Doctoring up a cake mix

[RiJaAr]

I know, I know, i should make it from scratch, but i don't have the time or the energy (or the ingredients)
So I have in my pantry some cake mixes
1 devil's food cake mix
1 swiss chocolate mix
1 french vanilla mix
1 plain white cake mix

I also have some cherry liqueur, several boxes of unsweetened chocolate, Vanilla wafers, ladyfingers, oreo crumbs, chocolate hazelnut spread, a little bit of rum..a few other things i'm sure

Any ideas?

[sandrina]

Check out:

www.cakemixdoctor.com

[Katie Nell]

Here's two recipes utilizing cake mixes from my MIL that are pretty good, I like the banana recipe best. I also have a pecan coffee cake one, but my husband took off with my recipe book in his car! (The coffee cake one is my favorite, so I will try to post that one if I remember!)

Banana Cake (I'm sure you could use either of vanilla cake recipes here.)
Cake ingredients:
1 banana cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
3 ripe bananas (mashed)

Frosting ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 8 oz. pckg. cream cheese
1 lb. box powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 mashed banana

Mix all cake ingredients at low speed until moist, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into greased and floured 12x9 cake pan or 2 9-in. round cake pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 30- 40 min. Cream butter, cream cheese, and bananas. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and nuts. (This is a frosting recipe for the layer cake.) Frost cake.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake
1 box devil's food cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling
2 large eggs
1 t. almond extract

Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Lightly spray 13x9 cake pan. Place cake mix, pie filling, eggs, and almond extract in bowl and beat for 1 min. Scrape, and then beat for 2 min. more. Batter will be thick. Pour into cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30- 35 min. Place sugar, butter, and milk in saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir and when glaze is smooth, pour over warm cake. Glaze will be thin but will firm up. Cool cake for 20 min. before cutting.

[content]

I just happened to have made the cherry cake recently ("Chocolate Cherry Bars" as the recipe I used), and my nephew, who does NOT eat cake, LOVED IT!

Only thing though was that the cherries liked to sink.

[toodie jane]

add 1 c finely ground hazelnuts to the french vanilla one.

Brush layers with Kirsch. Spread thinly with melted apricot jam. Fill with choc ganache and frost with whipped cream or coffee flavored buttercream. Everyone will think it's a scratch cake.

[ballulah]

Wow, that sounds wonderful I may have to give that one a try myself.

[RiJaAr]

What about a recipe using the kirsch? maybe a cherry chocolate cake? or cherry vanilla?

[ballulah]

OH! I made cupcakes for a friend's birthday nearly two years ago with doctored Devil's Food Cake Mix. I always use buttermilk instead of the recommended water when making a cake mix cake, it gives an extra moistness and tang that tastes homemade. Sometimes I need a little more than the volume of water called for because buttermilk is rich and gloppy.

After I made the cake batter for these I half-filled paper-lined muffin trays. I had a bag of mixed frozen berries in the freezer and defrosted them, and put a teaspoon in each cupcake, and then more batter on top to cover. I had to bake quite a bit longer than usual because of the wet fruit.

I always insist that if I take shortcuts and make a cake mix cake, I have to make icing from scratch, so I set out to make a simple chocolate buttercream enhanced with some booze. But then I realized I had all this fruity juicy syrup from the melted berries, and I decided to throw that in the icing. Oh my gosh, so delicious, and a very unusual flavor.

The whole thing was kind of a disaster, but an excellent and tasty one. It would have been much better if I hadn't started making the cupcakes two hours before I had to be at a party that was 45 minutes away (hahaha). And they would have been much better if it hadn't been a meltingly hot (butter cream?) summer day. But they tasted great and people are still emailing me for the "recipe" and this is more than a year later.

[AnneInMpls]

Do you have any ice cream? My sister once made a wonderful bundt cake from just cake mix, eggs, and a pint of ice cream. She used yellow cake and coffee ice cream, but I'll bet any flavor combination would work.

http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/oct/...

The cream cheese/sour cream frosting isn't required, but sure is good!

Anne

[chickstein]

Devils food mix
1 cup Sour cream
3 oz box choc pudding
12 oz choc chips
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup veg oil
4 eggs

Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer for 4 minutes. Put in a greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degress for an hour. Cool for an hour before inverting on a cake plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

To Die for!!!!!

[capitts]

I second this-I've tried it and it is so good, very rich-no need for frosting. I do have one suggestion though, add some (1 T.) espresso liquid or instant coffee powder/flakes.

[RiJaAr]

i don't have a bundt pan..would it work in cake tins as well?

[capitts]

I don't know. It should (haven't tried it)...
It is a very dense and moist cake made like this. If you don't have a bundt pan, how about cupcakes? Or a loaf pan?

[Heatherb]

Do you have pudding or cream cheese?

If so, I would crunch up the oreo crumbs in the pudding and make that the filling for the cake (I am a french vanilla fan), and make a cream cheese frosting (possibly swirled with some melted chocolate).

A real sugar bomb, but yum! What's the cake for?

[RiJaAr]

hmm, no cream cheese but i do have chocolate and butterscotch puddings! maybe i will do that with one of them.
Any ideas for the devils food? i like devils food. i LOVE devils food.