What do you add to cake mixes to make them better?

[QueenIsabella]

I use cake mixes and “gasp” even canned frosting at times! I do like from scratch cakes but not that many are oh so better and not always easier. German chocolate is best homemade but time consuming. And my mom’s coconut cake but also time consuming with the cooked frosting.

As for the question, since German Chocolate is my favorite and, like I said, better homemade, I love this as a way to make a good, easy cake: German chocolate cake mix with the ingredients called for in the directions, add a can of coconut-pecan frosting to the batter. Pour in a bundt pan and bake by box directions. Very good and very moist. You can either leave it plain or add more frosting on top.

This works with most any cake mix and frosting, I just happen to really like it with German Chocolate. A friend of mine likes the same technique with a lemon cake mix and lemon frosting. She makes a lemon glaze on top.

Another way with Lemon cake, is adding some fresh lemon juice and lemon zest to the batter to give it a fresh lemon flavor.

Butter cake mix with butter in place of the oil and an extra egg or two is also good. Can do that with any mix but the extra butter in a butter mix is really good.

I also will use milk instead of water in any of these

Why, why WHY would anyone use oil in a butter cake mix??? Yeah, I know that people do it, but it negates the whole point of the butter cake! I know that real butter is pricier, but sometimes, you just have to have it--like when you make spritz cookies, or my husband's favorite, Snickerdoodles.

I bet the coconut/pecan frosting would taste really yummy on brownies. Regular German chocolate cake is a less-rich chocolate cake. Unfortunately for me, DD15 doesn't care for coconut, so I wouldn't make this. I'll have to stick with dropping spoonfuls of Nutella on my brownies.

 

[luvsJack]

Why, why WHY would anyone use oil in a butter cake mix??? Yeah, I know that people do it, but it negates the whole point of the butter cake! I know that real butter is pricier, but sometimes, you just have to have it--like when you make spritz cookies, or my husband's favorite, Snickerdoodles.

I bet the coconut/pecan frosting would taste really yummy on brownies. Regular German chocolate cake is a less-rich chocolate cake. Unfortunately for me, DD15 doesn't care for coconut, so I wouldn't make this. I'll have to stick with dropping spoonfuls of Nutella on my brownies.

Butter really does make everything better!
It is priced but I tend to stock up a bit when I find it on sale and I don’t use it exclusively, just mostly! Lol

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Why are there so many people clicking on a thread about using cake mixes to say they don't use cake mixes? Weird.

Anyway, I have used applesauce, pumpkin, yogurt, or whatever sometimes in place of some of the oil, water, and eggs. I also like to add almond extract. I actually prefer cake mixes to homemade cake, especially for "plain" cake like white, yellow, or chocolate. I feel the same way about brownie mix.

This is the Dis. We're better surgeons than Hawkeye Pierce, better Lawyers than Perry Mason, better cooks than Julia Child, and better bakers than Florian Bellanger.

 

[sjrec]

You can do this to a mix or homemade chocolate cake-
When still warm, poke holes in the cake and pour about a 1/4 cup of Kahlua over it. Cover and let sit a couple hours. Cut into good size cubes and layer with chocolate mousse (again, mix or homemade, I don’t judge) and whipped cream. Shave some good dark chocolate over the top.

 

[QueenIsabella]

You can do this to a mix or homemade chocolate cake-
When still warm, poke holes in the cake and pour about a 1/4 cup of Kahlua over it. Cover and let sit a couple hours. Cut into good size cubes and layer with chocolate mousse (again, mix or homemade, I don’t judge) and whipped cream. Shave some good dark chocolate over the top.

Serves 1, I assume?

Seriously, though, I probably wouldn't make this, as I'm not a coffee fan. OTOH, this would probably work well with Bailey's, kirsch, creme de menthe...

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm so not a cake mix snob. The point of cake mixes is consistency; that is what they were designed to produce. Works for me in an everyday context.

One of my favorites is using BC Supermoist Red Velvet. I make it generally according to box, but I substitute buttermilk for the water, and add 3 tbsp of Penzey's High-Fat Baking Cocoa to the batter. It's crucial not to overbeat the batter; you don't want to put air holes in it and toughen the texture. I also find it's important to always raise cake ingredients to room temp before mixing in order to produce more consistent results, scratch or mix.

When cooking ANY type of chocolate cake, use cocoa powder instead of flour to coat the pan; it will avoid that dreaded "white coat" that can happen. (I use good old Hershey's Cocoa for this purpose; the Penzey's good stuff is too oily for the pan coating; it turns sticky.)

 

[Jennasis]

Sorry home-cooks...I've yet to eat a homemade cake that didn't either taste pedestrian or have a strange consistency. Here in the south everyone's maw-maw is the best maker of cakes, pies, cookies, cobbler etc and at every church picnic, family gathering, pot luck etc I have had to politely taste each one and then gish about how great it was before quietly hiding the remains under my napkin. Truthfully I don't even like cake. No matter what flavor it claims to be, it all just tastes sweet to me.

Ill take boxed cake and cookies and their delightful consistency...or the local bakery. They make amazing cakes that have actual flavor.

 

[SirDuff]

When I made a cake from scratch it turned out great. Second time I tried the same recipe it turned out fine, but it was quite different from the first. I assume it's because of the volume of the flour. I used the same measuring cups and ingredients. For me, it's just simpler to use a mix because the dry ingredients are measured by volume, and consistent.

Which is why I bake by weight not volume. It is actually hard to find mixes here (or, rather, they are super expensive), so I tend to bake from scratch. But box mixes definitely have their place (one thing I've done, if I happen to have it on hand, is to use chocolate milk in place of water for chocolate cake mix). Or a layer of dulche de leche (I just cook a can of condensed milk to make it) when making box brownies (half the batter, layer of dulche de leche, rest of batter and bake).

 

[Hikergirl]

Proud box cake mix user here! I do not like baking and see it as a necessary evil so I will go the lazy route every time.
As far as it tasting terrible, the worst cakes I've ever had were made from scratch. Never ever had a bad cake out of the box.

I've used canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) as the only ingredient in devil's food cake.
I've used soda in my dump cake.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My Nana, could and did make divine cakes from scratch but knew how to play off a good cake mix when the need came up....like trying to teach her DIL (my mother) how to bake, LOL. My mother is renowned for her inability to cook or bake but in her defense she was stuck between two kitchen experts (her mother and MIL) and had munchkins who let her know it. She opted to become a needlecraft master and thus gave up the "she was NEVAH going to win" contest with grace.


For Nana, it had to be a Duncan Hines cake mix because she preferred the cake flour they used as a base. She'd add a small box of lemon or orange Jello to the dry mix, always used milk to replace the water, and added a drop of almond extract. The eaters knew it wasn't her from scratch cake but ate it happily.

Since there were people with chocolate allergies in the family she nevah made a Devil's Food cake. Also icing was not something used in general by either grandmothers probably because sugar wasn't a major part of their diets. And they both thought (as do I) that canned icing drowns out the flavour and texture of the cake and is basically some kind of an abomination from Hades.

 

[ronandannette]

I’ve often heard to use Duck eggs in place of chicken eggs for cakes.

You’ve heard this often? And duck eggs are relatively easy to come by near you? I must be living under a rock. Now if @Cubbiecakes would just throw some actually delicious food at me, I feel like I would truly be on the road to enlightenment.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Well, we're inventing a new one here in Queen Isabella's kitchen: I'm currently making a lemon bundt cake. I typically only make bundt cakes, because you can slice them for lunchboxes without much mess. DS21 wandered into the kitchen, took a sniff, and asked if it was a lemon-pineapple upside-down cake. I said no, and explained how pineapple upside-down cakes typically start with a yellow cake batter, with pineapple juice substituting in for the liquid, adding the slices and brown sugar, etc. So then he asked if we could "try" a lemon-pineapple upside-down cake. So, that will be next week's big adventure. I will be starting with a lemon box mix. But I pointed out to him, I'm just, just now making a lemon cake, so in between the different lemon cakes, I'll be forced to make my soon-to-be-world-famous Nutella brownies. Ah, the kids in this household suffer so!

 

[smiths02]

I make these from cake mix. They are wonderful.
https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/lemon-blossoms/

I like chocolate cake homemade better. Pretty much the recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder (although I will use some special dark cocoa powder and Hershey's cocoa). It is a very moist, dense cake.

I've also done a lot of poke cakes that are pretty good.

I have a hard time finding a white/yellow cake recipe that I like that has the right consistency and can be easily frosted. (I can make a tres leche cake and a victoria sponge, so maybe I should just use those, but if my kid just wants a vanilla birthday cake, I'm not sure). For those of you who think it is lazy and artificial...some of the stabilizers and additives do make the boxed cake mixes a more consistent and fool proof product. I remember Alton Brown recommending them on a show. I also have seen caterers in line at the grocery store with a cart full of cake mix boxes.
I do make my frosting from scratch now as I can't spread the canned stuff without tearing up a cake and don't like the taste as much.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

You’ve heard this often? And duck eggs are relatively easy to come by near you? I must be living under a rock. Now if @Cubbiecakes would just throw some actually delicious food at me, I feel like I would truly be on the road to enlightenment.

I have ducks, a lot of the older generations had chickens, geese, and ducks. They always said they make great cakes

 

[Imzadi]

I have ducks, a lot of the older generations had chickens, geese, and ducks. They always said they make great cakes

So you are: 3 MEN AND A BOAT WITH DUCKS

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

So you are: 3 MEN AND A BOAT WITH DUCKS

Also have roughly 70 chickens, had up to 150 at one point but I’m downsizing.

 

[Imzadi]

Also have roughly 70 chickens, had up to 150 at one point but I’m downsizing.

Is that code for: You've been eating a lot of chicken(s).

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

Is that code for: You've been eating a lot of chicken(s).

Maybe

 

[PollyannaMom]

This one claims to turn a cake mix into a Boston Cream Pie - yum!!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/253960866458819952/

 

[PollyannaMom]

ooooh, these look even more fun:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/246642517069443256/