Jazz up Your Cake Mix With These 8 Ideas

Sock-It-To-Me Bundt Cake Recipe

 The Spruce

Not everyone has time to make a cake from scratch. If you find yourself using more cake mixes, why not? Even bakeries and restaurants use them! The point is not that you use a cake mix, but what you do with that cake mix. Here's how to make a box cake even better. If you don't want to make a full cake, you can use half the mix and make a small cake.

Use Milk or Other Liquids Instead of Water

Many box recipes list water as a wet ingredient in the recipe. You can swap out water for other liquids to add more flavor. For instance:

  • Use milk for a denser cake and to add nutritional value.
  • Use lemon-lime soda to enhance the citrus flavor in a lemon cake.
  • Orange juice always works well in an orange cake.
  • Chocolate milk or flavored soda works great with a chocolate cake mix.
  • Exchange some of the liquid with chocolate syrup.

Use Melted Butter Instead of Vegetable Oil

When the recipe asks for vegetable oil, melt and cool some butter and add it instead. It will make for a richer tasting cake. 

Enhance the Cake Favor With Extracts

Adding a teaspoon of vanilla or other coordinating flavored extracts to the cake mix won't make your cake batter overly wet. If more extract is desired, exchange it for some of the other liquid used in the mix.

How to Make a Pound Cake Mix Taste Homemade

If you want to make a ​pound cake box mix taste like you made it from scratch, be sure to add 1 3/4-ounce package of instant pudding (in a coordinating flavor). Up to the eggs necessary to 4. Also, be sure to include a total of 1 cup of liquid and 1/2 cup of oil or melted butter.​

Add Fruit or Nuts

Give the cake mix more flavor, nutrients, and excitement by adding fruit, chocolate chips, or nuts. Keep in mind when adding these ingredients, you should adjust the cooking times accordingly.

Use This Trick When Adding Fruits or Nuts

To keep fruit or nuts from sinking to the bottom, roll them in some of the dry ingredients before making and then incorporating them into the cake batter.

Make Your Own Frosting

Impress your guests and add a personal touch by making homemade frosting instead of using store-bought. 

Add Flavor to Canned Frosting 

If you do use canned frosting, stir a teaspoon or so of almond extract into the frosting before putting it on the cake. It's amazing how good a fluffy vanilla frosting tastes with a teaspoon of almond extract stirred in—just make sure to alert anyone with tree nut allergies!