I enjoy baking, but I'm too intimidated by the "bake from scratch" life, which is how I stumbled upon this recipe somewhere on Pinterest. It really does make a simple box mix taste like it could've come from a fancy bakery.
When using it, completely disregard the instructions on the back of the cake mix box. Only follow the instructions below. This recipe works best for making two 8-inch cake rounds or 3 six-inch rounds.
Ingredients:
1 Box Cake Mix (I recommend vanilla or yellow cake)
1 cup of flour
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/3 cup of milk at room temperature
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 cup of sour cream at room temperature
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Steps:
-Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
-Grease and flour your cake pans, then line with parchment paper. (Bonus: These baking strips are incredible! I had no idea such magical things existed until my baker friend told me about them. They make your cakes come out perfectly smooth and symmetrical.)
-Whisk the dry ingredients together.
-Add the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
-Divide the batter and bake for approximately 50 minutes.
-Let cakes cool for 10 mins, then remove them from the pans and cool completely.
Bonus Hack: Make Store-Bought Frosting Taste Better
This one is more of an art than a science. Typically, store-bought frosting is just too sweet, which is why cream cheese and salt help to mellow it out, but you can add them more sparingly and according to your taste.
Ingredients:
1 can of store-bought vanilla frosting
8 oz of cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vanilla (optional for desired taste)
Add powdered sugar as needed (depending on your desired texture)
