Almost Scratch Cake

Alright, *almost* is a bit of a stretch. It's mostly a box cake with stuff added in to make it even better. Some bakers scoff at box mixes, think it's sacrilege and only bake from scratch. I'm a whatever-works-for-you kinda baker and sometimes it's just easier to whip out a box.

These days I mostly bake from scratch as I'm trying to find some really good recipes, but I used this recipe all the time when I was focussing on cake decorating. I really like this recipe because it makes the box mixes a little more dense and super moist. This recipe is GREAT for a cake that will be decorated, stacked, etc. as the cakes have really good structural integrity.

ALMOST SCRATCH CAKE
Yield: Two 8" cake rounds

    1 box     yellow/white cake mix*
    1 cup     all-purpose flour
    1 cup     sugar
    ½ tsp     salt
          3      eggs
1⅓ cup     water
  2 tbsp     vegetable oil
   1 cup      sour cream (250g carton)
    2 tsp      vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325°F
2. Grease two 8" cake rounds, line with parchment. Wrap cake rounds with damp Bake Even strips.
3. Combine all dry ingredients and whisk together.
4. Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.
• I use my KitchenAid on low for 2 minutes but you can also do this by hand.
5. Divide the batter between the pans and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

*I use French Vanilla, but you can use any yellow/white cake mix for this. I haven't tried with other kinds, but I imagine it would yield similar, delicious results.

I used this recipe for my post on Flat Top Cakes, so you can take a look at the results there!.

Happy Baking!