Take your box cake mix to the next level with this easy recipe! A few simple additions make it extra moist and delicious.
Alright, *almost* scratch cake is a bit of a stretch. It’s mostly a box cake with stuff added in to make it even better.
Some bakers scoff at box mixes, think it’s sacrilege and only bake from scratch. I’m a whatever-works-for-you kinda baker and sometimes it’s just easier to whip out a box.
How to Make Box Cake Better
Adding a few simple ingredients makes a world of difference. Trust me you will never go back to a plain old box cake mix ever again!
Here’s what you’ll need:
box cake mix
all-purpose flour
sugar
salt
large eggs
water (or milk)
vegetable oil
vanilla
sour cream
The sour cream is the secret ingredient I think that makes this doctored box mix extra moist and flavourful.
I recommend using full-fat sour cream because really, we’re not about saving calories at this point, right?
Boxed Cake Mix Recipe
Making this cake is just as simple as any box mix, just with a couple of other ingredients. To make it all you need to do is:
whisk the dry ingredients together
add the wet ingredients
mix on low until combined
This recipe works great for two 8″ cake pans or three 6″ pans. It can be scaled up for larger pans though too. I use this site as a guideline when I’m scaling recipes up or down.
I like to use Homemade Cake Release on my pans and line them with parchment to make sure the cakes come out perfect every time.
I also use Baking Strips around the sides of my cake pans to make sure the cakes bake perfectly flat and don’t require any trimming (no wasted cake scraps!).
If you’d like to make your cake extra moist (or if you’re worried you’ve over baked it) you can add some Simple Syrup to the cooled cake layers. I recommend trimming a bit of the top crust first so the syrup really soaks into the cakes.
These days I mostly bake from scratch, but I used to use this recipe all the time when I was focussing on cake decorating. It bakes up a very sturdy and delicious cake!
I’ve yet to recreate the delicious flavour and texture of a classic vanilla box mix cake though. My Vanilla Cake recipe comes close, but it’s not quite the same. It is delicious though too, so you should try it if you haven’t!
I really like this recipe because it makes the box mixes a little more dense and super moist. This recipe is GREAT for a cake that will be decorated, stacked, etc. as the cakes have really good structural integrity.
This recipe makes two 8″ or three 6″ cake pans. You can use two 9″ as well but the layers will be thinner (reduce baking time accordingly).
To make cupcakes, all you need to do is reduce the baking time. Start checking at 15mins or so. The recipe should make about 24 cupcakes depending on size.
You can bake it in a 9×13 pan. Baking time will be slightly shorter.
You can bake it in a Bundt pan as well but you’ll need to increase the baking time.
For all other conversions, I use this site as a guideline.
Baking time will vary if you change the pan size. Every oven varies so I can’t say for certain what you’ll need to adjust it to. Be sure to check on the cake as it’s baking.
Will This Work With Any Box Cake Mix?
I’ve only used this method with yellow/white cake mixes, but it should work just fine with any kind of box mix.
For chocolate cake mixes, instead of adding 1 cup flour, you can add 3/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup cocoa powder if you like.
For a pure white cake, use a white cake mix and 5 egg whites in place of 3 whole eggs.
For box mixes, my go-to’s are Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines. The French Vanilla flavour is my favourite.
You can easily add some sprinkles to make this a funfetti cake instead, but be sure to use either jimmies or confetti as the small round nonpareils will bleed into the batter.
Other Tips for making this Doctored Cake Mix:
Do not also use the ingredients listed on the back of the box mix. Only the components in the recipe.
Be sure to use room temperature ingredients as this will yield the best results.
Use full-fat sour cream for best results. Yogurt is a good substitute as well.
Learn how to keep your cakes moist using Simple Syrup.
To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, check out my Flat Top Cakes post!
Add wet ingredients and mix until combined. I use my KitchenAid on low for 2 minutes but you can also do this by hand.
Divide the batter between the pans and bake for approximately 50 minutes.
Cool in pans on wire rack for 10mins, then turn cakes out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
*I use French Vanilla, but you can use any yellow/white cake mix for this. I haven't tried with other kinds, but I imagine it would yield similar, delicious results.
The nutritional information and metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favorite nutrition calculator and/or metric conversion tool.
Originally published on Oct 10, 2014
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Tips, techniques, and troubleshooting to help ensure your cakes come out perfect every single time!
Simply Fantastic – and I’ve tried all the variations on cake mixes – none come close to this one. Makes such a large moist and flavorful cake. Ive done yellow and chocolate with great success . Now I need your help for my favorite LEMON BLUELBERRY CAKE. Do you think its possible to add one or two cups of floured blueberries to the batter and bake or do you have any suggestions that would let me use a cake mix and blueberries? I hope you can answer! Thank you for all these wonderful recipes.
Hi Maria! You can definitely add the blueberries, I worry they might sink in the batter as it is not that thick but flouring them should help and just fold in gently. You’ll also need larger pan sizes as the blueberries will add to the volume. Let me know how it turns out!
I have used this recipe to make Dolly Parton’s Coconut Cake Mix, except that I replaced the milk with coconut milk, and it was delicious! I have been wanting to make a brown sugar cake and put some peach pie filling in between the layers. Would it work to just replace the sugar in the recipe with light brown (or dark brown) sugar? Also, would it be okay to use vanilla cake mix since I am not wanting a spice cake? Thanks.
Hi Rachel! Yes, using brown sugar should be fine but I’m not sure if it will give a ton of flavour with the vanilla cake mix all the other ingredients. I’m not sure what a good solution would be though. Maybe a brown sugar based buttercream?
Thank you so much! I will try using the Brown Sugar Buttercream.
JEVsays
This is the worst cake I have ever tasted!. It is heavy, dennse and flavorless, unless of course you like the taste of flour! I just wasted $$ on expensive ingredients that went stright in the trash. It was that awful!
Hi I’ll have to try this. It should be perfect for my cut out owl and penguin cakes I’m making for my grandchildren. With the added ingredients will this make my cakes higher (this is what I want because I find my cakes sometimes come out too thin as I’m not stacking them) my cakes pans happen to be 8.5 inch pans). Also, with the cake release and parchment paper would you advise going higher than the sides of the pan to prevent overflow? Just an idea I had. Thanks in advance.
Hi Jan! 8.5″ pans will be perfect. The cakes bake right to the very top of my 8″ pans. You shouldn’t need parchment paper on the sides. If you don’t already, I’d recommend using baking strips on the pans to help the cakes bake flat and even.
I made a typo when I asked that question the inside of my pans are actually 7.5”. So do you think I should put the parchment paper up higher? Also I do have the baking strips to help make a flat cake.
Hi Jan! Yes, definitely put parchment up the sides to make them taller.
Terry Ohsays
Just had a delicious piece of this cake! I used Duncan Hines Golden Butter mix. I cut the sugar to three quarter cup and used powdered milk rather than bottled. The result was so moist and tender, almost like a pound cake. The only issue I had was that the cake wouldn’t release from the Bundt pan, but that’s on me…I didn’t properly prep the Bundt pan. So the slices of my cake won’t look pretty, but the taste more than makes up for it.
Thank you!
Hi Terry! So glad you loved it. How do you prep your Bundt pans? I brush homemade cake release into all the nooks and crannies of even the most intricate pans and the cakes pop right out!
Thank you for directing my attention to the blog portion….admittedly, I am one of those that jump to recipe as the narratives tends to overwhelm my adhd brain. 😉
Also, I just took my cakes out of the oven at 32 minutes and they are really done. Just note for those whose ovens tend to run hot. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I’ve had so much success with this cake mix recipe. Everyone has raved about it. If I want to make cupcakes out of it instead of two rounds, what would I need to change?
I noticed you first published this in 2014 – would the same ingredient amounts apply to the present boxed mixes which contain lower volume?
Thanks,
Sheila
Maria A Wheeler says
Simply Fantastic – and I’ve tried all the variations on cake mixes – none come close to this one. Makes such a large moist and flavorful cake. Ive done yellow and chocolate with great success . Now I need your help for my favorite LEMON BLUELBERRY CAKE. Do you think its possible to add one or two cups of floured blueberries to the batter and bake or do you have any suggestions that would let me use a cake mix and blueberries? I hope you can answer! Thank you for all these wonderful recipes.
Olivia says
Hi Maria! You can definitely add the blueberries, I worry they might sink in the batter as it is not that thick but flouring them should help and just fold in gently. You’ll also need larger pan sizes as the blueberries will add to the volume. Let me know how it turns out!
Jen says
Has anyone tried with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream? Trying to use what we have on hand.
Olivia says
Hi Jen! That should work totally fine.
Rachel says
I have used this recipe to make Dolly Parton’s Coconut Cake Mix, except that I replaced the milk with coconut milk, and it was delicious! I have been wanting to make a brown sugar cake and put some peach pie filling in between the layers. Would it work to just replace the sugar in the recipe with light brown (or dark brown) sugar? Also, would it be okay to use vanilla cake mix since I am not wanting a spice cake? Thanks.
Olivia says
Hi Rachel! Yes, using brown sugar should be fine but I’m not sure if it will give a ton of flavour with the vanilla cake mix all the other ingredients. I’m not sure what a good solution would be though. Maybe a brown sugar based buttercream?
Rachel says
Thank you so much! I will try using the Brown Sugar Buttercream.
JEV says
This is the worst cake I have ever tasted!. It is heavy, dennse and flavorless, unless of course you like the taste of flour! I just wasted $$ on expensive ingredients that went stright in the trash. It was that awful!
Olivia says
Hi JEV, it sounds like something went very wrong here? Did you use a standard size cake mix or change any of the ingredients?
Jan says
Hi I’ll have to try this. It should be perfect for my cut out owl and penguin cakes I’m making for my grandchildren. With the added ingredients will this make my cakes higher (this is what I want because I find my cakes sometimes come out too thin as I’m not stacking them) my cakes pans happen to be 8.5 inch pans). Also, with the cake release and parchment paper would you advise going higher than the sides of the pan to prevent overflow? Just an idea I had. Thanks in advance.
Olivia says
Hi Jan! 8.5″ pans will be perfect. The cakes bake right to the very top of my 8″ pans. You shouldn’t need parchment paper on the sides. If you don’t already, I’d recommend using baking strips on the pans to help the cakes bake flat and even.
Jan says
I made a typo when I asked that question the inside of my pans are actually 7.5”. So do you think I should put the parchment paper up higher? Also I do have the baking strips to help make a flat cake.
Olivia says
Hi Jan! Yes, definitely put parchment up the sides to make them taller.
Terry Oh says
Just had a delicious piece of this cake! I used Duncan Hines Golden Butter mix. I cut the sugar to three quarter cup and used powdered milk rather than bottled. The result was so moist and tender, almost like a pound cake. The only issue I had was that the cake wouldn’t release from the Bundt pan, but that’s on me…I didn’t properly prep the Bundt pan. So the slices of my cake won’t look pretty, but the taste more than makes up for it.
Thank you!
Olivia says
Hi Terry! So glad you loved it. How do you prep your Bundt pans? I brush homemade cake release into all the nooks and crannies of even the most intricate pans and the cakes pop right out!
Annie says
I’m using 8 inch pans and the cake is almost over the top of the pans half way through the cooking time. I should have used my 9 inch.
Olivia says
Hi Annie! How tall are your 8″ pans? They need to be at least 2″ tall and make sure they don’t taper at the sides.
dawn says
Hi! My white box cake calls for 3 egg whites, but your recipe calls for 2 whole eggs. Can I only do the whites? Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Dawn! I talk about how to make this a white cake mix in the blog post.
Dawn says
Thank you for directing my attention to the blog portion….admittedly, I am one of those that jump to recipe as the narratives tends to overwhelm my adhd brain. 😉
Also, I just took my cakes out of the oven at 32 minutes and they are really done. Just note for those whose ovens tend to run hot. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Olivia says
Thanks Dawn, I hope you love it!
Mariah says
Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Olivia says
Hi Mariah! Yes, that will work fine.
Erin says
I’ve had so much success with this cake mix recipe. Everyone has raved about it. If I want to make cupcakes out of it instead of two rounds, what would I need to change?
Olivia says
So happy to hear that, Erin! All you need to change is the baking time. Start checking at 15mins or so for cupcakes.
Sandra Meyers says
Tried other box cake hacks and love this one. Rises so nice. Great texture and flavor.
Olivia says
Thank you, Sandra!
Valerie says
Can I use a bundt pan ?
Olivia says
Hi Valerie! Yes, that should work but you’ll need to increase the baking time.
MrsSW says
I noticed you first published this in 2014 – would the same ingredient amounts apply to the present boxed mixes which contain lower volume?
Thanks,
Sheila
Olivia says
Hi MrsSW! Yes, it will work with the lower volume mixes too.
MrsSW says
Thank you.
Sheila
Mary jane says
Can I use a 9by 13 cake pan
Olivia says
Hi Mary Jane! Yes that should work fine but you may need to adjust the baking time.
Sara says
What’s the purpose to add extra flour?
Olivia says
Hi Sara! The extra flour is needed to balance out the moisture from the sour cream.
Sara says
That makes so much sense. Thank you!