Betty Crocker is a brand who offer a range of baking products. From chocolate cake mixes to batters for pancakes and also toppings for cakes, there is something for all baking needs.

~Devils Food~

The Devils Food Cake Mix is a powder based mix which requires a few additional ingredients. It can be used to make a 2 tier cake (circular or rectangle) or cupcakes. The cake will be chocolate flavoured and suitable to serve 12 if made as a normal cake or around 30cupcakes.

~Packaging~

A red and cream cardboard box with a tempting chocolate slice is presented to us. All the relevant cooking information is on the box and inside, a solitary bar of crumbly, pale brown chocolate mix is supplied. No other ingredients are within the box.

~What You WIll Need~

Ingredients : cake mix, 70ml of vegetable oil, 3 medium eggs, 250ml water and ready to spread icing.

Utensils : 2 lightly greased baking tins/cupcake tin, plastic mixing bowl, wooden spoon and a knife.

~Baking Instructions~

Betty Crocker state that the preparation time will be 10mins. Firsty set your oven to 180c and have 2 baking tins already greased. Mix up up ingredients in a bowl and pour into 2 tins.

Cooking time will be different depending on what type of cake you are making but vary from 8-12mins for cupcakes through to 23-28mins for 8inch sandwich tins. Once cooked, ensure a knife comes out clean and allow to cool for 10mins before sandwiching the cakes together and decorating. Allow to set.

~Ingredients~

Sugar , Wheat Flour , Vegetable Oil , Cocoa (processed with Alkali) (8%) , Dextrose , Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate) , Modified Starch (Tapioca and Corn Starch) , Corn Starch , Dried Whey , Emulsifiers (E477, E471) , Salt Flavourings , Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum) .

Contains milk, wheat etc.

~Nutrition~

Nutritional values are based on 1/12th of the cake - 223calories, 16.2g of sugar and 4.4g of saturated fat.

~Availability and Price~

This cake mix is available in supermarkets in a 500g pack. It is priced around £1.95. In addition, the spreadable icing is priced around the same price.

~Our Experience~

My sister and 2 of the kids visit for lunch once a week and we like to put on a wee buffet. For the past few weeks, we have also been making a cake whilst they visit (well me and my sis have whilst the kids played). Whilst I would happily whisk up a sponge with jam and buttercream filling, my sister decided we were making a chocolate cake.

Betty Crocker is a brand I know and trust and I have rarely been disappointed with any purchases. Last week (and again this week), Stacey has visited with this Devils Food Cake Mix for us to bake. We have also indulged in 2 different toppings/fillings to create 2 nearly different cakes. Having experienced what I can only describe as scrumptuous choccie cakes, I felt I should review the cake mixes and tell you all about it!

~Baking Up A Storm~

I already had all the neccessary utensils as I bake regularly but had 2 slightly different sized cake tins to work with! Once we had our lunch, we left the oven on to keep it preheated, used a small amount of butter on the tins to grease them and set about making this cake. I had a decent sized mixing bowl but I would recommend quite a large one as the mix does develop into something rather big!

The first time we used this last week, I found the mixture to be a bit lumpy and spent more time dissolving the powdery lumps. Today though, I used my sieve and got rid of them all as the fine powder fell into the bowl. I am not used to using oil in baking but followed the instructions and tipped in the oil, water and 3 medium eggs. Mixing it at first, it looks a bit icky and not at all impressive but its the end results that really matter! Anyway, the mix blends well with my wooden spoon though takes a few minutes so if you have an electric blender, you may be able to do it quicker!

Once mixed up, the mix resembles a thick, chocolate milkshake type consistency and pours smoothly into the two baking tins. Because my tins are different sizes (by about an inch), I intended on using the bigger one as the base and sandwich the smaller one on top. The cake mix looked nice and smooth and chocolatey once in the tins and all that was left to do was to bung them in the oven. I use the cooking time to clean the bowl/spoon etc which means less mess later!

~Mmmm...Can You Smell It??~

The gorgeous chocolate aroma wafting out my oven whilst these cakes cooked was extremely tempting but I resisted and waited the 25mins required to cook! The larger cake took slightly longer but both went dark brown (not burnt just really chocolatey) and the knife came out clean. I plonked them on the worksurface allowing them to cool for around 20minutes as they were still warm after the recommended 10minutes!

Thankfully, we had no disasters with transferring the cakes to a plate or cake board. A quick run around the edges and a gentle tap on the tin allowed them to tip out in one piece. The cakes had risen perfectly with the bigger cake rising higher and each had a soft, spongey bottom! Last weeks cake had risen quite a bit so in order to have the cakes sandwiched together perfectly, my sister sliced a small amount off the top of the bottom cake before we decorated it and this allowed the smaller cake to slide on and stay put.

~Time To Decorate~

As I said, we have attempted 2 different cakes but both times opted for the Betty Crocker icings which come in tubs. Last week, we tried the Chocolate Fudge icing which is quite dark and smooth. Once the cakes had cooled, I had the job of sandwiching them together which was easy enough. The crumbs on top of the cake don't tend to crumble away into the icing and everything stays the way it should.

The cake required only a small spreading of chocolate fudge icing, just enough to allow the top half to stick smoothly. Not wanting to waste the rest of the icing, my sister covered the top and sides of the cake with it. If used at room temperature and spread with a knife, it will cover every inch of your cake and one tub is sufficient for a large cake. This week we used the Chocolate Buttercream icing had although we were rushed for time and spread whilst the cake was still hot, it melted on and ran a little. We then decorated with white chocolate stars.

On both occasions, we have placed the iced cake into the fridge to set which has taken a good 30mins. Each cake looks completely different and I feel the icing is an important back of the overall cake. If the cake hadn't been iced, I feel it would be a tad boring, plain and not as indulgening to look at or taste!

~Slice Me Up and Gobble Me Down!~

I had reservations and doubts about this being suitable for 12people. But believe me, these doubts were soon gone. The cake doesn't look massive but once decorated and set, you soon discover that 12pieces is about right. Last week, we managed to serve a decent sized slice to ourselves and 3 children which only used up nearly half the cake. The other half was kept in my fridge to be shared between myself, my fiance and Boo later that night. A large knife slides through the cake with ease and doesn't allow it to crumble. The cake can be wrapped up in tinfoil and placed into a box if take to someone elses home which is what my sister done today.

Each piece is substantial and even if say so myself, looks like something a fancy baker would have made and displayed in a cafe. Having the 2 cakes sandwiched together with the icing, makes it look professional and scrumptuous. The actual chocolate cake looks light, fluffy and moist without being wet. The icing really is the icing on top of the cake so to speak as it finishes the cake of perfectly and the addition of white chocolate stars, changed the appearance to a birthday type cake.

Using a fork or a spoon, the cake can be scooped up and gobbled down. The children loved it but couldn't eat a great deal of it. I think the overall taste depends on which icing you use. With the chocolate fudge icing, the fudge added an extra sweetness to the cake whilst the chocolate buttercream icing made it creamy and delicious. The cake itself has a pleasant, airy texture and is a little rich tasting which limits how much you can eat. It isn't too heavy or sicky on its own but with the addition of the icing and any other toppings, it can be a bit much.

~Doing The Devils Work?~

I feel this cake offers an excellent treat. It is quite messy for children to make (compared to normal cupcakes) so certainly one for adults. It is quick and easy to prepare with ingredients that will normally be in households anyway and there isn't too much to clean up afterwards. The cakes cook well, cool fairly quickly and can be easily decorated to create different looks. I suppose you could add a normal, non chocolate based icing to the top but I think it works best with chocolate or chocolate fudge.

Yeah the calories etc are high but the taste and absolute indulgence of this cake is enough to send any one to heaven (never mind hell!). I do feel mega guilty devouring a piece especially if I know I want another but when you taste it, the guilt disappears for a short while. The cake tastes delicious so to hell with the weight gain..its a treat and we can work it off running around after the kids!

I think presented well, I could get away with serving this at a party as there is enough to go around and its something different from the usual sponge or cupcakes that I normally would serve. We have another mix there and another tub of icing so we fancy trying out the cupcakes next week! The total we spent on ingredients is around £4.50 which may seem quite high but every penny was well spent and I would happily buy this cake again.

A quality, tasty cake mix thats bound to impress and comes with a 5star recommendation from me, my sister and the kids :)

Thanks for reading and please note this review was initially posted on ciao on 22nd June when we last made the cake!