Make a Cake Mix Taste Homemade

I wish I were a skilled baker. I most especially wish I were a skilled cake baker. Now don't get me wrong, I have constructed some decent cakes in the past. When my two oldest were younger I went all out making their cakes. However, they were not especially spectacularly baked.

I could construct and decorate a cake decently, but the cake baking itself was just eh, so-so.

Fast forward several cakes, a few parties, and realizing that we always had left over cake, and I eventually just stuck with making cupcakes for birthday parties.

Occasionally though, I still want to make a small birthday cake.

Like for Little's Robot Birthday Party, for example.

I shared the Robot Birthday Party details yesterday. This party came together in under a week. Basically, I was WAY behind, and I wanted the making of the cake to not take up too much time. So I scratched off making a birthday cake from scratch off my list...hehehe.

However, cake mixes from a box don't offer the density and structure that a good from scratch cake does.

Did you know that you can use a cake mix as your base and with just a few extra ingredients you can make it more like a homemade cake?

Well, you can.

Bam.

Mind blown!

I have actually tried a few recipes that claim to achieve this "from scratch" cake mix. I have been disappointed many times, not really getting the results I wanted.

I finally found the perfect recipe to create this Make a Cake Mix Taste Homemade. Perfect, I tell you.  Don't judge the recipe by my less-than-perfect decorating. The cake was great, and it all started with a regular old store bought cake mix.

Make a Cake Mix Taste Homemade
midget momma

1 box cake mix (I used vanilla)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
dash of salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the wet ingredients. Add in half of the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Then add in the rest of the dry ingredients and mix the batter for two minutes.

Pour the batter halfway up a prepared pan (or 2/3 full cupcake tins).

Bake at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the pan. Then, while keeping the oven door closed turn up the heat to 325 and cook for the same time.

Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a cake rack.

Now go on out and make yourself a not-so-from-scratch from scratch cake.

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Party Styling Contributor

You guys know I love a good party, right? I am always going from one party to ideas for the next. My head is always hoping with what I can do to throw the next fun party for my Little Men.

Well I am lucky enough to have been chosen to be the Party Styling Contributor for the awesome blog Blue Cricket Designs. She has gathered together a bunch of really talented girls, all gifted in different areas, to make one pretty fabulous team of contributors.

I am beyond excited to be a part of this blog and Becca's team. I have some parties coming up and I can't wait to share some of my ideas over there and of course right here too. Head on over to Blue Cricket Designs and check out the other contributors.

AND since I was in the party reflecting kind of mood I thought I would go over some of my past parties and the little addiction love that I have of birthday parties and entertaining. 

Superman Party

Puppy Party

Pirate Party....arrgggh.

A Little Carnival 1st Birthday

Wii Bowling Party

I also love myself a good creative party invite.

Robot Party Invites

Pirate Party Invites

Superman Party Invites

We can't forget the cakes, cupcakes, and goodies.

Dinosaur Party Cake

Robot Party Cake

Superman Party Cake

Golfing Party Cake

Little Carnival 1st Birthday Cake

Whew. I really do like a good party. I actually feel a little overwhelmed and a whole lot of pressure for this new contributor position. There are so many amazing parties out there and some pretty amazing women throwing these parties. Ulcer! BUT, I am excited to share some of my ideas and to be all legit with my new Party Styling title. Hahaha.

See ya tomorrow everyone. I am SUPER excited to show you my Pinterest project for A Pinteresting Saturday.

Superman Party: The Cake

This was by far not the hardest or most complicated cake I have made, but I have come to appreciate the awesomeness in simplicity. Middle LOVED his cake. He thought it was just about the most awesome, which made me happy.

I got the idea from this cake.

source 

My cake isn't as awesomely smooth and clean as my muse cake, but I was pretty impressed with myself in recreating the cake toppers in photoshop...no small feat for a techno-illiterate like myself. You can see I also chose to line the bottom of the cake with lemon heads, keeping the cake mostly monochromatic.

I got the recipe for this cake from my every-growing Pinterest recipe folder.

source 

The cake was pretty easy to make, setting aside the list of ingredients you need...9 egg whites...gasp...shock...The cake was good and dense. The frosting was delightful...but then again good frosting is always my favorite part of a cake.

I used yellow food coloring gel to dye the frosting to match our color theme. Add my cake toppers and the lemon heads and we had one pretty super cake perfect for our Super.

Add candles and it is all ready for wish makin'.

Slice up and dig in.

Enjoyed for sure.

Tomorrow I will share the recipe for the Jell-o cup you see in this photo. It was nearly as difficult as it seems.