...I'm looking for tips to make my "box mix" cupcake denser. Currently I tweek the box mix with some extra oil and a tsp of vanilla. It is the mix that already has pudding in it.

Am I doing something wrong with the mix that they aren't dense like if I poured the whole batter in a 9 x 13 for a cake?

I use DH mix but instead of following the box recipe I use 1 1/4 c. water, 3 eggs and 2 tbs of oil for yellow mix and 3 tbs oil for chocolate. It is not pound cake dense by any means, but it is denser than standard . I can stack with it.

I am pretty sure I read on here last week to add the pudding mix and use LESS oil, like only a few TBS, and that would make it more dense. HTH

Use a modified WASC recipe...those don't puff much at all! I actually wanted the moist-ness of a WASC, but I ended up just using a box mix for most of my cuppies due to no puffing. I used a strawberry cake mix for some, and used strawberry yogurt instead of sour cream. I also did a white cake mix, used the lemon variation with lemon juice for water and lemon extract instead of vanilla. They were very moist, flavorful, but more dense. If you want the exact recipe I used, let me know and I'll email it to you.

mommy baker, can you please email me that recipe to [email protected] ?, thank you so much

For my cupcakes and most cakes period now I use 1 cake mix, 1/2 cup water, 1/3 cup oil, 4 egg whites, 8 oz sour cream, and 3.4 oz pudding mix. Ive had lots of people tell me that it didnt taste like a box cake mix. I do it with chocolate, white, and yellow. Strawberry would work too if you can find strawberry pudding mix, I guess you might be able to substitute jello mix. Red Velvet I just use chocolate pudding mix. The white wont be white becuase of the vanilla pudding mix but its still delicous and tastes like white cake.

Thank you for everyone's reply...I'm going to definitely try these tips. These certainly make sense.

I've realized I need to change my personal ratio to:
51% food scientist
49% everything else

Since I am a newbie, I don't know these acronyms. Does the site have an acronym dictonary...lol?