I confess that I don’t always bake from scratch. Well, ok, I rarely bake from scratch. Make that almost never.
People who are dedicated to baking from scratch reach a sort of heavenly state when they are measuring, mixing, pouring. And I understand. I really do. What I especially understand is that sublime aroma wafting through the house when those delectable desserts come out of the oven.
I love those results, but I really have too little time to start the process from step 1. That’s why cake mixes are made for people like me. I keep a stash of cake mixes in my pantry for when I need a cake in a flash. No fancy ingredients are ever needed – usually just eggs, water and/or oil. I always have those on hand.
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Baking with a mix doesn’t mean you have to stifle your creativity. Au contraire, you can play kitchen doctor all you like and come up with lots of variations. Here are a few ideas.
Doctor up your cake mix and no one has to know you didn’t start from scratch, you can:
- Add chunks of cookies or crushed candies to boxed brownie or cake mix.
- Turn a brownie mix into a pie, or pour it into a larger dish then called for – making a thinner layer — and then pile on other goodies like cream or ice cream, caramel, fluff, or peanut butter, Rice Krispie Treats and/or chocolate sauce (not all at the same time mind you).
- Use cake and brownie mixes as a layer in your trifles – fruity or super chocolaty.
Check out these recipes for cakes, cookies, trifles and more that show you how to turn cake mix into an easy homemade dessert.
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If you love messing around with cake mixes as much as I do, leave a comment with your recipe for a doctored up cake mix.
1
(515 g) box devil’s food cake mix
1 1⁄4
cups water
1⁄3
cup canola oil
3
large eggs
2
tablespoons cocoa powder
2
tablespoons dark brown sugar
2
tablespoons dark molasses
I have had this recipe for at least 25 years or longer, and use it always for chocolate cake..
Yes, Harvey Wallbanger was a popular drink from the days of cocktail culture. It was basically a screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) with the addition of Galliano, an herbal liqueur from Italy which is heavy on the anise. Replace the rum with Galliano, Sambucca, or anisette liqueur, and you’d really have a Harvey Wallbanger cake.
Commercial cake mixes have additional ingredients that help keep them from staling after baking. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using boxed cake mix! One thing that will absolutely make your cakes better is to use melted-and-cooled butter instead of oil and milk instead of water. It adds a real depth of flavor.
I am so happy to discover that so many people share my appreciation for Duncan Hines. Lucky winner this week is Rozy K!! Enjoy your assorted pack of 10 Duncan Hines cake mixes. And if you didn’t win this one don’t be sad -try your luck with our new contest of the week to win a slow cooker from Cuisinart. http://blog.kosher.com/2011/02/14/two-slow-cooker-beef-dishes-win-our-contest/
I love this time of year when the Girl Scouts deliver my much anticipated order. Of course I have several boxes of the Thin Mints! I love to take them and add them to cake mixes and make my guests smile as they enjoy a delicious dessert that took me no time to make.
Chocolate-Mint Overload Cake
1-18.25 oz. chocolate cake mix
1-3.9 oz.package chocolate instant pudding mix
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup Girl Scout thin mint cookie crumbs
1- 8 oz container sour cream
4 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
powdered sugar
Mix together the first eight ingredients in a large bowl until all are blended. Pour batter into a well greased 12 cup Bundt pan.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan and place on serving dish. Cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over top of cake. Serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Often, I replace the oil with applesauce to cut down on the fat. I once mixed in cherry pie filling into a chocolate DH cake. It got rave reviews at work.
We LOVE DH brownies! Our favorite way to top them off is to remove the pan from the oven 5-10 minutes before it’s done, drop marshmallows (the big white ones work better than the little ones) all over the brownies (try to cover the surface), then pop back in the oven for the remaining baking time. Voila, the yummiest gushiest marshmallow-topped brownies in the world!
I love anything DuncanHines makes. Iexperiment with many of the same recipes as posted but my son-in-law and granddaughters love the brownies best in their natural form-Just plain!!
Add Sabra liqueur to any chocolate cake mix & see the difference. Use at least 1/4 cup of the Sabra and your cake now becomes “gourmet”
I use the chocolate Dunkin Hines cake mix and follow the directions for a pound cake: 1 pkg of cake mix, 1 (3.4 oz) box of instant pudding, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 1/4 cups of water. However, I don’t follow the directions exactly. Instead, I use only 3/4 cups of water and 1/2 cup of coffee brandy. It tastes SO yummy!
My new favorite shabbos dessert “Brownie-Mallows”
(My husband thinks that’s a stupid name but we haven’t come up with anything better- we are open to suggestions)
1 DH Brownie Mix (I use chewy fudge)
3 eggs
1/4 C water
1/4 C Applesauce
1/4 C oil
Mix
Split between 2 9″ round pans
Bake until almost done
Spread Mini Marshmallows on top in a single layer, tightly packed (1 cup?)
Put back in oven for 5 minutes
In a small pot, melt 2 C choc chips, and 1 cup peanut butter,
Add Rice Crispies
Spread this layer on top of the marshmallows.
Put in fridge to set and then Enjoy!
I have to admit that Rozy K’s Smores Pie sounds delicious! I plan on trying it soon. Here is my recipe for a “doctored up” recipe using a Duncan Hines cake mix … it is called a Harvey Walbanger Cake {I think named after a popular alcoholic drink from the 50s}.
Harvey Walbanger Cake Recipe
1 Dunkin Heinz Yellow Cake Mix
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 cup oil
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup vodka
4 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
Mix all ingredients together.
Bake in a greased Bundt pan at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.
When I make DUNCAN HINES brownies I always add a 1/2 cup of walnuts in the mix!!!
I LOVE DUNCAN HINES brownies! I made them a few times like this-I prepare them using the healthy version written on the box..applesauce etc. then I underbake them a few minutes for fudgie-ness and put a peanut butter glaze on them- some confectioner’s sugar, peanut butter and hot water so easy and yummy(comes out more like a frosting because of the solid fat of PB. we had guests and the woman asked what recipe I used and I said DUNCAN HINES!
also I recently baked duncan hines brownies 1/2(but3/4 is probably better or even just a couple minutes underdone)way done and then made a quick blondie recipe that I spread on top and baked according to blondie instructions+ a few extra minutes
My sister will purposely make Duncan Hines and pudding for trifles-chocolate(I think)cake and whipped cream an chocolate pudding. I usually only do trifles for flopped cakes but they are SO YUMMY when she makes them !
weazel – funny that’s what my hubby says “why mess with a good thing!”
i take a parve duncan hines brownie mix, and melt peanut butter, margarine, and sugar together, put the mixture in a plastic bag, snip a corner of the bag and drizzle over the brownie mix before baking, yum!
(for a fancy effect, make lines across the pan the short-way with the peanut butter, take a knife and draw it through the batter/peanut butter length-wise, alternating direction for each line)
duncan hines is BETTER than homemade!!!!!
The Ultimate Smores Pie:
1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust
1 Box Duncan Hines Brownie Mix
Marshmallow Fluff (*and some margarine)
– Make the brownie mix as you normally would (using the fudgey/chewy version, with 2 eggs, not cake-like)
Pour half of that mix into graham cracker crust (leaving enough room for it to rise and for a layer of fluff) You can use the remainder of brownie mix for another pie or to make extra regular brownies
– Put in oven and cook like normally would with brownies….but instead, take the brownies out when they are not completely done…so that they are mushier.
– In a separate bowl, add as much fluff as you want and a little bit of margarine and put in microwave or saucepan (for a few seconds) to make it less sticky
– Pour fluff on top of brownie pie, fill it to top
– Stick the pie in the fridge to harden, and ENJOY!!!
I love adding sour cream or butter milk, it gives the cakes such a better taste and also keeps them so much more moister.
love getting creative and appreciate instant mixes for the convenience and less mess- I add all sorts of things to chcolate cake- from cocounut to cherry pie filling
We call it “Shabbos cake” – a chocolate cake mix with pudding mix and chocolate chips added! You can experiment with other pudding/chip flavours too but we love the chocolate one. No frosting required!!!
i like to make yummy brownie cookies (great for making ice cream sandwiches in the summer!!!) take a box of brownie mix and mix in 1 egg, 1/3 cup oil and 2 T. water and mix together. preheat oven to 375 and on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper (or you can grease it/ use a tin pan cookie sheet) use an ice cream scoop and scoop out some batter to make cookies. make sure to leave room for spreading. bake 7-8 minute but check every so often so you dont overbake them (the centers should be set…like cookies!) let cool on cookie sheet.
soften up some of your favorite flavor of ice cream, spoon some on to the bottoms of a cookie and top with another cookie pressing down gently. refreeze to set and enjoy!!!
I love doing DH Chewy Fudge brownie mix and adding walnuts and chocolate chips. My brother (who doesn’t keep kosher) told me it’s “the best parve dessert” he’s ever had. If only he knew how easy it was!
I make the duncan hines brownies, bake for 1/2 the time; then make a choc chip cookie recipe which i spread carefully over the top of the half-baked brownies. I bake for about 30 min (til toothpick comes out mostly dry)– and voila– delicious blondie/brownies aka brownie bars! a fancy addition is to splatter on chocolate drizzle on the top– looks ultra fancy.
Adding a cup of sour cream also makes for a super moist and delicious cake. One of my most requested recipes is turning a Duncan Hines Devil’s Food cake into Black Forest Cupcakes. Make a mixture of sugar and cream cheese in one bowl while mixing your batter in another. Add two tablespoons of batter to each muffin cup, then add two tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture. Top that with one tablespoon of cherry pie filling before filling cups the rest of the way with remaining batter. Bake as directed. Once cooled, just before serving, top with whipped cream frosting and another tablespoon of cherry pie filling. It’s a quick, easy and decadent way to end your next delicious meal!
My favorite secret add-in ingredient– dry pudding mix! A great way to add flavor and moisture!
I use DH brownie mix and doctor it up with all sorts of fun things for a quick and delicious (and parve!) dessert! My favorite is to put it into a well “greased” cupcake pan (so you can avoid liners) and then put fresh berries in the middle of it. They sink down and become like a secret treat!
I use a Devils Food (Duncan Hines) cake mix and add a tablespoon of instant coffee granules. Now – it’s a MOCHA cake! Additionally I love to add chips of any kind. White chocolate provides contrast as well as flavor and texture, dark chocolate (who could argue with more chocolate) but my favorite is to add espresso or mocha flavored chips! Bake that up as per the instructions on the box and cover with powdered sugar! Yum! (You can also bake it in a bundt pan.)