I usually use a cake mix as my base, but everytime i mix it in my stand mixer it stays lumpy. i have to go through with a spatual pressing the batter against the bowl wall to try and break up my batter. Will Sifting the mix before hand help with this problem. Its so annoying to scoop out batter and still see unmixed lumps.

YES sifting works. But I had to rub the cake mix through the sieve with my fingers--just shaking didn't do anything useful.