Better Than… Boxed Cake

Take your boxed cake mix to the next level. Making a cake from scratch for a party can be so daunting when you have a million other things to do. If it’s the only thing you need to do, then make that cake from scratch. I’d rather put more effort into decorating the cake. But here’s a little hack to elevate your boxed cake to bakery-status and no one will know you made a cake from a box.

One of the things we did to prepare Liam for his birthday party was to have him eat cake. We wanted to make sure he wasn’t allergic to any of the ingredients and wanted to let him get used to trying it. He was not impressed.

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• Just Here for Dessert cake knife
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Lately, he’s avoiding having to touch mushy textures. If oatmeal or squash cake lingers on his hand, he’s over it and stops eating. He just looks at me with a how-could-you-let-me-touch-that face. So when he touched the frosting, he was done exploring the cake. He did, however, love the cake on its own.

From Boxed to Bakery

These little test cakes gave me an opportunity to try some baking hacks. I knew I was going to make two boxed cakes for his party, but I wanted to elevate the boxed cake. I am not ashamed to admit I would rather use the boxed stuff than make it from scratch. However, I wanted to make these cakes fluffier and bakery-like, while not losing that boxed cake convenience I love.

I tried this hack on a chocolate cake and a vanilla cake. Can’t speak for any other flavors, but I assume it’ll yield the same results. I got exactly what I was looking for: a fluffy cake with a hint of homemade.

After frosting the cake, I asked my wife if it needed sprinkles. She said, “Yes add sprinkles.” So I added them to the top of the cake and she said, “It needs to be on the sides, too.” I thought the only way to do this was to throw sprinkles at the cake. It worked for the most part, but it looked like a child made this cake. I figured I had nothing else to lose, so I added all the stars. Looks pretty extra now, and it was delicious.

Print Recipe

Better Than... Boxed Cake

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Serves: 1 Cake

Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cooking Time: Refer to box – Total Time: About 40 minutes

Make a boxed cake taste like a bakery made it!

Ingredients

• 1 additional egg
• Substitute melted butter instead of oil and double the amount
• Substitute milk instead of water
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1

Preheat your oven following the boxed cake instructions.

2

Open the boxed cake mix and pour into a mixing bowl.

3

Following the boxed cake instructions, add the eggs + 1 more than it says.

4

Add melted butter, milk, and vanilla to the bowl.

5

Mix per the box instructions.

6

Prepare your baking pan(s) and bake following the instructions on the box. You may want to let them go a minute or two longer so they puff up. You might feel the need to remove them from the oven, but if you remove them too soon, they may collapse.

7

Remove cake(s) from the oven and let cool completely before removing them from their pans.

Notes

If you're making cupcakes, fill cups 2/3 full. Preheat the oven to 350, but turn down to 325 once you pop them in.