Super Enhanced Cake Formula

Makes a rich, moist, absolutely delicious cake that has a ‘crumb’ similar to a pound cake, ideal for decorating and stacking/tiering. You will get so many compliments, and disbelief that you use any cake mix at all!

This recipe is sometime called Cake Mix Extender, Extending Box Mix or Cake Mix Magic

Super Enhanced Cake Formula

Ingredients

  • 1 Cake Mix Box (Duncan Heines®, Betty Crocker®, Pillsbury® etc.)
  • 1 cup All purpose flour
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 large eggs

  • 1/4 water
  • 1 cup Sour Cream (8 oz.)
  • 1 cup melted unsalted butter
  • 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla 
    If making a white cake, use clear vanilla so cake will not discolor

  • ** If making a chocolate cake:
  • 3 Mounded tablespoons of cocoa powder

Instructions for Extending Cake Mix

For this recipe you are only going to use the actual cake mix powder, do NOT also add the ingredients from directions on the cake mix box. Just ignore any other ingredients or directions listed on the cake mix packaging.

  1. Preheat Oven to 330°
  2. Mix flour, sugar, cake mix, baking powder, salt and **cocoa powder together with fork, set aside.
  3. Add eggs, water, sour cream, butter, vanilla, and cream to Mixer bowl
  4. Add dry ingredients and mix well on (about 2 minutes on lowest speed).
  5. Bake at 330° for 65 minutes for 9 in. cake pan.


Tips:

Lay some plastic wrap (saran wrap) on your cooling rack.

When your cake comes out of the oven, while still in the pan, brush top of cake with simple syrup.

Then immediately turn pan over on plastic wrap and remove from pan.

Brush the sides and bottom (which is now the top because it is upside down) with more simple syrup.  Then wrap cake completely in plastic wrap.

Depending on the size of your cake, allow to cool for at least 45 minutes.

This seals in the moisture, gets rid of most any "dome" or doming that may happen while baking and makes all outside edges (even overcooked ones) soft and tasty.

When you torte your cake, brush on more simple syrup before adding your filling

Comments (39)

on

i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!!! thank you so much whoever it is that posted this wonderful recipe!!! I have used it in almost everyone of my cakes so far. I'm a beginner so I am always looking for easy ways to make my cakes look wonderful and this is one of my favorite ways! :)

Dear shymomx5, I have used this recipe w/both Pillsbury Moist and Duncan Hines Deluxe Moist and has worked well for me every time, even on a tier! I don't foresee any complications using that brand.

Dear Sweetpeachcakes, I have found that this recipe is perfect for a 12" round. I've also made two 8 rounds and a 6 round. You can use the batter for all sorts of size combos. I usually make what I need and some others. Freeze the extras for later use. If you wrap your cake really, really well w/saran wrap, you shouldn't have a problem. Good luck! :)

on

I am going to make red velvet cake this weekend. Wondering if i can use the Duncan Hines Red Velvet mix with this Super Enhanced and how it will turn out. I LOOOOve this recipe and use it on all my cakes but i have not tried the Red Velvet Mix. Any suggestions?

on

I looooove this recipe. People always tell me I should open a bakery. Has anyone tried this for cupcakes? Is it possible?

on

Can you tell me the weight of the mix needed as I cannot get the ones mentioned but have a large bag of cake mix from another brand.

on

I want to use this for cupcakes. Will it work too? How many will it approx. make? Thanks for any info.

on

I used the Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge mix and added the cocoa as per recipe. It was not chocolate-y enough for my taste. I added in mini chocolate chips and an extra HEAPING tablespoon of cocoa.

The recipe made 30 perfectly shaped cupcakes (I baked for about 12 minutes). They were very consistent and taste great!

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

on

This is a easy and great recipe. It was super moist and great density and perfect for any cake. No one will ever know you used box cakes in it. I love it, thanks for sharing

on

This is the best cake mix doctored recipe I have tried. It is moist, delicious and stacks well. I used 2 boxes of the confetti mix and doubled the ingredients. Stacked two 8 inch and two 6 inch so it ended up over 4 inches is size. They were perfect shapes. I recieved rave reviews from teens and adults.

on

There isnt an amout for the heavy cream. I am assuming that it is supposed to be 1/4 of a Cup, am I correct? We all know what happens when we assume... I definitely can't afford it!

on

Has anyone else found this batter to look very thick and dry? I just added a little more cream and water to even out the consistency and am hoping it still bakes up well.

on

I did not like this recipe at all. Sorry. I made it 3 different times over the weekend and I agree with ApplePomme. It was very dry and too sweet even for cake. I cut back 1/2 cup on the sugar and it was still too sweet. I think the 65 minute baking time is a off too. I didn't back for more than 35 min in 2 8" pans. When I baked it longer I nearly burnt it. I will stick with my basic milk, sour cream, and an extra egg to box cake mixes. This on was a miss for me. Back on the hunt for the ultimate butter scratch cake.

on

will this hold up good under fondant?i love the receipe but doesnt look like it would hold up under the wieght of fondant!

on

It does hold up well to fondant which is what I was looking for. I was tired of my cakes giving in from the heavy weight of fondant and decorations. I live in the south with heavy humity so maybe that's why this recipe is perfect for me. The baking time is off. It requires less time and I just just watch it so I do not over cook it.

on

If I wanted to make this cake in an 18x18 square pan...any idea how long and at what temp - could I just double the recipe?

on

I will use this recipe from now on! Made vanilla jumbo cupcakes and triple chocolate fudge jumbo cupcakes (both Betty Crocker mixes). They were super moist and very flavorful.

on

I loved this recipe...Ive used it many times with rave reviews. I was curious as to how you guys measure the butter....1 cup melted or 2 sticks butter then melt (personally I use the 2 sticks then melt)

on

I'm so anxious to see if my husband likes this cake. He does not like sour cream so I'm hoping that the flavor of it does not overwhelm the cake but just adds the moisture and richness. I did not have heavy cream so I had to use milk and butter mixture as a substitute so we'll see if it works out on that front as well. I have to say it looks like an awesome texture and smells just great too! Can't wait to eat it tomorrow night :)

on

This is a great recipe. This will be my forever go to recipe for strawberry and lemon cakes. To the strawberry cake I added some strawberry flavoring and to the lemon cake some lemon flavoring. No one knew that this was box cake. I love it. The dough was kind of thick but in the end it turned out to be perfect.

on

I loved this recipe!! I made a three tier 60th wedding anniversary cake for my Great Aunt and Uncle. Covered in MMF and with 40 guest almost ran out of cake. They would take one bite and turn around and automatically came back for a second piece. It was incredible moist and held up very well to MMF. I will be using this recipe from now on only thing I will change is I will only add salt when making chocolate and adding the coco power. Thank you so much for sharing.

on

I have used both butter and margarine so far. The butter came out a lot denser and the margarine came out a little bit softer, not as dense. Both were moist but I prefer the margarine instead. The baking time is a little off depending on the size of your cake. For now I am just timing it incriments of ten and seeing for myself.

on

I made this cake over the weekend to try. I am making a retirement cake for my boss in June and I wanted to try something new. This cake turned out wonderful! It is moist, flavorful, perfect for stacking. I think the bake time is a little off. I baked it for 30 mins. and it was perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

on

I have successfully made this cake over a dozen times. However, the last two times that I've made it, it sinks towards the end of the baking process. Any suggestions to prevent this from happening would be very appreciated!

on

I found this discussion by accident and tried the recipe. Okay, not to be all dramatic because I normally make cake from scratch, but THIS RECIPE IS THE BEST CAKE I'VE EVER MADE! It's super easy and seriously best recipe ever!!! It just takes longer to bake, but soooo awesome!!!!!!!!

I followed the 65 minutes, the outside is well done but still awesome! Going to play with the time to get it perfect! Cant wait to try cupcakes!!!!

on

OMG, this cake recipe is soo good! Thanks to whoever came up with this! I have found alot of stackable cake recipes to be dry, but not this one, and it is just sweet enough without being too sweet! I will be using this in the future. I used duncan hines white cake mix, and doubled this recipe and got 2~10inch rounds and 2~6 inch rounds :)

on

Does this have to be refrigerated? For some reason last time I made a cake with sour cream (WASC CAKE) it molded after only a couple days...was it because it wasnt refrigerated? I am wanting to cover this in fondant, which I've seen other people posted of doing but it wont be able to be refrigerated then..lol I'm still kinda new to this :)

on

Don't know if you will see this message but hoping you do...I was wondering if you ever used this recipe to make the Red Velvet cake? if so how did it turn out? I'm needing to make a red velvet cake and I too love this recipe so hoping on some feed back. Thanks :)

on

I know this post is pretty old and hopefully someone can answer this question but how does this recipe compare to the Original WASC?  Does anyone know?

on

I’m trying this recipe as I’m texting .. my fist cake fell in the middle ... what did i do wrong ... i was baking it at 325 because i always bake cakes at 325 ... please help i have 3 more cakes to make