1) How is the best way to frost cut sides of a cake? I need to make a bowling pin cake tomorrow and am just going to cut out the shape, but I've never had luck in getting the icing to stick to the cut sides! It always curls or pulls off! Will brushing it with simple syrup or melted jelly work?
2) What's your secret for making a box chocolate cake taste like it's from scratch? I have added so many different things, and you can never tell with the white cakes, but chocolate is so different. What do you all do?? I think I may be stuck making homemade as this is what the bride has requested. 
I just think they are always dry!
1. You could do simple syrup or jelly that's been boiled. I freeze my cake, sculpt it while frozen and crumb coat it while frozen.
2. For your liquid, you could use chocolate milk or add a good squirt of Hershey's syrup. There was an early thread for enhanced cake mixes. I'll see if I can pull it up for you.
For a easy and great chocolate cake recipe i always use:
http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/cake_mixes/r_choc_fudge_groom.cfm?section=wedding&subsection=recipes
I add 3 tablespoons of cocoa at the end to make it even more chocolately. Plus its very very very easy to cut and handle.
Like you, i;ve never been able to get the "box mix" tastes out of chocolate box mix cakes no matter what i add. I always just use the above groom cake recipe. It's soo good and rich. Much better and easier to work with than any box mix IMO. 
Thanks for the responses! I'm working on it tonight. I'll be up for hours probably since I had to re-bake the "pins" cake because the first one sank big time. Now I won't have time to freeze them so it'll have to be the simple syrup. How do I get myself into these situations, anyway!? 
I made a chocolate cake from a box and thought it turned out GREAT!!!! I added chocolate pudding mix. I don't let it bake as long as it's supposed to. I find that if I pull it out just a little early, it has kind of a fudgy texture..... True I haven't mastered it, because I only did it once but it was sure good.
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