As a child, I could never taste the difference between a scratch made cake and a cake made from boxed cake mix. However, I do remember getting very excited when my mother made cakes using box mix because when it came to licking the spoon, me and my brother would literally fight over it.

It wasn’t until I had a slice of my great aunts pineapple coconut cake that I tasted a difference in homemade cakes and box mix cakes. I realized that it had a unique taste and texture that could not be imitated, unless you had her recipe of course.

But it was really moist and soft. Since then, I have been searching for ways to make cakes with the same texture and taste with using a box mix.

Yes, so many people frown upon using box mix, but I believe that you can still achieve a unique taste and texture using box cake mix, only with a few adjustments.

These tips that I’m going to offer will help you to create a delicious cake that will have everyone thinking it was made from scratch.

Things that you will need:

• 1 white cake mix (preferably Duncan Hines)
• 1 White Chocolate Pudding Mix
• 1 cup of All purpose Flour ‘
• 1 cup of Sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/3 cups of milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1/2 cup of butter (melted)
• 1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

Mixing the ingredients:

To get started, pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Next, using a whisk, mix the dry ingredients together. That will consist of the cake mix, pudding mix, flour, sugar, and salt. Its best to whisk all of the dry ingredients together on low speed for 1 minute, so that it’s fully blended together.

Once the dry ingredients have been mixed together, in a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients such as the milk, eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.

Once you’ve mixed all of the wet ingredients together, next slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

Once you have fully added the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, let it mix for at least 1 minute. You don’t want it to mix too long because it can alter your cake texture.

Preparing your cake pans:

After the cake mix has mixed for 1 minute, begin preparing the cake pans by applying shortening to the inside of each pan and then line the bottom of the pans with parchment. I usually cut the parchment in the shape of the pan so that the parchment will not bake into the cake.

This can be done by stacking three pieces of parchment paper together, flip over the cake pan, sit the parchment on top of the back of the pan and then cut the parchment paper as you’re turning the pan so that it’s in the shape of a circle.

But there’s another method to cutting the parchment paper correctly to fit inside the cake pan. In this article, ,you will find really great tips for releasing a cake from the pan.

Baking the cake:

Once the cake pans have been greased with shortening and lined with parchment paper, next you’ll pour the cake batter halfway in each pan.

After you have poured the cake batter into each pan, tap each pan against the countertop just to get rid of any air bubbles that may bake into the cake, causing your cake to have loose pockets.

Next you’ll place the cake into a pre-heated oven on the bottom rack on 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes. It’s best to bake your cake at a lower temperature so that it will bake evenly with golden brown edges.

If the temperature is too high, it can cause your cake to bake from the outside in, causing the cake to burn on the edges and no one wants a burnt tasting cake.

Keep in mind that it’s best to understand how your oven works because most recipes state to have your oven on 350 to bake your cake, but if your oven has a higher or lower temperature at 350 degrees then its best to turn the temperature to the one that you know works best.

Finishing your cake:

It’s best to check the cake periodically to make sure that it’s done. You can do this by sticking a tooth pick into the center of the cake or if you do not have a tooth pick you can use a small knife.

One way to tell that a cake is done is if there aren’t any crumbs on the tooth pick of knife after poking into the center of the cake.

Once the cake is done, its best to take it out of the oven and set it to cool off on the counter or cooling rack for 30 minutes to an hour. Its best to let your cake fully cool off before placing any frosting on to the cake because the heat from the cake will cause the frosting to melt.

Now you have a homemade tasting cake from box mix:

This recipe is so easy and fun. Each time that I have used this box cake mix recipe, the cake came out buttery and sweet, with a soft and moist texture. Its like getting the best of both worlds because if you are new to baking and do not have a clue of what you’re doing, this recipe is foolproof and no matter what you do it will come out great every time.

You can also use different flavorings and pudding flavors to add to the box cake mix the create different flavors of cake. For example, you can use lemon extract and lemon pudding in the cake mix to create a lemon cake or cupcakes.

To give it more of a lemon flavor, you can add lemon grind and lemon juice to the wet mixture as well and it will give you a very deliciously tasting lemon cake that will also taste like it was made from scratch.

Now, I absolutely love making cakes from scratch because I love creating my very on unique taste, but until you can improve your skills in the cake baking department or just short on time for preparing a cake, I recommend using these tips to create a homemade tasting cake using box mix.