6 Easy Ways To Upgrade Your Boxed Cake Mix, According to a Pro Baker (2024)

FAQs

6 Easy Ways To Upgrade Your Boxed Cake Mix, According to a Pro Baker? ›

Because eggs help build the cake's structure (don't use them and you're looking at a gooey mess), adding an extra egg yolk makes the cake batter denser. Translation: you'll have a moister confection. Conversely, she suggests an extra egg white for a fluffier cake.

Because eggs help build the cake's structure (don't use them and you're looking at a gooey mess), adding an extra egg yolk makes the cake batter denser. Translation: you'll have a moister confection. Conversely, she suggests an extra egg white for a fluffier cake.

As a professional baker, I don't often use boxed mixes, but I appreciate how easily they bring a cake together. I think premade mixes are great for beginners gaining confidence around the kitchen and also for last-minute cake "emergencies."

Boxed cake mixes tend to be lighter in consistency, but if you're craving that thicker, moister, denser cake, then all you have to do is add an extra egg to your mix. The additional fat in the egg yolk helps create a more tender and moist cake that is full of flavor.

Add Milk, Coffee, or Soda

Take things one step further and pair your cake mix with a flavored liquid. For example, buttermilk sings in a yellow and red velvet cake and brewed coffee makes chocolate cake taste bolder. Also, pop open a can of soda—Sprite, 7 Up, or ginger beer—for lemon and strawberry cake mixes.

How Is Sour Cream Used in Baking? Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.)

How to kick up boxed cake mix? ›

Top Up the Tasty Bits

Bump up the flavor by adding ½ to 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Making a spice cake? Add a little rum, almond, or orange extract as well. If you're making a white or yellow cake, add a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon or lime zest, or a bit of juice.

Swap out each cup of water called for with milk. Buttermilk: Instead of water, use the same amount of buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk interacts with the leavening agents in the mix for a better rise. "Swapping out the water for buttermilk creates a fluffier cake and a moister one, too," says Waterson.

Martina says, “Late in the mixing stage, eggs will incorporate better if you lightly beat them before adding to the batter. The finished cake may be slightly shorter than expected, but its flavor and tenderness shouldn't be affected.” For egg-leavened cakes, the eggs are crucial.

Milk: Add MILK, not water, when your box mix calls for liquid. The milk adds density, fat and, most importantly, extra flavor to your mix. Egg WHITES: Not adding the yolks to the cake makes the cake fluffy and whiter!

It couldn't be easier to substitute butter for oil using a 1:1 ratio. This should work with olive, canola, vegetable, and coconut oils. Simply melt and cool the butter to room temperature, then continue with your recipe. (If the recipe calls for ½ cup oil, use ½ cup melted and cooled butter.)

Baking tip #2: adding milk to your box cake mix in place of water adds a dense texture to your dessert leaving it moist and flavorful like a homemade cake. Or, if you prefer, you can add buttermilk, giving your cake a tangy flavor to balance out the sweetness.