Denise~* said:
I don't want to make a new "recipe" from a cake mix (such as making a
new creature food from a box mix), but does anybody have any small
additions that you do to a box cake mix in order to make the flavor better?I have a bunch of cake mixes, (standard Duncan Hines style) that I
bought on sale a while back & want to use for a birthday party cake, but
want it to "taste" better than the typical box mix.I would prefer tried & true suggestions, as I don't have the time for
experiments & re-do's Thanks!
I do a lot of baking for a bridge club and for the sheet cakes that
are needed, boxed mixes are very convenient. I do not get reimbursed
for the stuff I bring and there are usually close to 100 players who
are there for lunch, so it is easy to see why I use mixes at times.
Most of the time I bake "from scratch".
When I use cake mix, I always buy the kind where unsalted butter may
be substituted for oil. If it is a chocolate mix, I add several
tablespoons of Ghirardelli's unsweetened Cocoa, because most mixes are
too sweet. The addition of a package of instant chocolate pudding and
sour cream, as well as chocolate chips and broken walnuts, with Orange
Juice instead of water is a recipe that was posted on rfc some time
ago and makes for a nice cake. With a jar of water packed, drained
sour cherries added to it as well, it makes it almost festive. The
cake that results, is a rather flat sheet cake.
For white or yellow cake mixes, again with butter instead of oil, I
add either freshly grated Orange or Lemon Rind, or a combination of
both. Again, Orange Juice instead of water is nice when you want to
have a fruity flavor and raisins are a likely addition. For a cake
that is not fruity, mini chocolate chips and walnuts may be added.
I hope that this will help. Good luck with your birthday party cake.