This weekend I made a cake for my mom. I am in no way a professional. My family LOVES pillsbury box mixes, especially the devils food and white classic. Pillsbury is so moist. In the past I just used one cake box mix and was done. DH has said in the past my cakes seemed short. So after doing some learning here on CC I realized my pans should be 2/3 way full not 1/3 like a traditional box would fill.

So in my two 8" Magic Line pans, sprayed with Baker's Joy, I used 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 boxes of cake mix, did not alter the recipe to make it any denser. I turned my oven on to 325, used bake even strips and cooked it for 55 minutes. Toothpick was clean. I let them cool for just ten minutes.

Before when I just used one mix I never needed to run a knife around the sides. This time it didn't come out the first time so I ran my knife across the edges and it may?? have seemed a little on the soft side. So second attempt, I finally got the cakes out of the pan. One had a big chunk removed on the side, but the other one tore a HUGE chunk out of the middle of the cake that stuck to the bottom. So my question to all the experts:

1. Should I have cooked longer? Usually when I spray Baker's Joy nothing sticks.

2. Should I have let cakes cool longer since there's more cake in them?

3. Should I have altered my box mix to make more dense? I've searched that here on CC and got more confused. My Wilton instructor always said to reduce oil by 1/2 and I think reduce by one egg also. I'll have to pull my old notes.

Any help would be appreciated.

You do reduce the oil but you ADD an extra egg. Don't understand why you had problems with sticking. I use homeade pan release but I also line the bottom of EVERY pan with wax paper.

For a denser cake you can also add a small box of instant pudding along with that extra egg.

I'm with mamawrobin..........all I use is the homemade stuff it's cheaper and easy to make. Take 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of shortening and mix them all together in a mixer until it's nice and fluffy smooth. I double it and triple it I use it soooooooooooooo much. Never had a problem with sticking and I use those mixes all the time. Try it. It's keep unrefrigerated also.

Do you reduce the oil by half or decrease a different amount? (along with adding an extra egg) Is ten minutes sufficient cooling time or did I jump the gun? One more thing, Pillsbury has pudding in it so its ok to add another box? Thanks

I use DH cake mix so I'm not sure about the extra box of pudding for the Pillsbury. But I do decrease the oil by half and add an extra egg. I really don't think the extra box of pudding would hurt though. Be sure that you grease your pans well. Yes, ten minutes is the correct amount of time to cool in the pan.

I suggest that when you remove your cakes from the pan that you flip it onto a cakeboard so that it's supported. That way you won't risk breaking your cake by handling it while it's still hot. I never handle my cakes until they're completely cool. I use cakeboards to support them as I'm moving them for cooling.

Thanks mamawrobin

You're welcome