5 easy ways to make boxed cake mix taste homemade

We met at a Whole food plant based meeting at church

1. Add an extra egg

Adding an extra egg to a boxed cake recipe is a longtime trick to amp up the moisture and density. Most box recipes call for three eggs - try four and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

2. Swap milk for water

If the recipe calls for a cup of water, try a cup of milk instead. I used whole milk, but any milk, including non-dairy ones, should work just fine. This gives the mixture more fat and flavor, which means a more delicious cake.

3. Add mayonnaise

This might sound weird at first, but think about it: mayo is mostly just egg yolks and oil, which are already in the cake anyway! Once again, the logic here is that the mayo will add moisture, which we've already established is a very good thing when it comes to cakes.

I added a couple generous spoonfuls to a yellow cake recipe and it turned out great. Better than usual? Maybe a little. The difference wasn't all that noticeable, but I'd still say it was worthwhile.

Out of mayo? Try adding a bit of sour cream or Greek yogurt to a cake for a similar result.

4. Add a box of instant pudding

Another tip is to toss in a box of instant pudding - just the powder; don't prep the pudding first.

I was skeptical of this at first, since all the other tips I came across focused on adding moisture to a cake. It seemed to me that adding a box of dry mix to another box of dry mix and not increasing any amount of liquid would just lead to a very dry cake.

A box of instant pudding made this cake delightfully moist and spongy. Next time I'll remember not to frost the cake before it's cooled, though. Rheana Murray

That's not what happened, though. I won't try to explain the science, but the cake I made with this technique was fantastic - spongy and moist, but not overly so. I used chocolate pudding and devil's food cake, but feel free to experiment with flavors you like (butterscotch pudding and vanilla cake sound pretty good to me!).

However you do it, it's pretty easy to make a boxed cake taste better - and the best part is that most of these tips are foolproof. Have fun experimenting!

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