Turn Boxed Cake Mix Into A Bakery-Level Dessert With Just 3 Easy Steps

Boxed cake mix often gets a bad rap, but sometimes the occasion calls for a celebratory treat and you don't have the time or energy to cover your kitchen in flour and measuring cups whipping up a cake from scratch. In that scenario, boxed cake mix comes in clutch. Even professional chefs have been known to use it, often with totally delicious results — the secret is knowing how to upgrade boxed cake mix like a pro. 

Chef Isaac Bernal, executive chef of the Representation of Spain to the United Nations, told The Takeout there are three simple, fundamental tweaks that can turn blah boxed cake mix into a bakery-level treat. "Over the years, I've tried a few tricks to upgrade boxed cake mix, and in most cases it really does make a difference," Bernal said. "Swapping the water for milk, using melted butter instead of oil, and adding an extra egg gives the cake a richer flavor and a softer, more tender crumb," he explained.

Replacing water with milk, swapping the oil for melted butter, and mixing in an extra egg are three of the easiest ways to level up almost any boxed cake mix (even the tragically discontinued boxed cake mix flavors). "I recommend these changes for most standard cake mixes, especially vanilla, chocolate, butter, or red velvet," Bernal said. The cherry on top? You might even be able to pass off your zhuzhed-up cake as homemade. These three simple steps "make the finished cake feel a little closer to something you'd make from scratch," Bernal noted. 

However, there is one exception to watch out for: "The only time I'd be a little more careful is with very light cakes, like angel food cake, where adding extra fat can change the texture it was formulated to achieve," Bernal warned (luckily, this old-school upgrade instantly transforms angel food cake).