Schnazzing up a cake mix

Cake mixes — we should all hate them, right? They’re filled with all sorts of crazy preservatives and radioactive substances that you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

BUT! But. But when it’s your sister-in-law’s birthday, and you’ve been asked to make the birthday cake, and you get home from church and have less than an hour to throw it all together — while keeping track of a busy toddler and making lunch for your husband — before dashing out the door to the party, which you’re already late to… well, let’s just say that hating cake mixes isn’t all that simple.

If the fates combine against you to necessitate the use of a cake mix, take comfort in the knowledge that the universe will not implode if you deviate from the instructions on the box.  Now, you can’t take the radioactive materials out of the mix. Sorry. What you can do is turn the finished product into a sly counterfeit of a real, homemade cake. I’ll show you.

• First off, I know, the instructions tell you to add water. Want to know a secret? The cake only needs liquid, and the box says water, because it’s a liquid that people generally have easy and cheap access to. Forget water — use milk instead. The fat from the milk will make the cake a little more moist and tender.
• Because cake mixes are never moist enough for me, I like to add 2-4 tablespoons more oil than the box asks for. Or, you could throw in 1/2 cup of yogurt instead. Any flavor will do nicely, although I tend to prefer plain yogurt, because it doesn’t compete with the flavor of the cake (unless you want the cake to feature the flavor of the yogurt, in which case, go to town). Pudding also goes nicely in a cake mix. Give it a whirl.
• I live at a high altitude, so cakes usually need slightly more moisture anyway. I sometimes add one more egg than the instructions call for. However, if I add the oil/yogurt as well as an extra egg, I have to decrease the milk by about 1/4 cup. You really have to experiment to get a feel for how much of each ingredient is the right amount. Now. You wonderful people who don’t live at a high altitude: take this one with a grain of salt. I’ve never baked at sea level.
• For chocolate cakes, throw in a couple tablespoons of cocoa, or a melted square of baking chocolate.
• Don’t forget to jazz things up with some extracts. Try vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut, rum, cherry, or even root beer. But not all together, okay?
• Toss in a handful of berries. Or nuts. Or diced apples. Or grated zucchini. Or dried fruit. Or chocolate chips. The sky is the limit, friends
• Don’t forget — if your add-in is high in moisture, such as apple or zucchini, it will add moisture to the cake (Heh, duh). Adjust accordingly.
• And as always, let a good dose of common baking sense be your guide.

What do you do to schnazz up your cake mixes? I’d love to hear!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 5:28 pm and is filed under cakes, tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.