How to make box mix taste homemade in 5 easy steps
This is how to make box mix taste homemade. You guys know, no one loves a cake made from scratch more than I do! But sometimes, I just gotta bust out the box mix. Usually for red velvet cake or chocolate cake when I want a nice flavor but don't have time bake from scratch. Or maybe I don't have all the ingredients on hand that I need. That happens a LOT.
But I still want that delicious flavor! I don't really love that "chemical" taste that can come from a straight up box so here are my tips on how to make box mix taste homemade.
Don't be afraid of the box mix
There's an endless debate over what's better, box mix or baking from scratch. SO many people will get into a down-right battle to the death over this one. Honestly, who cares?
Using box mix is up to you. It's definitely a short-cut and sometimes the best option. A lot of professional cake decorators out there use doctored box mix in all their cakes. You get consistent results and it's an easy mixing method.
The only thing I would suggest is you be upfront with your customers. In some areas, no one would probably mind if you used a box or if you made a cake from scratch. But in my area (Portland) people are extremely concerned about what they put into their body (Portlandia is real ya'll).
Clients will actually email me to confirm that I bake from scratch. So I am sure to put that information on my website so there's no question. If you are using a doctored box mix you don't have to say so in so many words. You can simply state "baked fresh daily" and if you have specific inquiry about baking from scratch, just be honest.
If you want more recipes on how to bake from scratch, check out my tried and true cake recipes on Sugar Geek Show.
Tip #1 on how to make box mix taste homemade
Start with the best box mix possible. I'm a Duncan Hines girl myself. The price is a little bit more expensive than the super cheap box mix but I believe you get what you pay for. Not to mention Duncan Hines are often on sale so stock up on your top flavors and enjoy all the funny looks you'll get at check out.
My favorite Duncan Hines box mix flavors are Red Velvet, Triple Chocolate, White Cake (for making WASC) and strawberry. Sometime I can't find duncan hines strawberry so I'll go with Betty Crocker. These are all recipes that take a ton of time to make from scratch and are the most requested flavors from my clients. For the chocolate version of this recipe check out my Chocolate WASC Recipe
Tip #2 on how to make box mix taste homemade
Usually a box mix has the following ingredients listed on the back that they want you to add. Eggs, water and oil. This is smart on their end because pretty much everyone has these ingredients on hand already.
The thing about these ingredients though, they don't add much to the cake as far as flavor goes.
- Replace water with milk for more flavor and moisture. If you're making red velvet you can use buttermilk.
- Replace the oil with melted butter for more flavor and homemade texture
- For chocolate cakes, try replacing the water with cooled coffee. The coffee intensifies the chocolate flavor! Get the recipe Chocolate WASC
Tip #3 on how to make box mix taste homemade
You might have heard of WASC (white almond sour cream cake) and wondered what it is. It's basically the best doctored box mix recipe of all time. The taste, texture and flavor of this cake is TO DIE FOR. It's no wonder its the recipe of choice when you need a perfect white cake for so many bakers.
How to make WASC
- Start with one box of white Duncan Hines mix
- Add in one cup of AP flour
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 cup of water or milk
- 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Place all of your ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer (or you can mix by hand) and stir on low to combine until just moistened. Then bump up to medium speed and mix for 2 minutes to develop the texture and structure of the cake.
Pour your batter into your prepared pans. I like to use a homemade pan release (cake goop). The best homemade pan release there is! Bake at 350ºF for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out from the center cleanly.
Let cool completely before decorating. For more info on decorating your first cake, check out my free training on how to make your first cake.
Tip #4 on how to make box mix taste homemade
Make your buttercream from scratch. I know this sounds counter-intuitive because we're trying to go for easy here. Maybe you've never made homemade buttercream before and you're intimidated. Well let me put your mind at ease.
My easy buttercream recipe is so simple, it may as well be cheating. Simply place all your ingredients in a bowl, whip it until it's light and fluffy. Then let it mix on low with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes to get rid of bubbles.
Voila, perfect easy buttercream frosting.
And way, way, WAY better than that frosting from a can. What even IS that?
Other great frosting options for you
- Stable cream cheese frosting
- Stabilized whipped cream (ok for one tier cakes with no fondant)
- Chocolate ganache
- American buttercream
Tip #5 on how to make box mix taste homemade
Go crazy with some yummy fillings! You might not want to make your cake from scratch but most fillings for a cake can be made from scratch and they are super simple.
Try out these tasty fillings for your cake
See, that wasn't so hard was it? You're on your way to making a delicious cake made from a box. Do you have some tips on how to make your box mix taste homemade? Leave them in the comments!
Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix I like duncan hines
- 5 oz AP flour 1 cup (spooned into cup, not scooped)
- 7 oz granulated sugar 1 cup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 9 oz sour cream 1 cup room temp
- 4 oz melted butter ½ cup
- 8 oz milk 1 cup room temperature
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
WASC CAKE INSTRUCTIONS
- The instructions for this cake are super easy. Basically, put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix it on medium speed for 2 minutes! Voila! Cake batter is ready. Pour batter into two prepared 8" pans and bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Sara says
Great tasting cake, but it takes about twice as long to bake as the recipe states, as other people have mentioned.
Elizabeth Marek says
My cake definitely did not take twice as long to bake. Every oven is different.
Lori says
Hello. 👋
Would you recommend any differences in recipe instructions, ingredients, or measurements, for high altitude baking? I will be using vanilla extract, due to daughter’s allergy, & an electric convection oven. I am also wondering the same @ ingredients & measurements for buttercream?
My apologies for all of the questions. I have never made buttercream, nor a doctored cake mix, before. Sadly, I am generally the straight-from-box cake girl, and usually head straight to my friendly baker for birthday cakes, lol. 🙋🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Thank you so much for your recipe, help, & time! God bless! 😊
Elizabeth Marek says
I have a blog post for high altitude hacks that might help you. I think there are also instructions on the back of the box regarding high altitude. I dont have a convection oven, just regular electric.
Faith Schlatter says
Loved this recipe! I made it for my son's wedding in May (yes, a very small wedding due to the restrictions around corona virus) because his wife loves strawberry and does not like chocolate. I made your strawberry reduction recipe and added it to some of the batter and used an insert to make a checkerboard cake. My brother-in-law made like a strawberry pie filling (I don't know his recipe.) We put that between the layers and frosted it with buttercream icing (Wilton's recipe, since that is what we were both familiar with) It ended up being a 5 layer cake, 9 inches round. We had to put some dowels in the cake when it wanted to fall over and put it in the freezer until it set up. It made a very tall cake but we were able to remove the dowels (bamboo skewers) and finish icing the cake. Everyone there kept saying it was the best wedding cake they had ever had. Told us we should go into the cake-baking business. 🙂 Thank you for the recipe and all your tips. So very helpful! I did wrap the pans with moistened magi-cake strips which made the cakes raise evenly and raise better. (I had one extra layer that I didn't use the magi-cake strips on (it was extra batter) and it raise only half as high as the other five layers.
Faith Schlatter says
I made your souped up white cake mix recipe again tonight for a friends birthday. I am putting strawberry reduction between the layers and I am in the process of making your buttercream icing recipe. It looks delicious! Thanks again for all your tips. I did take about 1/3 cup of the mixture and put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds and it was magic! This lady knows what she is talking about! Thank you!
Amarit Grewal says
Wow, wow, and wow. I followed the recipe and timing to the T and all I have to day is AMAZING! You're recipe took me from a novice box cake maker to a Baker extraordinaire! This recipe made a three tier cake for me, and I chose custard filling for the middle. It was so moist, and just airy all of my guests were shocked I made it from a box. The sour cream gave it just the right touch. I honestly can't say enough good things. Thank you so much for such a great recipe. If I could leave pictures I would.
Cheryl says
Do you think I would get the same results using a Betty Crocker white mix? That’s all I have on hand. 😊
Elizabeth Marek says
I have used betty crocker and its been good too!
Kristil says
If I only have salted butter, can I leave out the salt and just use the salted butter instead?
Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you can! It's just harder to control the amount of salt when using salted butter.
Pret says
Do you have a way of doing this with the butter golden cake mix?
Elizabeth Marek says
I would do the exact same process
Patricia Miren says
Can you use the butter golden cake mix with this recipe?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can, it just wont be white 🙂
Tonya Hensley says
I haven’t tried the box cake method yet but very tempted . Would this be a good alternative to white wedding cake ? I need to make a white wedding cake this week and trying to find the easiest route . There are just so many egg whites in the from scratch recipe , I hate having all the yolks left .
Thanks ,
Tonya
Elizabeth Marek says
Used box egg whites instead of separating whole eggs 🙂
Jamie says
Is it possible to use buttermilk and take out the sour cream?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can do that
Nina says
Can I use this recipe for red velvet? I’m having a hard time making one from scratch *cries*
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi Nina I'll have a doctored red velvet box mix cake coming out later this week! Keep an eye out for it 🙂
Mecie says
Can I freeze this cake until ready to use or will it affect the taste?
Sugar Geek Show says
Yes, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze. The sooner you use it, the better though. I'd say a few days at most
Dusty says
Hi! I made the classic white with the buttercream frosting!!! It was soooo good!!!
I’m going to try the red velvet. Do I use the buttermilk along with the sour cream???
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi! Red velvet WASC is a bit different, I'm going to have a recipe for that coming out in February.
Camryn says
Can I use rainbow sprinkles in this to make it funfetti?
Sugar Geek Show says
Yes, nonpareils work best!
Stacey Aleong says
Hi! I used this recipe using the French vanilla Duncan Hines, as I could not get access to the white cake... it was absolutely PERFECT!!! Everyone was impressed with the flavor and the texture was moist and soft! THANK YOU So much!!!!
Julie Davis says
When making white cake, I usually make the batter from scratch and then the batter from Duncan Hines mix. I mix these together to get the taste of a scratch cake and the fluffiness of the package cake mix. What a pain in the neck. I tried your recipe and is is definitely a keeper. My adult son's birthday is tomorrow and he always requests white cake with white frosting cupcakes. He is getting a batch of these. My husband is kind of picky about dessert, and HE said these were great. The texture almost is similar to an angel food cake. I think this recipe would be great made up with whipped cream and strawberries between the layers. One of the great things about this recipe is that it didn't take a ton of work to turn out an excellent cake.