The baking season is upon us and on an aisle end display I found some seasonal mixes including this mix from Duncan Hines and Swiss miss claiming to be a hot cocoa cake mix. This sounds like the perfect winter dessert right? Except when you actually stop and think about it, this is just chocolate cake. Hot cocoa is made from cocoa powder, sugar, and milk, all of which already go into a chocolate cake. I’m going into this expecting a basic cake but still keeping my hopes up for something different.
While the packaging promotes a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and marshmallows, all you get from this mix is a dry cake mix. There is a Duncan Hines swiss miss frosting sold separately that I grabbed so we can have the full effect. However, this time I knew better and grabbed two frosting containers. Needing two doesn’t make sense, ideally a cake should require one box mix and one container of frosting but based off of the Easter peep cake mixes we tried earlier this year I know two frosting containers are needed. The cake mix at Walmart was $1.72 and the frosting is $1.96 so at this time we are $5.64 into this cake.
If you are interested in trying out these products alongside me, here is the link to the cake mix from Walmart as well as the frosting. *These are affiliate links meaning if you click on the link and buy the product, I will earn a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more.
Right off the bat I am shocked to see a huge difference in ingredient requirements. Most cake mixes these days require a few eggs, water, and oil. This mix is calling for 4 eggs, the most I have ever seen, oil, water, AND butter. When mixes call for butter it typically replaces the oil but not for this recipe. So far, this is sounding more and more like my homemade cake recipe. I did double check and most Duncan Hines mixes do not ask for butter or this many eggs so I’m keeping my hopes high that we will get a different product than their standard chocolate cake mix with seasonal packaging.
After combining all the ingredients together into a batter I gave it a taste. Sadly, but not surprisingly, it tasted exactly like any other chocolate cake mix, nothing standing out to give it that “hot cocoa” flavor. It was thin and a lot lighter in color than I expected from the dark cake on the packaging.
I poured the batter into two 8inch round pans. They give a few different baking options, including cupcakes, so you can use whatever options you have. The box calls for baking this size for 22-26 minutes. I kept checking on it and then at 22 minutes, I tested the cake with a toothpick and it came out clean. I love an accurate bake time, I think this part alone can make or break a box mix.
While the cake cooled, I opened up the frosting and started mixing it together to get it to be a smoother texture, better for frosting the cake. Of course, I had to taste this “hot cocoa” frosting as well and surprise surprise, it tastes exactly like all other Duncan Hines chocolate frostings. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it’s the exact same product with a different label for the season.
Once the cakes cooled I trimmed down the dome tops so they were flat and began to frost. I placed frosting between the layers, and on the top and then ran out of the first container. I used about 2/3 of the second container of frosting to cover this cake fully and replicate the picture on the box. The frosting kept sliding down the sides and didn’t want to stay at all. I tried to recreate the design they had shown on the box but it was quickly just a mission to keep the frosting on the sides of the cake instead of looking pretty.
I also picked up some marshmallows to recreate the look of the cake on the box and all I could find on the display was red and green marshmallows so this is what I used. I topped the cake with marshmallows and it was ready to cut into.
The frosting never thickened up and was sliding all over the place which means the second I cut a slice of cake, it fell apart. The top layer of cake on my slice immediately fell off the bottom layer. I’m disappointed. I used visually the exact same amount of frosting between layers as their picture and yet I feel as though I should’ve used a much lighter amount to keep it together.
My final thoughts are the same as my initial thoughts. It’s chocolate cake with a seasonal package. It tastes exactly like any other box mix cake topped with a tub of frosting and marshmallows. There is no “hot cocoa” flavor difference. I can’t even tell there is butter in this mix. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Duncan Hines did to us during the Easter season with their “peeps” cake mix. I’m not surprised to see them do it again, simply disappointed. For this box mix, I could take it or leave it. It is similarly priced to a standard chocolate cake mix so it is up to you if you want seasonal packaging or regular packaging.
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