7 Quick Fixes for Boxed Cake Mix

Apple Streusel Cake I made from box cake

I honestly try to make everything from scratch, sometimes I think it is just that chef-y pride, so that I can say that I went to all this trouble, grinding my own flour or something crazy, whatever. That's all fine and dandy, and when I am bored on a Saturday afternoon, I may go UBER homemade, and do crazy things, but generally, I like to keep it classy, standard homemade cakes, pies, pastries etc, not necessarily extravagant, but not from a box, homemade, etc. But there are the days when I promised my coworkers I would bring them my infamous brownies, or a birthday cake, or cupcakes and then 2 hours before I am supposed to be at work I remember the promise or the occasion that we are celebrating and its far too late to be making it all from scratch, but I can't show up empty handed, and I CERTAINLY CAN NOT BUY SOMETHING at the store. After all, I am the "chef" of the group, it would be unacceptable to bring something that I did not make!
SO, here's how we fix that problem... and they are still impressed, and none the wiser to these shortcuts.

Let's start out with cake, or cupcakes. If you have the time, make a cake from scratch, if you have a good recipe (which I will give you in an upcoming blog) and you follow this recipe accurately, they will actually be even better than your "doctored up" cake mix cake. Which may be hard to believe after you try some "doctored" recipes.

So, you will follow your box directions to the T. Add your water, your oil and your eggs.

TIP 1: 
Don't be tempted to Butter things up
 I know it is tempting to swap the oil for butter in a cake mix, and some boxes are specifically intended to use butter, but trust me its actually not a good idea. While butter tastes far superior to the vegetable oil, it will not create as moist of a cake, butter actually contains water, which creates steam (which is good when creating flaky things) but in cake, this just means moisture is evaporating, creating a drier cake. Who would've thunk it.

TIP 2:
Perfect Texture, Moist Cake
Add 3/4 cup of sour cream or pudding to your cake. This makes all the difference in keeping your cake from  being a chunk of flavored saw dust.
We all tend to lean towards putting pudding in our cake, because it is already sweet and delicious by itself, but if you plan on stacking your cake (into more than 2 layers) you need to pick the sour cream. It helps create a denser cake, while keeping it moist. If you try to stack a boxed cake, without doctoring it up, or by adding pudding, it will be very susceptable to the dreaded... CAKE AVALANCHE

TIP 3:
EGGXTA EGGS
If you are making a standard birthday cake,or anything regular size, no extravagant stacking or carving, then keep to the standard 3 eggs that the box asks for. But, if you want  to get creative, be sure to add a 4th egg, this will help your cake stay together, and don't worry, it won''t dry it out.

TIP 4:
Go ahead, Go nuts!
Up to a 1 1/2 cups of any dry ingredient can be added to a cake mix without having to adjust the liquid or number of eggs. Nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips or chunks, flaked coconut.. etc.

Up to 1 cup of wet solid items can be added to your cake mix with out affecting the texture or causing you to adjust the number of eggs or amount of liquid. Wet solids include, fruits such as berries, pineapples, cherries, or anything that isn't a liquid, but would dispense liquid into the batter.

Tip 5:
Flavorings
Additional flavorings. Add 1 tsp of good vanilla extract to any white, yellow or chocolate cake to intensify the flavor and it make it taste more homemade.
Add 2 mashed ripe bananas to any cake to give it a banana flavor.
Add 1 tsp strong coffee to chocolate cake to intensify chocolate flavor.
Add coffee to cake mix instead of water for coffee flavored cake. or for (tiramisu cake)
Add 1 and a half tsp of almond/ orange/ peppermint or any other extract to a cake mix to make it that flavor.

TIP 6:
Baking your cake
I don't care what your grandma told you, the toothpick trick doesn't work on boxed cakes. You do not want a clean tooth pick, you want a tooth pick with a tiny bit of cake residue on it when you insert it straight into center of cake. Not liquid, but some sticky pieces of cake, not dry crumbs. This depends on your oven of course, but the box directions should be pretty close to the accurate time, if you preheat your oven to 350. Half way through the time alotted on the box, rotate and check your cakes.
Also, allow your cakes plenty of time to cool in the pans. If you grease your pans well, (grease and flour them if you add anything extra into your cakes; chocolate, fruit, nuts) you do not need to mess with them while they are warm. Put the cakes (in the pan) in your freezer for 30 minutes. (after sitting them on your counter for 10 minutes, so you don't melt everything in your freezer. After 30 minutes, pop them out onto parchment paper or a cardboard round, and put them in freezer another 30 minutes. Then you can frost them, cut them, stack them. ETC.

TIP 7:
You can judge a cake by its frosting
Although I'll show you some frosting shortcuts, NEVER use a canned frosting. Home made frostings can be easy and they make all the difference in the taste. Even if you don't do anything to your box cake, except follow regular directions, a homemade frosting will make all the difference in the world!!

Here is a good example of a "doctored box cake":

Perfect example of how toasty to get your coconut

I will give you more in my next Blog!

Hawaiian Cake
1 yellow cake mix
1 can crushed pineapple (in pineapple juice, NOT syrup)
2 ripe mashed bananas
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Vanilla cream frosting:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 small box vanilla pudding (instant)
1 cup milk

Combine all ingredients well, do not follow box directions, the pineapple gives enough liquid, do not add water. Toast some sweetened coconut flakes in the oven until lightly browned, add to cake after cooled and frosted.
For frosting:
Whip cream, add powdered sugar, whip until stiff peaks form, do NOT over whip
Mix pudding and cold milk, add vanilla. It will be much thicker than normal pudding. Fold pudding into heavy cream gently. Top cake with frosting