The Best Confetti Boxed Cake Mix, According to Food Editors

In the late 1980s, Pillsbury single-handedly rendered plain cake obsolete for kids across America by introducing Funfetti cake mix, a white cake with multicolored sprinkles in the batter, not merely for decorating the top. It quickly emerged as the cake that defines childhood. And while Pillsbury has trademarked the name Funfetti, it has become synonymous with colorful sprinkles, much like Band-Aid is for adhesive bandages.

Sarah Crowder, our art director and a child of the '80s and '90s, echoes this sentiment. "I grew up loving Funfetti cake, but none of those formative experiences involved a homemade cake. To me, a confetti cake is boxed cake. It’s the rare example where instead of the boxed mix trying to emulate homemade, all of the recipes to make confetti cake at home are trying their hardest to replicate the flavor of the mixes."

It was Sarah who proposed that Simply Recipes undertake a confetti cake taste test to find the best brand. Perhaps she needed a sprinkle of joy and nostalgia in her day. Our team of editors was happy to oblige because this is what childhood dreams are made of.

The 6 Brands of Confetti Boxed Cake Mix We Taste Tested

Here are the six brands of confetti boxed cake mixes we blindly tasted and compared to find our favorites. These are the brands I can find at my local grocery stores (Target, Harris Teeter, Kroger, and Whole Foods) and they are available nationwide.

1. Betty Crocker Super Moist Party Rainbow Chip Cake Mix
2. King Arthur Gluten-Free Confetti Cake Mix
3. Pillsbury Gluten-Free Funfetti Premium Cake and Cupcake Mix
4. Pillsbury Funfetti Premium Cake & Cupcake Mix
5. Martha White Birthday Cake Mix
6. Duncan Hines Joyfetti Confetti Cake Mix

All of the cakes were baked following the instructions on the box. To make it fair and square, we taste-tested the cakes blindly—none of the editors knew which brand of cake they were tasting. We evaluated the cakes for flavor, texture, color, the quality and quantity of sprinkles, and whether they would be easy to frost without crumbling.

The Perfect One: Duncan Hines Joyfetti Confetti Cake Mix

Let me start by saying that I would never yuck someone else's yum. If you have a particular brand of confetti cake mix that brings you joy and reminds you of going to Blockbuster with your BFF and feeding your Tamagotchi, by all means, that's the box you should continue buying. Food memories are worth preserving.

For everyone else, our team of editors unanimously voted that Duncan Hines Joyfetti Confetti Cake Mix is the best. The texture is light and fluffy, it has a delicate and delicious real butter flavor, and it smells like what I imagine Candy Land would smell like on a sunny day. The cake was sweet, but not cloyingly, which means you can slather on frosting liberally.

It's worth mentioning this cake contains a lot of green and red sprinkles, which makes it look Christmas-themed. It did not deter us from enjoying the cake. This is the only brand of boxed confetti cake we'd buy for birthday parties, school bake sales, and cravings.

The Best Gluten-Free Confetti Cake: King Arthur

We included gluten-free brands in our taste test because Simply Recipes readers frequently ask for this option in our recipes. Luckily, there are great gluten-free products at grocery stores these days, including our top pick for the best gluten-free confetti cake: King Arthur Gluten-Free Confetti Cake Mix.

This cake is moist and would be delicious with a vanilla-forward frosting. The texture is slightly grainy and chewier than a classic cake made with flour because the batter contains rice flour and tapioca starch. Because King Arthur uses plant-based ingredients—spirulina, annatto, turmeric, beta carotene, and vegetable juice—to color the sprinkles, they aren't as vibrant. If you're looking for a confetti cake that uses natural food colors, this one's for you.

So, how did Sarah fare after eating multiple slices of cake? You can see for yourself: