I am brand new to cake decorating, and so far I have only used box mixes. I need to make a cake for this weekend for family only, so I'd like to experiment a little. I've read a bunch of times on this site about adding pudding mix to the cake batter. What exactly does that do, and how much do I add? I bought a butter recipe golden mix and a butter recipe fudge mix, plus a box of vanilla and a box of chocolate instant pudding mix. Now if I could just figure out what to do with them!

Thanks for your help!

I know nothing about cakes.....except what I have learned here! Upon the recomendation of other CC'ers I add a box of pudding and an extra egg to every box of cake mix. It seems to make a richer, denser, moister, easier to frost cake. And since when are any of those things bad? Plus, since I started doing that, I have not had a cake crack in half upon removing it from the pan.

Hi there, well your in the right place for info. What a pudding does is make the cake heavier and very moist, good if your making a stacked cake, because it makes the cake denser and more able to resist the weight of icing plus fondant. (and that info is straight out of "the cake mix doctor" cookbook.)

HTH

jenn

Adding pudding is supposed to be good for standup, 3D cakes too. Makes them sturdier. I did one the other day, and based on a CC recommendation, used one box regular cake mix and one box pound cake mix, adding the number of eggs and oil each box specified. Cake did great, had to drive it an hour and it held up like a champ!

Welcome to CC!

A great book with information about doctoring cakes as well as lots of recipes is The Cake Mix Doctor. You can see if your local libaray carries it. If not you can always purchase it online or at a book store.

I just made yellow cake cupcakes this weekend. I substituted skim milk for water, used 3 eggs (did not add an extra one) and one box of vanilla instant pudding.

The texture of the cupcakes was great and the extra vanilla flavour came through as well. They were extremely yummy!

I will definitely trying 'doctoring' cakes and cupcakes in the future.

Thank you all so much for the great advice! I can't wait to bake (and taste) the cakes with the pudding.

I love CakeCentral!