All-Natural Homemade Yellow Cake Mix Recipe | Foodal (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret ingredient in cake mix? ›

The secret ingredient to making a moist cake is sour cream! That's right. Similar to milk, adding ½ cup of sour cream packs flavor into your box cake mix. It may sound a little crazy, but for the best results, use a full-fat sour cream...

Yellow cake doesn't get its golden hue from food dyes but from the vibrant color of egg yolks. This cake uses whole eggs rather than separated egg whites, which makes the cake rich and tender.

Because eggs help build the cake's structure (don't use them and you're looking at a gooey mess), adding an extra egg yolk makes the cake batter denser. Translation: you'll have a moister confection.

Yellow cake gets that cool yellow hue from egg yolks and butter. So what is the flavor of yellow cake? While yellow cake and white cake are both vanilla flavored, yellow cake tends to be much richer and moist because of the full eggs and butter combo.

Martina says, “Late in the mixing stage, eggs will incorporate better if you lightly beat them before adding to the batter. The finished cake may be slightly shorter than expected, but its flavor and tenderness shouldn't be affected.” For egg-leavened cakes, the eggs are crucial.

WHEAT STARCH, CANOLA OIL, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF: PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONO- AND DIESTERS, SALT, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, FRACTIONATED PALM OIL, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE CELLULOSE GUN, XANTHAN GUM, DEXTROSE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ASCORBIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, YELLOW 5 LAKE, RED 40 LAKE.

Enhance With Extracts

Pure vanilla extract and pure almond extract are great options, but you could also try lemon extract or orange extract paired with fresh citrus zest. Although more expensive, vanilla bean paste or fresh vanilla beans will provide even richer flavor to a boxed mix.

Use milk instead of water

Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.

The average cake mix calls for the most boring of liquids: water. Instead of using water, substitute whole milk or your favorite non-dairy milk (almond, oat, and coconut milk work especially well). The milk adds fat, which results in a better flavor and density in your cake.

Enriched Bleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Leavening (Baking Soda, Calcium Phosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate), Contains 2% Or Less Of: Canola Oil, Dextrose, Salt, Propylene Glycol Esters Of Fatty Acids, Corn Starch, Mono- and diglycerides, Artificial ...

Can you use milk instead of water in yellow cake mix? ›

To take any mix up a notch, anywhere water is called for, milk can generally be used in a 1:1 substitution. If your mix already calls for milk and you don't have it, another dairy product might do the trick, like half-and-half.

A small amount will be fine, but if you try to add enough to make it significantly chocolate flavored, you'll throw off both the wet/dry ratio and the acid chemistry of the mix, and probably end up with an unsatisfactory cake.

Enhance With Extracts

Pure vanilla extract and pure almond extract are great options, but you could also try lemon extract or orange extract paired with fresh citrus zest. Although more expensive, vanilla bean paste or fresh vanilla beans will provide even richer flavor to a boxed mix.

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

To get an extra rich and moist cake, stir in two extra egg yolks along with the eggs the recipe calls for. Add sugar and flour to the dry mix. Add 1/4- 1 cup sugar and flour to your cake mix. Use coffee instead of water for chocolate cakes.

Add vanilla extract or other flavorings: A simple way to add more flavor to a white cake is to add a teaspoon or two of pure vanilla extract to the batter. You can also try other flavorings like almond extract, lemon zest, or orange zest to enhance the taste.