Dry, cracked and boring cakes. Yes, that was my history as a home-maker. But then, I learned three little secrets that turned my lifeless cakes into ah-mazing, bakery-style cakes — and they still came from cake mix!
I remember my glorious Bob the Builder Cake. I mean, it was super-cute and everyone was oohing and ahhing over it. It was for my son’s third birthday and his smile was all the thanks I needed. My kitchen was a pain to clean and my hands were stained 15 different colors, but my son had his character cake that he had always wanted!
But, then everyone took a bite. No one said anything, but I knew it was yucky. It was dry, over-baked and super, duper boring. And it was made from scratch!
After that, I decided to change some things.
Fast forward several years and take a bite of my mom’s birthday cake.
“Mmm…,Alison, how DID you make this cake?” my grandmother begged to know the secret. She could NOT believe it was from a cake mix and tasted oh-so-good!
Well, fellow bakers, I’m hear to spill the secrets so you can take your not-so-yummy cakes and make them bakery-worthy! Really, you’ll love me after you make these little changes!
How to Make Bakery-style Cakes from a Cake Mix
- Add an extra egg. I know you want to be super frugal or healthy, but for a bakery-style cake that’s super yummy, you need to add that extra egg. Your cake mix calls for two eggs? Use three. Cake mix calls for three eggs? Use four. Simple, but makes a BIG difference!
- Throw out the oil. Oh dear foodie friend, do NOT use oil in your cake mix. I repeat: do NOT use oil! Grab out your fave stick of butter, melt it, and use in in the place of oil. Keep measurements the same as for oil. Recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil? Replace it with 1/2 cup of melted butter. This is by far the best change I ever made to my cakes!
- Add some jello! If you can add jello to your cake, do it! Obviously, this is the secret to fun “poke” cakes, but anytime I can add some jello to the cake I do. Raspberry or cherry jello goes well with dark chocolate, and just about any flavor does well with yellow or white. Prepare your jello according to directions, but only put it in the fridge until it’s a teeny-weeny bit thicker than water. Then, poke small holes all over your cake and pour the slightly thick, liquid jello on top. I don’t use this step on all cakes, just cakes that pair well with extra moistness!
Now that you know all the bakery-style cake secrets — go preheat your oven! Don’t forget to come back and tell me how amazing your cake mix cake came out!
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