I'm the Pastry Director for Craveable Hospitality Group.

I've been a pastry chef for 12 years.

Today, I am eating cake out of a box.

It looks pretty good.

Solid cake.

Spongy.

I feel like everyone had this for their birthday growing up,

except for me.

Thanks, mom.

It has a little bit of artificial vanilla flavor,

but I think that's what cake mix is about.

The texture's great.

It's moist,

almost like impossibly moist.

You could put a dish sponge,

and layer it with chocolate frosting,

and give it to me and it would look the same.

This is your base model box of cake.

Two and a half.

It's basic and everyone can have it.

I'm guessing this is going to be spice cake.

It looks good.

It's springy.

It smells spicy.

Flavor is really good.

It's not too strong, you get a nice hint of nutmeg,

but the cake itself is almost unnervingly damp.

Marshy.

The spice flavor's good though

and the texture, it's oddly crumbly.

It's warm, it reminds me of fall, two stars.

It looks good, it looks red.

That's red velvet.

It feels nice.

Kinda feels like a loofah.

It's like a little dry.

There should be a little hint of cocoa in there.

The cake isn't overly sweet, it doesn't taste fake,

it just doesn't really taste like anything.

I mean, this is a pretty classic red velvet cake.

It's just a vehicle to get cream cheese frosting

into my mouth.

I'm gonna give it two and a half.

This cake was trying really hard,

but it just didn't live up to its potentials.

Chocolate.

This looks great.

It looks chocolatey.

It smells really nostalgic,

like the inside of the bag of Tootsie Rolls,

which I think is a good thing.

She's a sturdy cake.

She's a thick cake.

It tastes like cheap Halloween candy,

but honestly, I kind of like that.

I pretend to be sophisticated, but um,

I'm really garbage.

I just wish the cake were a little bit more rich.

Three stars.

It's a chocolate cake, guys.

How can it be bad?

She's dense.

It didn't really rise.

There's no webbing.

It doesn't look spongy.

If you can mess up making a boxed cake mix,

it's not you, it's the cake mix.

It's chewy, like nougat.

Gummy has no place in a cake.

The flavor is really good.

It tastes like real vanilla, real butter.

If this had been light and airy,

this would've been phenomenal.

I'm gonna have to give this cake half a star.

Flavor's great, the texture needs some help.

There is no shame in the box.

It's quick and easy and the results are delicious,

but honestly, it takes just about the same amount of time

to make a cake from scratch.

If you have the right recipe,

the results are way more delicious.

I encourage you step outside of the box,

especially when it comes to cake.

Or, of course, you can support your local pastry chefs

and go buy some of their cakes.

Shameless plug.