of magnitude of other ingredients would need to be added to make a sizeable adjustment to the level of sweetness.

The melted coconut oil provides the sweetness that makes this cake a great dessert for a pre-diabetic.

The flavor is good and the texture is pretty close to a traditional boxed cake mix. However, one box only makes about half the amount of cake as a traditional boxed cake mix. Making the cost really double, if you're looking to make a 9x13 cake (or double layer, etc). Additionally, it has a lot of erythritol in it, which causes a lot of stomach issues. I can only eat about half a serving. This still causes me digestive issues, but not enough to ruin my whole day, like a whole serving would. Maybe that's why you only get half the amount.....

Far better than you expect. Doesn’t taste like box mix. Macros are great for it being a treat.

Perfect - easy to make and good taste.

Not great tasting. Sweetener has aftertaste.