This blog post is for you if you’re considering any of these things.
I’ll highlight a few scrumptious tips that you may use to improve your box cake mix.
Try converting your cake mix into brownies if you really want to be inventive!
1: Goodbye, Water
Water is used in most box cake mix recipes. If you want a good, rich cake, water simply won’t cut it. So instead of using water, use whole milk instead (be sure to check out the differences in milk and buttermilk in cake).
The cake will have more fat and a better tongue feel and a smoother taste if whole milk is added. Anything is preferable to plain water if you don’t have full milk; two percent or skim would do just well.
Because they are a touch too rich, stay away from heavy cream and a half and a half (too much fat can mess with your recipe in a negative way so stick with the milk rather than the creams).
Use one cup of milk instead of one cup of water if your recipe calls for it. With the use of only one ingredient, you can create a box cake that tastes like it just rolled off the bakery shelf!
Also: 8 Food Trends You Must Try That Went Viral on TikTok
2. Coffee in A Cake?
Coffee ought to be used in place of water while baking a chocolate box cake. The cake will taste even more opulent and have a stronger chocolate flavor if coffee is added to it.
You won’t taste any coffee at all, though—just more chocolate! For this straightforward hack, substitute an equal amount of coffee for the water in the recipe.
Additionally, this is a fantastic way to use up leftover coffee.
3. More Eggs!
The majority of box cake mixes call for adding one or two eggs, but what if you add just one more? What would take place? That’s what, magic.
Your cake will become significantly more moist and dense by adding an additional egg. The additional egg will thicken the cake and give it a homemade flavor—no box in sight!
Your cake will be altered with just one extra cracked egg.
If you’d rather not use eggs, be sure to look at these egg substitutes for cake!
4. Zesty
When baking, sometimes adding just a teeny bit more of an ingredient will change the entire outcome. In this instance, I’m referring to sprinkling lemon zest on your boxed cake.
Simply adding a teaspoon of lemon zest will transform a vanilla box cake into something amazing. Every mouthful of cake will be bursting with vibrant fruit flavors, which will also add your unique touch.
While orange zest works better for chocolatey cakes, lemon zest is great for vanilla and white cakes.
5. Waffles?
This tiny tip is primarily about obtaining your cake more quickly. Nobody wants to wait around while the cake bakes, so when you mix and measure, you probably want to consume your cake right away.
Pouring the batter into a waffle maker will allow you to start eating the cake right away. If you don’t already own one, waffle makers are reasonably priced and simple to acquire on Amazon. There are many baking techniques you can use, making them a delightful tool to have in your kitchen.
The cake batter will cook in waffle makers for three to five minutes, yielding golden brown cake waffles.
Thanks to this fantastic technique, you won’t have to wait long for cake—it will only take you around 10 minutes from the time you open the box until you take your first taste.
6 – Cook It Slowly
Place any can of fruit filling and the cake mix directly into a slow cooker (a can of cherry filling for a chocolate cake mix, a can of strawberry filling for a strawberry cake mix, or maybe a can of pumpkin for a vanilla cake mix).
Start the slow cooker, then leave the room. You’ll be enjoying one of the moistest cakes you’ve ever had four hours later!
By sealing in moisture, slow cookers prevent moisture loss during cooking, which occurs when a cake is baked in a conventional oven. The fruit filling also gives the cake a tonne of moisture.
This is a completely new technique to “bake” a cake—soft it and gooey!
7. We Need Butter!
The majority of boxed cake mixes call for the use of oil, but do you know an alternative? Butter. Simply put, butter is superior to other ingredients.
By using butter instead of oil, you may give the cake mix a richer, more complex flavor that oil just cannot provide.
Before incorporating butter into the batter, it should be melted. Additionally, you ought to use twice as much butter as oil. You will need one cup of butter if your recipe box calls for half a cup of oil.
Simple enough to switch to a richer cake!
Also: 10 Brownie Hacks You Can Try With Boxed Brownies
8. Spicy
The majority of box cake mixes are rather straightforward. There isn’t much variety—a white cake here, a vanilla cake there. Add some spices to the mixture for a quick solution to this monotony.
Depending on the flavor character you want to achieve, choose your spices accordingly. Is it autumn and you desire a cake with hearty aromas? Take a handful of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or allspice (or all of the above! ), and sprinkle a little bit of each into your mixture.
A Mexican chocolate cake with a good kick can be made by incorporating a little chile powder into your chocolate batter.
Get inventive because there are so many different spices you can use!
9. Extract
In cake mix, a little vanilla essence goes a long way.
Boxed cake mixes occasionally lose flavor after spending a long period on store shelves. You can revive such flavors by adding vanilla extract because vanilla will enhance everything else in the dish.
Try enhancing your vanilla cakes using almond or maple extract instead of just vanilla. Your taste buds will be delighted by a few drops of mint extract in a chocolate cake, and a dash of lavender extract in a strawberry cake will undoubtedly be delectably unexpected.
Salutations for extracts’ simplicity and originality!
10. Anything Else…
Because box cake mixes are so incredibly basic, you can pretty much add anything to the batter. You can add just about anything to a box of cake mix, including pumpkin puree, chocolate chips, fresh berries, and peanut butter cups.
Although some “mix-ins” may change the texture of the cake (frozen berries, for instance, can add moisture and make the cake denser), they are incredibly simple to incorporate into the cake batter to produce a unique, cool sort of cake.
See what’s inside your cabinet by opening it up! Please add some chocolate chips and strawberry chunks to the boxed cake mix I’m using.
You won’t ever look at a basic box of cake mix in the same depressing way after reading all of these fantastic box cake mix hacks, I’m sure of it. It almost seems stupid to make a cake from scratch again when there are so many ways to improve a box mix!
Time to don your chef’s hat and decide which types of cakes to bake first. Break out the box mix and only loosely abide by the “recipe”—thanks to these wonderful hacks, you can come up with some spectacular new cake flavors!