a cake walk

Earlier this week I added a post about easy-to-make birthday cakes for kids.  Although I love to make cakes from scratch I don't always have the time.  And, let's be honest here, the box mix sure does taste good. Through a bit of experimentation I have come up with a few add-ins to the box mix to improve the taste, texture and fool most anyone to believing you might have done this all by yourself.

Chocolate Cake
box mix - Improved

1 box Devils Cake mix
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 cup sour cream, plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs
1.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake according to package instructions

If you don't have all the stuff above then just improvise.  If you add only the chips to the regular mix, it adds a deeper chocolate flavor.  The sour cream and/or the pudding mix creates a richer flavor and denseness to the cake.  Since a box mix already has precise measurements of the required ingredients you can't go wrong by adding your own.  Just be careful of adding anything with juices such as pineapple as it may make the mix too runny.  Here are some other quick add-in ideas:

shaved or chopped chocolate bar
chopped Heath bar
peanut butter swirled into the batter just prior to baking (heat butter slightly to thin it out)
shredded coconut
chopped nuts
raisins (leave whole or chop finely)
chopped peanut butter cups
chopped peppermint patties

Although I may use a mix for my cake I always make a butter cream frosting from scratch.  I think it tastes better using real sweet cream butter and good quality vanilla.  I don't have a recipe so I use the one off of any powdered sugar bag and then whip up the ingredients adding more or less of whatever until I get the flavor and texture desired.