Easy Apple Cake Recipe With Cake Mix (2024)

FAQs

What makes a cake mix more moist? ›

Add an Extra Egg

Most cake mixes call for two to three eggs. Just one more egg will add extra moisture, fat, and a little protein, which means the cake will be softer and less likely to overbake and dry out in the oven.

If your batter is thin, says Wise, any added fruit needs support to help it stay suspended. Otherwise, it will all sink to the bottom. With any recipe, she first considers the thickness of her cake batter and how heavy, or wet, the added fruit will be.

Step 1: Look at the directions on the cake mix. Step 2: Add one more egg (or add 2 if you want it to be very rich). Step 3: Use melted butter instead of oil and double the amount. Step 4: Instead of water, use whole milk.

Cake mixes almost always call for vegetable oil as their fat; needless to say, butter has a lot more flavor than vegetable oil, and it makes for a much better texture. Just replace the oil with an equal amount of melted butter, and you'll get a drastically better cake with a more complex flavor.

Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.

The addition of nuts and dried or candied fruit (such as citron, citrus peel, or even ginger) can add both flavor and texture to a boxed mix, but they did seem a little odd and out of place in a light and fluffy cake—this trick tends to work better in a denser, more rustic dessert like banana bread or carrot cake.

From previous experience, frozen works just fine. Don't thaw.

The best way to avoid sinking fruit is to toss the fruit in a couple of tablespoons of the flour (just use some from the measured amount for the recipe) to coat it lightly. Once added to the cake mixture the flour coating will thicken the batter immediately surrounding the fruit and help suspend the fruit.

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

How to doctor up a box cake mix? ›

Enhance With Extracts

Pure vanilla extract and pure almond extract are great options, but you could also try lemon extract or orange extract paired with fresh citrus zest. Although more expensive, vanilla bean paste or fresh vanilla beans will provide even richer flavor to a boxed mix.

This is so simple, delicious and will have people begging for your cake. Take any cake mix and just add 4 eggs, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of mayo. ( If it's a chocolate cake pour one shot of espresso into the measuring cup and fill the remainder with water to fill up to one cup. ) Then bake as indicated on the box.

Put some pudding in the mix: Add a small box of pudding mix in with the cake mix. (Don't make the pudding.) The mix adds additional flavor, moistness, and a denser texture.

You just need a can of soda pop. The carbon dioxide bubbles in soda pop act as a leavening agent — the element that makes baked goods rise and makes them light and fluffy.

To take any mix up a notch, anywhere water is called for, milk can generally be used in a 1:1 substitution.

Add More Eggs

To get an extra rich and moist cake, stir in two extra egg yolks along with the eggs the recipe calls for (save the egg whites to make these delicious meringues). For a lighter and more airy cake, use only egg whites (and save the egg yolks for crème brûlée).

Vegetable oil contributes moistness far more reliably, a result of the fact that oil remains liquid at room temperature while butter solidifies. Liquid contributes to the sensation of moistness, and therefore cakes made with oil often present as moister than their butter-based counterparts.

Sugar attracts water, keeping baked goods moist and soft.