Does This Cake Extender Really Make Enough For..........
Decorating By susies1955 Updated 13 Sep 2007 , 5:39pm by nikki1201
I read where some use a cake extender for cake mix by adding a small pkg. of pudding mix, an extra egg, and use milk instead of water. It doesn't seem to me that this would be very much of an extender.
I'm into character cakes mostly to learn and I find that one cake mix is not enough but If I use two cake mixes it is too much. Would this 3/4 fill or more a character cake pan? I could just try it but don't want to waste it. 
Thanks,
Susie
Thanks for letting me know that it works. I'll have to give it a whirl.
Susie
thats almoat exactly how i make all my cakes:
1 pkg cake mix
1 pkg instant pudding
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1 stick butter
makes a *delicious* cake! And it will definitely be more dense. I've never done any cake other than round, square, or sheet cake.... but i would think it should work well for a character cake. Last time a made this, it filled a 10" springform pan almost to the top, and baked right up to the top edge.
I almost always use butter recipe white cake and french vanilla pudding mix, but i have tried other flavor combinations and it always turns out great!
hop that helps! 
nikki1201,
Your pudding extender recipe sounds great. NOW this is complete and you don't add what the cake box tells you right?
I think I will try this. DO YOU BAKE LONGER?
Thanks,
Susie
Yep, that's the full recipe! and you will need to bake it longer. my 10" rounds take about 45-50 minutes. after a half hour i usually check every 5 minutes or so. Also, it tends to get a bit darker than usual, but that's nothing to worry about!
good luck!
This is the extender I use with all of my cakes
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1977-1-Cake-Mix-extender.html
This is the extender I use with all of my cakes
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1977-1-Cake-Mix-extender.html
This is the one I use as well and it always turns out great. I always use the sour cream, not the yogurt. Tried the yogurt once and did not care for the way it turned out.
Last month I used the extender recipe noted above to make a 4 tiered wedding cake. I used the sour cream and cake flour. It adds in volume about 1.5 cups of extra batter.
What I do is figure out the number of cups I need for the pan from a wilton chart and add in the extra 1.5 cups. I usually put in at least one extra cup of batter to get a higher level cake (you can always trim).
Another tip I have received here is to always fill your pans 2/3 full to get a full cake. Some people measure with a ruler and mark their pans.
The extender gives the cakes an out of the world texture that is dense but the cake is still light.
sorr, 4htem, i wish i could be more specific but i really have never measured any of the batter. and per the cost... never really though about that. I never used a "cake-extender" recipe for the purpose of having more volume. I just wanted a dense cake that wouldn't crumble when i decorated it! And now i just make it because i really prefer the taste, opposed to the regular cake mixes. (no scratch cakes for me! someday i'll have to try again and hope to have better luck than i did in the past!) But if i get around to it in the next day or so, i can try a few 8"s and let you know! Wish i could be more help, but i really just make cakes for the fun of it and don't really worry about cost/size/etc. Hope someone can answer that for you!
Just to clarify a little for everyone - there is a difference between a "doctored" recipe and an "extender" recipe.
I am a mix baker (not scratch) and I "doctor" my mixes using the recipe that susies1955 mentioned - pkg. of pudding, extra egg, milk instead of water, oil/butter as orig. called for and sometimes I add other flavorings (vanilla, Lorann, etc.). This does NOT yield any more batter.
Then there are "extender" recipes - here are a few. Usually extra flour and extra sugar are added among other ingredients, yielding MORE batter. Here are a few:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1977-1-Cake-Mix-extender.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-3233-2-Extender-Cake-Recipe-2.html
Sorry - I don't know how many cups of batter you end up with.
I just used nikki1201's doctored cake mix. It rose to 1/4" of the top and took 40 minutes to bake at 325°. It stuck to the cooling rack though. Not sure why. I won't be trying it until the birthday party Sat.
I have used an extender once. It is this one:
1 box mix
1 c flour
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 t baking powder
1/2 c water
This extender worked great except I had a little batter left over. I tried
nikki1201's because I wanted to try something new.
Thanks for all of your help, tips and links.
I wrote down the sour cream extender and will try it sometime soon.
I love this forum,
Susie
I am sorry for any confusion. Like i said, i never used this recipe for the sake of extending my batter. I just tried it once and happened to notice that the finished product was bigger. When i saw the topic of the thread i though i would share it, because it really is a great tasting cake. Awolf24, thank you for clarifying. i guess i didn't explain it very well! just tried to help. 
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