I have also noticed this change. I called the company. They assured me it is still the same great product. That it will raise and bake just the same. I argued with them. I baked a full sheet cake without a seam. When I made the new mix it took a whole extra mix to get to my line for a full sheet cake.
I told them this and they sent nme coupons for 10 free mixes.
This still don't make up for the smaller box amount. Now it calls for more oil. They never thought that the price of vegtable oil is just a bad as gas prices.

The "we need to bring our box size into line with our competitors" is a joke. While there may be specialty brands like Barefoot Contessa or King Arthur Flour that are not the standard 18.25 oz box, the "big three", BC, Pillsbury, and Duncan Hines, have always been 18.25 oz. The prologue to The Cake Mix Doctor book even references this size as "standard".

There are literally thousands of recipes that call for an 18.25 oz box of cake mix. This was a really, really crappy move on their part. BC was not my favorite brand, but it did come in second after Pillsbury. I hope their sales take a nosedive and they are forced to change it back.

Remember, if their sales don't drop, they have no incentive to change.

ugh! First I should tell you that I am actually a Duncan girl, but there are a few flavors of BC that I prefer...keeping that in mind and following a cc'rs advise, I ran out to Randall's (Safeway) a few weeks ago when they had BC on sale for .99, I had coupons for $1 off of 2 mixes, making them .50 a cake mix. I was very careful to purchase only the bigger, 18.25 boxes (which were hidden at the back of the shelves, behind all the shorter new boxes).

All I can say is, clearly, BC changed their recipe before they changed the box size, because a few days ago I used 1 box confetti mix (18.25) to make cupcakes and only got 18 cupcakes from it, and scratched my head that the batter was sooooo incredibly thin, even though I followed the directions and used the same amounts as usual.

Tonight, working on my little girls' bday cake...I am making a 9x13 cherry chip flavored cake, so I use 2 mixes that are 18.25, [I always make 2 mixes for a 9x13 and fill the pan 2/3ish full, then use the extra batter (which is usually atleast half a cake mix worth) to make cupcakes]. So anywhoo, tonight again I noticed the batter looked incredibly thin/watery...and ofcourse I followed the normal directions. Also, I was SHOCKED that it took the FULL 2 MIXES for a 9x13!! WTH?? It took the whole 2 mixes of batter just to get my 9x13 to 2/3 full!

UGH I HATE you Betty! Quit ruining my life!! Hopefully it will taste fine, because it also took 57 minutes to bake the thing! For a 9x13, can you believe it?

Ok, sorry...rant over.

I did find that the batter was a little thin the way I mix it up (I doctor it up). I substituted whole milk for the water and the batter was the consistency I am used too. The cakes baked up fine and tasted fine too. I had been getting 4.5-5 cups of batter from a box of BC mix, and noticed yesterday that I was getting 4-4.5cups from the new boxes.

I bake up any unused cake batter and freeze it, then use that to make cake balls for Christmas treats.

~Chelle

I used the french vanilla. It was just fine.