I Asked 2 Award-Winning Pastry Chefs How to Upgrade Boxed Cake Mix, and Their Answers Surprised Me
Boxed cake mixes have come a long way. There are so many good boxed cake mix varieties on grocery shelves today for when you want to quickly whisk together a cake for a birthday celebration, anniversary, or simply just because. (Some of my favorites are from Dolly Parton’s Duncan Hines range and Oh So Easy.)
But if you really want to take your boxed cake from good to extraordinary, there are some easy tweaks you can make for a finished product that’ll rival anything you can get from a bakery. If anyone knows this area well, it’s pastry chefs — so I asked the professionals for their best boxed cake mix upgrades. Here’s what they had to say.
1. Replace the oil with melted butter.
Michelle Palazzo, pastry chef at Frenchette, recommends replacing the amount of oil listed on the box for double the amount of melted butter. “[This] will help your boxed cake taste less processed and more homemade,” she says.
2. Add an extra egg.
Jacques Torres, award-winning pastry chef, says adding an extra egg to the batter will give it extra richness and moisture. Kristina Lavallee, also known as “The Cake Girl,” specifically adds an extra egg yolk, as she feels it provides a bit more structure to the cake.
3. Replace the water with milk.
Eufronia Alba Arnez, pastry sous chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, says another easy swap is to replace the amount of water called for on the box with milk. “This small change helps boxed cake mix taste richer, more homemade, and closer to a from-scratch cake,” she says. Lavallee agrees, and will also swap in buttermilk for “a richer flavor and softer texture.”
4. Add sour cream.
Similar to the extra egg, Molly Coen, pastry chef at Carmel Valley Ranch, likes “adding sour cream for flavor and added moisture.”
5. Fold in some mix-ins.
Joseph Paire, executive chef at Limewood Restaurant & Bar, loves taking a boxed cake to the next level with a variety of mix-ins. “Fold in premium chocolate chips, berries for summertime fun, nuts, or coconut for texture,” he says. Lavallee is also a big proponent of adding more texture and filling to her cakes. “Things like dulce de leche, guava, cream cheese, or toasted pecans can take a simple boxed mix cake into something that feels elevated and custom,” she says.
6. Add espresso.
Torres knows a thing or two about chocolate. (He is a master chocolatier, after all.) So when making a chocolate boxed cake mix, he recommends “adding one cup of espresso to deepen the chocolate flavor.”
7. Stir in a dash of vanilla extract.
When it comes to vanilla cake mixes, Lavallee says, “I always like to use a high-quality vanilla extract; this makes a huge difference.”
8. Make a fruit crumble.
Verousce Mckibbin, executive pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, likes to turn his boxed cake mix into a completely new dessert: an easy fruit crumble. Here’s how he does it: “Mix 1 box of vanilla cake mix with a cup of chopped pecans and 2 sticks of melted butter. Sprinkle half the mix at the bottom of a pie dish. [Next,] mix a cup of vanilla yogurt with 3 eggs and pour [it] over [the cake mix and pecan] layer. Sprinkle a layer of your favorite chopped fruit [on top]. I like to use peaches or cherries which will be in season soon. Top with the remaining topping, and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.”
This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: I Asked 2 Award-Winning Pastry Chefs How to Upgrade Boxed Cake Mix, and Their Answers Surprised Me