The 29 Best Cake Mix Cakes and Desserts

Cake mix recipes are easy to mix up and decorate, and there's the bonus of less mess to clean up afterward. Here you'll find some of the most popular cake mix recipes, including desserts, snack cakes, cake mix upside-down cakes, bar cookies, coffee cakes, Bundt cakes, and layer cakes.

01 of 29

Easy Vanilla Chess Squares

The Spruce

Using store-bought cake mix as a starter makes baking super simple. These easy vanilla chess squares have a custard-like filling and are a hit at bake sales and potlucks.
02 of 29

Easy Chocolate Turtle Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This easy chocolate turtle cake is delicious and always a hit! The cake is easy because it's made with a cake mix, and delicious because of the rich caramel layer, pecans, and fabulous cocoa frosting.
03 of 29

Easy Strawberry Shortcut Cake

The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

This wonderful one-layer strawberry shortcut cake is a cross between a strawberry shortcake and a strawberry upside-down cake. Mashed strawberries and marshmallows are combined with strawberry flavored gelatin to make the delicious topping.
04 of 29

Chocolate Trifle

Elaine Lemm

This decadent-looking chocolate trifle starts with two convenience items—chocolate box cake mix and instant chocolate pudding. It's layered with canned cherry pie filling and topped with freshly whipped heavy cream for a showstopper dessert that looks like you labored all day.

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05 of 29

Easy Blueberry Cake

Diana Rattray

A cake mix and cream cheese make a wonderfully moist easy blueberry cake. Canned blueberries are drained and added to the cake. Top it off with a dusting of powdered sugar or drizzle servings with lemon sauce.
06 of 29

Butterfinger Cake

The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

This Butterfinger cake recipe is a great way to use up leftover Halloween candy, but it's also great at any time of year. Boxed chocolate cake, sweetened condensed milk, caramel, and Butterfingers turn this into a showstopping dessert.

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07 of 29

Better Than Sex Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This decadent better than sex cake, made with a layers chocolate cake, chocolate topping, butterscotch topping, toffee bars, sweetened condensed milk, and whipped topping, is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.
08 of 29

Semi-Homemade Cherry Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This easy semi-homemade cherry cake is made with a yellow cake mix and cherry pie filling. The filling is swirled into the batter, creating a moist and delicious cake.

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09 of 29

Tropical Bundt Cake With Pineapple Coconut Topping

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This tropical bundt cake with pineapple coconut topping is made with a cake mix and flavored with coconut pudding mix and piña colada mix. The coconut and pineapple frosting is the perfect topping for the cake. The pineapple, coconut, and piña colada flavors will make you feel like you're on a Caribbean vacation.
10 of 29

Moist Southern Coconut Cake (Poke Cake)

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

Holes are poked in the warm moist southern coconut cake (poke cake) and then it is topped with a simple mixture of sweetened condensed milk and coconut cream. The cooled cake is frosted with whipped cream and flaked coconut.
11 of 29

Strawberry-Rhubarb Dump Cake

arfo / Getty Images

This super easy strawberry-rhubarb dump cake is made with layers of ingredients, including fresh diced rhubarb, strawberry flavored gelatin and a cake mix. It's a great way to use that spring and summer rhubarb!
12 of 29

German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This fabulous chocolate upside-down cake is very easy to prepare with a German chocolate cake mix. Cream cheese, coconut, and chopped pecans make it an extra-special dessert, and it makes its own topping!

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13 of 29

Cherry Dump Cake

The Spruce / Eric Kleinberg

The flavors of cherry and almonds go together beautifully in this pretty pink cake. So named because everything is mixed in the baking pan, this dump cake is quick to prepare, requiring only four ingredients.
14 of 29

Easy Cake Mix Peach Upside-Down Cake

The Spruce / Morgan Walker

This easy cake mix peach upside-down cake is made in a rectangular cake pan, or divide the batter and ingredients and bake it in two 8-inch round cake pans.

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15 of 29

Luscious Lemon Sour Cream Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This luscious lemon sour cream cake is surprisingly easy to make with a cake mix, sour cream, and butter. Lemon juice and zest flavor this fabulous Bundt cake.
16 of 29

Easy Chocolate Raspberry Cake With Chocolate Ganache

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

A cake mix makes this chocolate raspberry cake with chocolate ganache recipe a snap to prepare, and the raspberry jam and optional liqueur make it extra special. A rich chocolate ganache is the perfect finishing touch, and it's surprisingly easy to make.

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17 of 29

Easy Chocolate Fudge Cherry Cake

The Spruce

This easy chocolate fudge cherry cake is made with a cake mix and cherry pie filling.
18 of 29

Easy Rum Eggnog Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

The rum, eggnog, and some nutmeg transform the cake mix and give it classic holiday eggnog flavor. Finish the rum eggnog cake with the flavorful butter rum glaze or dust it with powdered sugar.
19 of 29

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

These easy peanut butter cupcakes are super easy to prepare with chunky peanut butter. Feel free to replace the chunky peanut butter with creamy. The recipe includes purchased chocolate frosting, but a homemade peanut butter frosting may be used.
20 of 29

Easy Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Diana Rattray

Shredded zucchini, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips give this easy chocolate zucchini cake loads of flavor and texture.

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21 of 29

Easy Fresh Blueberry Cake

The Spruce / Cara Cormack

This easy fresh blueberry cake is made with a yellow cake mix, but a lemon cake or white cake may be used. The blueberries give the cake excellent flavor, and they make beautiful polka dots throughout the cake.
22 of 29

Key Lime Cake

Kristina Vanni

This popular key lime cake is a one-layer cake made with a lemon cake mix and a wonderful key lime glaze.
23 of 29

Easy Zucchini Carrot Cake

The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

This zucchini carrot cake is made with a store-bought carrot cake mix. Bits of shredded carrot add flavor and extra color to this easy cake. We used a springform pan for this cake, but a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking pan may be used as well.
24 of 29

Classic Watergate Cake

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This easy, popular classic watergate cake is made with pistachio pudding mix, whipped topping, and a cake mix. Pecans and coconut add flavor and texture to this classic cake. 7-Up is added to the cake instead of water, but you may use club soda, Sprite, or a similar carbonated drink.

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25 of 29

Pumpkin Cake With Broiled Coconut Topping

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This moist pumpkin cake with broiled coconut topping is topped with brown sugar, pecan, and coconut topping. The topping is browned under the broiler.
26 of 29

Chocolate Mounds Cake With Marshmallows and Coconut

Chocolate Cake. Geoff Fenney/StockFood Creative/Getty

This mounds bar-inspired cake is rich and delicious! The warm chocolate cake—from a mix—is topped with a sauce made with coconut and marshmallows and then it is finished with chocolate (cocoa) and pecan icing.
27 of 29

Red Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Victoria Wall Harris / Photodisc / Getty Images

This easy red velvet cake is made with a white cake mix, cocoa, and red food coloring. The cream cheese frosting is classic.
28 of 29

Strawberry-Pecan Cake

Pei Lin Ng / EyeEm / Getty Images

This strawberry-pecan cake is made baked with 2 or 3 layers. Strawberry-flavored gelatin gives the easy cake mix batter color and extra flavor along with coconut, mashed fresh strawberries, and pecans. The cream cheese frosting includes more strawberries and pecans.

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29 of 29

Cherry Crumb Bars

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

Use cherry pie filling or thickened cherries in juice to make the filling for these cherry crumb bars, which pair perfectly with tea.