Question: Was Duncan Hines a real person, or was the cake mix brand name invented?
Answer: Unlike Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines was a real person — a traveling salesman from Bowling Green, Kentucky, who became one of America’s most trusted restaurant critics in the 1930s and ’40s. Ironically, Hines couldn’t really cook himself, but he lent his trusted name to a line of food products, and Duncan Hines Cake Mix debuted in 1951.
