Does this cake hack sound reasonable? - Page 4

lovesrecess · ‎03-14-2010

Use an extra egg and milk instead of water. Use butter but don’t double it; I think that would make it greasy and heavy.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@Misplaced Parisian wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
@LilLadyNJ wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
In my mind, it's just as easy to make a simple home made cake than get a boxed mix. King Arthur Flour site has a number of simple recipes.

I have followed the recipes in "the Cake Bible" where I can whip up a cake from scratch in the time it takes the oven to heat up.

@LilLadyNJ Any favorites? I have that book but haven't used a lot of recipes from it. I put it on the shelf last week and thought I should make something from this!

@Misplaced Parisian I assume it is Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible. A classic book and a go to for cake baking.
@Sooner Squeals of glee! THANK YOU! I just ordered this for my sister...it will make a most excellent Valentine for her. She will love this book.

@Misplaced Parisian What a sweet thing for you to do! I hope you are close enough to sample the results!

house_cat · ‎03-09-2010

Okay. Here's what happened.

I did what the blogger suggested.

I used milk instead of water, added and egg AND doubled the butter.

They taste good.

They are not greasy.

They are not heavy and they are definitely no more dense than the mix would have been on its own. No one is going to mistake them for a bakery cupcake.

Honestly, if I had the regular recipe and the hack side by side, I probably couldn't tell the difference by the taste. They did brown more than my cupcakes usually do, probably because of all the butter. If I were making them in a small batch for my friends or family, I'd definitely use a scratch recipe.

In the end, I have what I needed for tomorrow, but I'm completely underwhelmed.

Valentine cupcake 2020.JPG

~ house cat ~

Misplaced Parisian · ‎07-21-2015

@Sooner wrote:
@Misplaced Parisian wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
@LilLadyNJ wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
In my mind, it's just as easy to make a simple home made cake than get a boxed mix. King Arthur Flour site has a number of simple recipes.

I have followed the recipes in "the Cake Bible" where I can whip up a cake from scratch in the time it takes the oven to heat up.

@LilLadyNJ Any favorites? I have that book but haven't used a lot of recipes from it. I put it on the shelf last week and thought I should make something from this!

@Misplaced Parisian I assume it is Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible. A classic book and a go to for cake baking.
@Sooner Squeals of glee! THANK YOU! I just ordered this for my sister...it will make a most excellent Valentine for her. She will love this book.
@Misplaced Parisian What a sweet thing for you to do! I hope you are close enough to sample the results!

@Sooner She inherited my beloved maman's baking skills and she makes/mails me goodies. No easy task either as she needs to greatly modify recipes due to my allergies. I truly appreciate it. I'm a cook, definitely not a baker. I'm so happy to do this for her. She will be curious how I stumbled upon the book so you and this post will receive the credit. Thanks again for taking the time to tell me about the book.

Misplaced Parisian · ‎07-21-2015

@house_cat wrote:
Okay. Here's what happened.
I did what the blogger suggested.
I used milk instead of water, added and egg AND doubled the butter.

They taste good.
They are not greasy.
They are not heavy and they are definitely no more dense than the mix would have been on its own. No one is going to mistake them for a bakery cupcake.

Honestly, if I had the regular recipe and the hack side by side, I probably couldn't tell the difference by the taste. They did brown more than my cupcakes usually do, probably because of all the butter. If I were making them in a small batch for my friends or family, I'd definitely use a scratch recipe.

In the end, I have what I needed for tomorrow, but I'm completely underwhelmed.

@house_cat Holy Cow....those are super pretty! Be proud of yourself. Wow. Great job.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

@Nonametoday wrote:
@chrystaltree wrote:
@PA Mom-mom wrote:
@house_cat I'm not really sure what you are looking for, but have you considered adding sour cream?

I use a cup of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt when I make a box chocolate cake. I omit the oil.

@chrystaltree @house_cat When making chocolate cakes from the box, add coca cola instead of water.

@Nonametoday Thanks for that tip. I'll definitely do that the next time.

RespectLife · ‎02-27-2012

@house_cat

Thanks for reporting back and letting us know how they turned out!

I haven't used a cake mix since I got my KA about 8 yrs ago.

However, back when I did, a friend gave me a hack that was even easier and I SWEAR by it.

Add 1/4 cup more water than the box says

Add a little bit more oil than the box says

Bake as directed but set the time for 5 mins. less that the box says. Betcha it is already done (use a tester) Unless it is raw gooey, take it out. Don't let some moist crumbs fool ya!

If you can smell it, you overbaked it.

Never failed me!

LilLadyNJ · ‎06-27-2017

@Sooner my favorite is the White velvet butter cake and the Chocolate Domingo cake. You need the dutch processed cocoa for the Chocolate Domingo cake.

@Misplaced Parisian Yes, it's Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible. That's a really great gift. I received my copy as a gift many, many years ago and my copy is falling apart. I've also given this as a gift.