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!
I want to make a thin layer cake and this batter looks thick. Do you have any suggestions for thinning the batter down and not take away from the flavor?
Hi Jackie! The batter should not be super thick. It is pourable and much thinner than most of my cakes. I would not add anything to thin it out more as that would change the texture of the baked cake.
What size pan did you use for your cake?
Do you add in the wet ingredients one by one, or do you combine them and then add them to the dry?
Thank you,
Claire
Hi Claire! All of the details of this are in the recipe at the bottom of the post. I used two 8″ pans but you can use three if you like, you’ll need to adjust the baking time. I add all the wet at once and dont combine them first but either way will work too.
I didn’t think so I measured your recipe out for tomorrow but held off with the pumpkin. I’ll make a pumpkin cheesecake to go In between the cake layers. I’ve made so many cakes from scratch but your doctored up cake mixes r the best they r my go too. Thanks for getting back to me😊
Used this with your American buttercream frosting for my daughter’s birthday cake! Got rave reviews!!! I didn’t have enough sour cream so I subbed half of it with lemon-lime Greek yogurt because I didn’t have plain… Will definitely make again!
I have a small bakery and this is the only recipe I use for cakes and cupcakes. It consistently turns out perfectly. It also works with any cake mix. I have used chocolate, spice and vanilla, but my most ordered is the red velvet.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Hello! I’ve seen a couple comments that say use with a 432g box but I only have 470g cake mix. Can I increase the ingredients or Isco that not possible using this recipe?
I love this recipe! I use it with a strawberry cake mix, because I have never, ever, ever gotten the strawberry flavor quite right and believe me I have tried. When people ask me for a strawberry cake, unless it is fresh strawberries and cream, they are thinking of a nostalgic strawberry box mix. I only add two tablespoons of strawberry spread to it. I follow everything else. This cake has a wonderful texture and has been highly complimented. A baker at a very popular local restaurant here told me he had given up on strawberry cake until he tasted this version when I made cupcakes for a friend’s wedding.my mom uses this Dr. Up formula for everything she bakes too, all kinds of flavors. This is a great formula.
Hi Christy! Thanks so much for the amazing feedback. I’m glad you love it as much as I do! Strawberry flavour can be tricky to get across and a cake mix is a great start. If you haven’t already, see if you can find some freeze dried strawberry powder. That is SO great for adding true strawberry flavour to cakes and frostings.
I appreciate your advice. While I did like the freeze dried berries in frosting, I was less successful with it in the cake. Thinking back to my timeline of experiments, I had not yet settled on your vanilla cake from scratch as my go to recipe. Maybe I could try it again with that but for real, the doctor up cake mix has wowed a lot of people. Any chance I get, I refer people to Liv for Cake. Thanks for being such a reliable source of great information.
Jackie says
I want to make a thin layer cake and this batter looks thick. Do you have any suggestions for thinning the batter down and not take away from the flavor?
Olivia says
Hi Jackie! The batter should not be super thick. It is pourable and much thinner than most of my cakes. I would not add anything to thin it out more as that would change the texture of the baked cake.
Claire says
What size pan did you use for your cake?
Do you add in the wet ingredients one by one, or do you combine them and then add them to the dry?
Thank you,
Claire
Olivia says
Hi Claire! All of the details of this are in the recipe at the bottom of the post. I used two 8″ pans but you can use three if you like, you’ll need to adjust the baking time. I add all the wet at once and dont combine them first but either way will work too.
JeriLyn says
Can you make this in a 9×13 pan instead of 2 rounds?
Olivia says
Hi JeriLyn! Yes, that should work fine. You may have to adjust the baking time.
Gina says
I didn’t think so I measured your recipe out for tomorrow but held off with the pumpkin. I’ll make a pumpkin cheesecake to go In between the cake layers. I’ve made so many cakes from scratch but your doctored up cake mixes r the best they r my go too. Thanks for getting back to me😊
Olivia says
Good plan! I think a pumpkin cheesecake layer in between will be delish!
Gina says
Love your recipes can I add pumpkin purée to this recipe?
Olivia says
Hi Gina! No, adding pumpkin would affect the texture and moisture levels. It would require some experimentation to get the correct proportions.
Shara says
Used this with your American buttercream frosting for my daughter’s birthday cake! Got rave reviews!!! I didn’t have enough sour cream so I subbed half of it with lemon-lime Greek yogurt because I didn’t have plain… Will definitely make again!
Olivia says
Hi Shara! I’m glad you loved it 🙂
Lisette says
How many boxes of cake mix will I need to make a half sheet cake 12x18x2 in size?
Olivia says
Hi Lisette! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here are some sites I use as a guideline:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Cake_tin_conversion_charts
TroSharrah says
This is just my second time making this cake from “scratch”, and I tend to spoil my coworkers with cupcakes, in which they like, as well as me.
Believe it or not, I actually used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and as always, came out delicious.
Olivia says
Hi TroSarrah! Glad you love it! Thanks for the tip about the Greek yogurt, that should work totally fine as a substitute 🙂
Sheila says
I have a small bakery and this is the only recipe I use for cakes and cupcakes. It consistently turns out perfectly. It also works with any cake mix. I have used chocolate, spice and vanilla, but my most ordered is the red velvet.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Olivia says
Hi Sheila! Thanks so much for the feedback and tips 🙂 I’m glad you love it!
Jackie says
At Shelia, for the red velvet, did you just substitute a red velvet cake mix and continue with remaining ingredients?
Olivia says
Hi Jackie! You can just swap the RV cake mix right in and use everything else as listed in the recipe.
Christin says
Hi and thank you for this!! Can I use this for cupcakes too ????
Olivia says
Hi Christin! Yes, I talk about that in the post.
MeganK says
Hello! I’ve seen a couple comments that say use with a 432g box but I only have 470g cake mix. Can I increase the ingredients or Isco that not possible using this recipe?
Olivia says
Hi MeganK! I suspect the 470g box will work just fine with these amounts. Increasing it would be tricky as you’d end up with some odd numbers.
Cari says
Hello! How should I store these cupcakes? Are they room temp safe for 24 hours? Baking today and enjoying tomorrow. Thank you!
Olivia says
Hi Cari! Room temp should be fine for 24hrs.
Christine Sears says
Best cake I’ve ever made!
Olivia says
Thank you Christine! I’m so happy you loved it 🙂
Christy says
I love this recipe! I use it with a strawberry cake mix, because I have never, ever, ever gotten the strawberry flavor quite right and believe me I have tried. When people ask me for a strawberry cake, unless it is fresh strawberries and cream, they are thinking of a nostalgic strawberry box mix. I only add two tablespoons of strawberry spread to it. I follow everything else. This cake has a wonderful texture and has been highly complimented. A baker at a very popular local restaurant here told me he had given up on strawberry cake until he tasted this version when I made cupcakes for a friend’s wedding.my mom uses this Dr. Up formula for everything she bakes too, all kinds of flavors. This is a great formula.
Olivia says
Hi Christy! Thanks so much for the amazing feedback. I’m glad you love it as much as I do! Strawberry flavour can be tricky to get across and a cake mix is a great start. If you haven’t already, see if you can find some freeze dried strawberry powder. That is SO great for adding true strawberry flavour to cakes and frostings.
Christy says
I appreciate your advice. While I did like the freeze dried berries in frosting, I was less successful with it in the cake. Thinking back to my timeline of experiments, I had not yet settled on your vanilla cake from scratch as my go to recipe. Maybe I could try it again with that but for real, the doctor up cake mix has wowed a lot of people. Any chance I get, I refer people to Liv for Cake. Thanks for being such a reliable source of great information.
Olivia says
Thanks so much Christy! I do have a from-scratch strawberry cake using FD powder but it is on the denser side: https://livforcake.com/strawberry-cake-mascarpone-buttercream/
Brittany says
Do you use water or milk in your recipe? Love strawberry cupcakes but can never get them right. Thanks in advance