I'm not often one for shortcuts, but this post is about a major one: Cake Mix. I love baking, but honestly, I hate making cakes and cupcakes from scratch. I also hate using those boxed cake mixes! I feel like you can never really be sure what exactly is in them in plain English, and since I don't know exactly what Polyglycerol Esters Of Fatty Acids is (are?), I'll leave it out of my baking, thankyouverymuch.
But this brings us back to the original issue -- I just don't like making cakes from scratch. So you're thinking, "Awesome. Cake Mix. Why bother? Making cakes from scratch is easy". Sure it is, but this is more than just a short cut. This isn't just any cake mix; it makes the perfect cake or cupcake. Like a bakery, or dare I say ... better. Plus, it's great to use in all those recipes that call for a boxed cake mix, except you'll know exactly what's in it.
I'll also take this opportunity to toot my own horn and tell y'all that this is the mix that I used to make some Bourbon and Candied Bacon Vanilla Cupcakes about a month ago that won best overall in a cupcake competition. So maybe the award was in an office competition, but that's a minor detail. The competition was stiff!
YELLOW CAKE MIX
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- ⅓ cup instant dry milk
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Whisk all ingredients together. Store for up to three months in a mason jar or sealed baggie.
To Prepare:
In any recipe requiring cake mix, 2 cups mix replaces 1 box of cake mix
CLASSIC YELLOW CAKE
- 2 cups cake mix
- 1 stick melted butter
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla ( I always use Nielsen Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Paste. It's vanilla bean scraped into their already amazing vanilla extract. And no, I wasn't paid to say that. It's just really really amazing stuff.)
Fold all ingredients together, then beat on medium for two minutes.
Bake at 350.
For 2 round cake pans: 15 minutes.
For (24) standard sized cupcakes : 18 minutes.
do u know how much this cost to make?
I think the cost depends largely on the ingredients you choose. I use organic dry milk, sugar, and flour, which is significantly more expensive than conventional, but the end mix is still much less expensive than the organic cake mixes you find in the store. I'd assume the same would be true using conventional ingredients and comparing them to the premade conventional cake mix, too!
Would you just add baking cocoa to this to make it chocolate?
I haven't tried that yet, but I bet you could! I'd also maybe throw in a few tablespoons of chocolate syrup to give it the extra moistness that is so good with chocolate cake.
great f0r baking cupcakes! 🙂 good to bake with children! nice jog people
I have a question, how many cups is your recipe for? you mentioned the butter etc has to be added to two cups of the mix, so in your recipe for the mix yields how many cups in total?
It makes just over 5 cups, which is approximately a box and a half of grocery store box cake mix (varies based on brand, but they are all fairly close in volume.)
Can you use this recipe for white cake if you remove the yolk?
Good question! I am going to play around with this mix and see if I can make it into a white mix. I'm going to reduce the flour by about 1/4 cup and use cake flour, plus add an extra egg white for every two yolks I don't use. I'll put another post up as soon as it's perfect!