Are Boxed Cake Mixes Vegan-Friendly?

The internet can be a wonderful thing. If you have any kind of dietary restriction, there's someone who has tested and published a recipe to suit your needs. Whether you're looking for a vegan carrot cake or vanilla cupcake recipe, the research has already been done for you.

But sometimes you don't want to start from scratch, and that's why boxed cake mixes were invented. But since these classic dessert recipes can contain egg, milk, and butter, some of these ingredients can end up in the box in powdered form. Manufacturers are required to flag eggs, milk, and milk derivatives, as these are allergens, but are not required to note any other non-vegan ingredients that don't fall into these categories. Things to look out for are gelatin (derived from bones), cochineal or carmine coloring (from insects), lecithin (animal product unless specified as soy), or oleic acid (from animal fat).

Thankfully, many of the most popular cake mix brands are free of eggs, dairy, and other animal products. Betty Crocker Super Moist Vanilla is one example, as is Duncan Hines Classic Yellow. But it pays to check flavor by flavor. Pillsbury Moist Supreme Chocolate is vegan-friendly, but sadly, its Funfetti Mix contains milk. Sometimes the instructions can be a giveaway. Betty Crocker Angel Food cake mix proudly claims "just add water", because the mix itself already contains the egg white that helps the cake rise.

The reason many boxed cake mixes aren't advertised as vegan is that the standard instructions often require you to add egg and sometimes milk and butter. Milk is possibly the easiest ingredient to swap, but each plant alternative does have its own flavor, texture and properties that you need to consider when making the substitution. Regular butter can be swapped 1:1 for a vegan alternative or replaced with vegetable oil, but you can also get a similar moistness by swapping it out for nut butter, mashed banana, or mashed avocado.

Eggs can be the trickiest thing to replace, as they perform a number of functions in a cake mix. They provide structure, help to bind ingredients together, and can also act as a leavening agent. Popular egg substitutes include flax or chia seeds mixed with water as a binder, sparkling or soda water as a leavening agent, or aquafaba for structure. There are also commercially available egg substitutes like Judee's Egg Replacer that are designed for use in baking (just be careful not to use a replacement brand designed for cooking dishes like scrambled eggs).

If you don't want the risk of experimenting with any of these options, there are a few boxed cake mixes that are vegan-friendly from the ingredients through the baking process. One option is Miss Jones Chocolate Cake Mix, which includes directions for preparing both dairy-free and vegan options, so you know your cake will turn out exactly as planned.