Hi does anyone have any good ideas of how I can make a packet cake mix taste not like a packet cake mix. They seem to come out all dry and tasteless. Is there anything anyone adds to cake mix to make them taste yummy.

This is an old reciepe, I have used for 30 years.

Dream Cake
1 cake mix ( any flavor)
1 Package of Dream Whip( Kroger brand, if you have one is much cheaper)

4 whole eggs (unless white,use egg white only)
1 1/2 cps water

mix well.

In my white cakes I add 1 tab. of almond flavoring
Cakes will be taller , this if for 8"rd, 9x13 sheet, Character cake
Hope you like it!

I add a small package of instant pudding in a complimentary flavor, an extra egg and a tsp. of extract, usually almond, and always get raves on how moist and yummy my cakes are.

My favorite is Duncan Hines Classic White Cake, a box of white chocolate instant pudding and tsp. of almond extract. Yum. For chocolate, I use the dark chocolate mix and almond extract. Mmmm.

A neat book you may want to try is the Cake Mix Doctor. Some neat ideas.

Boy does that sound like a good recipe vcr!! Thank you for sharing!!

Check out some of the enhanced cake mix recipes under the recipe section.
I substitute milk for the water, add a box of instant pudding and an extra egg to the mix and everyone loves it!

I avoid anything that's flavored, except for chocolate and white. Use white as your base for strawberry, banana, etc. I find that the flavored box mixes have a very strong chemical flavor. I add a box (3.5 oz) of pudding mix and an extra egg, too.

the Dream Whip cake mix that someone posted above is simply awesome and silky. Yummy! I was impressed when I made it.

Most of the time I substitute butter or margarine instead of oil add another egg and substitute water for evaporated milk same quantity as indicated in the box and add some flavor if it chocolate i use 1tsp almond and 1tsp vanilla if vanilla mix I use 1 tsp clear vanilla and butter flavor and i did not have any problem I made the trial with my friends and they didn't notice the difference between the cake mix and from scratch LOL!!!

I make a lot of cakes from scratch and they are certainly tasty but people seem to really love cakes from cake mixes. They automatically assume it's homemade and if it's actually a doctored up cake mix then I never admit to a cake mix. (I think to myself Sandra Lee - SEMI homemade.) I must say, I do like cake mix cakes. I do!! Especially Duncan Hines and Pillsbury. I love the tenderness and sponginess of the cake. If you go on allrecipes.com - they have a whole section on doctored cake mix cakes. I love that website! I get alot of recipes from there.

I always add milk (or buttermilk) instead of water, an extra egg and instant pudding. Sometimes I add sour cream (especially for chocolate). I too only buy white and chocolate. I make my flavors from the white (strawberry, lemon, orange, etc).

I found a neat site today. If you go to Recipe Search and scroll down and select "cakes", then type in "cake mix" under the 1st ingredient and click on search, you get lots and lots of recipes that use cake mix.

http://www.hungrymonster.com/recipe/recipe-searching.cfm

I ALWAYS substitute the oil called for with an equal amount of Helman's Mayo, ..... for chocolate I add a teaspoon of Vanilla...for White a teaspoon of Almond extract....... really moist and yummy....

Question about the dream cake - is it 'dense' for character cakes, etc? It sounds wonderful!

I do the same I never admit that my cake if it cake mix Never ever admit that is one cake made fron mix I always say that is from scratch.

i have always used butter or marg instead of oil and milk instead of water. I have added pudding and an extra egg, works great. Once i made the mistake of adding a banana pudding instead of vanilla. the banana flavoring on it was great, very tasty. thankfully i didn't add the pineapple filling i usually do to my vanilla cake.
I'm dying to try the dream whip in the cake, i bought it a while ago, but keep forgetting to give it a try.


vcr - no oil needed?

thanks!
Kat

I usually do the pudding and an extra egg and if I'm making chocolate cake I add a big dollop of sour cream. Lately with white cake I've also been adding creamer and the taste and texture is great.

Wow thanks so much for all the replies I am dying to try them out but unfortunately I am in Australia and we don't have the same products as the USA so if there are any bakers out there that know the Aussie equivalents to the USA products that would be great!!

I always substitute my oil for the same amount of applesauce. it makes it SO moist!!

Can somebody tell me what dream whip is? And where can I find it?

Yes I use it for character cakes even the 3-D.
No no oil.
I also use Duncan Hines. When people ask me if I use cakemix, I feel I have to honest, & say yes, but I add some key ingredients (dream Whip & Almond)& you won't know its a mix. I too get lots of complements on how good & moist my cakes are. You not only want your cake to look good but more important taste good. When I took cake decorating over 30 years ago, Oh my! I wanted my cakes to look just like the wilton cakes, smooth & tall, When dream whip first came out the dream cake recipe was on the pkg. So I gave it try & I never bake a cake without.

i found the link to dream whip, you can find it in supermarkets. i think i got mine at Shop Rite.

http://164.109.46.215/brands/international/other/desserts.html

here's a picture of it:
http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/01/c5/96/2a/29726250.JPG

HTH

thanks for the help vcr.

here is somthing simple I do it for all my cakes. and I get great reviews. if the cake mix is needing 1/3 cup oil make it a half a cup. oh my god just that little bit extra makes so moist. just try it. you will see.