There’s a flavor for everyone, at least in boxed cake mixes. Whether it’s a chocolate cake or a yellow cake, the texture, and flavor are something you can count on. Nevertheless, if you want to perfect your baking skills in box cakes, this guide will give you the tips and tricks you need for the best results.
Boxed cake mixes make baking seamless because you don’t have to start from scratch to get the delicious dessert you want. A variety of box cake mixes can take your baking to the next level, but not necessarily by following the directions on the side of the box. Here’s what you need to know about taking boxed cake mixes up a notch.
The Wet Ingredients Used in Box Cakes
If you’re looking to shake up the ingredients in your boxed cake, here are some of the wet ingredients to consider:
- Sour cream
- Vegetable oil
- Whole milk
- Extra egg yolk
- Egg whites
- Melted butter
- Olive oil
- Orange juice
- Lemon juice
If you’ll be using a box cake mix, the box will generally call for water, oil, three eggs, and a flour mix mainly containing flour, flavors, a leavening agent, and sugar. But you can achieve different results from a boxed cake mix using the ingredients mentioned above.
How to Transform a Boxed Cake Mix with These Ingredients
Experienced bakers always add a tiny bit of personalization when making cakes. Although there may be some similarities in the process, no two baker’s cakes taste the same. Here are some things you can do to make your cake stand out.
Getting a Very Moist Cake
Moistness comes from how egg-rich your batter is. So, to get a moister cake, add an extra egg to your cake batter. This extra egg will not only make for a moister cake, but it will also give it more structure. The structure is important if you want to do more elaborate decorations like on a wedding or birthday cake.
Getting a Richly Flavored Cake
Expert bakers often swap half the vegetable oil for melted butter when gunning for a richer flavor. Don’t make the mistake of replacing all of the vegetable oil with melted butter. Just like eggs, the oil helps to keep cakes super moist. But if you want that deep flavor to accompany every bite, go for half oil and half melted butter. When melted, the butter combines more easily into the cake batter and adds that unmistakable buttery flavor.
Getting a Fluffy and Chocolatey Cake
Substitute sour cream and melted butter for oil to get a fluffier cake. Chocolate cake mix sometimes tastes bitter, but replacing oil with sour cream and melted butter in the doctored cake mix can be a big difference.
Add two tablespoons of melted butter with equal parts sour cream into the cake mix recipe. The sour cream enhances the chocolate cake mix flavor and leaves the cake spongy and light. In addition, the acidity in sour cream reacts with the baking soda in the dry boxed mix, allowing the cake to rise more and retain its texture.
Getting a Spongy and Light Cake
You can make a spongy, light boxed cake by substituting mayonnaise for oil. If you replace equal parts of mayonnaise with oil, the acid in the mayonnaise will lighten the cake. And don’t worry; the flavor in mayonnaise is entirely undetectable. If you want a more decadent spongy feel, substitute half a cup of whole milk for water.
Bonus: Getting a Texture and Flavor Similar to Pound Cake
Try ghee to enjoy your box cake unfrosted or lightly frosted by simply making it richly flavored. Ghee is popularly called clarified butter, and it functions like an oil. Its high smoke point moistens your homemade cake and reduces its spongy texture.
Substitute oil for three-quarters cup of ghee and use an extra egg to get a rich flavor and texture. The doctored cake mix may take twice as long to bake, but the result is delicious.
Final Note
Getting the best out of a box cake occasionally depends on how well you know your way around baking ingredients. There are so many flavors of boxed cake mix to choose from; the possibilities for a moist and delicious boxed cake are endless.
