12 Cake Mix Recipe Hacks

You’d never guess that these delicious recipes that I’m sharing with you today start out with a cake mix. There’s no shame in using a cake mix as the base of a great dessert. In fact, I’ve done it many times! Let’s take a few minutes today and talk about cake mix recipe hacks. 

Did you know that the word “hack” means to find a creative solution? Which is just what these recipes do! By using a cake mix to doctor up a recipe, we’re creating a solution to baking something delicious without all the work of baking from scratch. 

Box Cake Mix Hacks

One of the most used box cake mix hacks is to use the cake mix as an ingredient. These recipes add a few extra things to the batter to create a whole new dessert, or muffin, or quick bread or…I think you get where I’m going with this, right? 

Cake Mix Hacks

When you’re working with cake mix recipe hacks, what you’re really doing is adding a few extra ingredients to a boxed cake mix to create a different kind of cake than what’s featured on the front of the box.  

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Are Cake Mixes Smaller than they used to be? 

Have you noticed lately that boxed cake mixes have changed sizes? They used to be 18 ounces and then they dropped down to 16 ounces. The boxes I currently have sitting in my pantry are sized 15.25 ounces. 

How does this affect a recipe that calls for a cake mix?

• If preparing a cake from the cake mix, you may notice that a cake doesn’t rise as high as it used to.
• When making cupcakes from a cake mix, you may end up with one less cupcake. 

How do you Adjust a Recipe with a Smaller Box Cake Mix?

I did some research online and found that if the new sizes of boxed cake mix is affecting your recipes, you can easily add 3 to 6 tablespoons of yellow cake mix to the recipe. 

• Keep an extra box of yellow cake mix stored in a plastic container or one of my favorite mason jars. 
• Add 3 to 6 tablespoons of the yellow cake mix to ANY flavor boxed cake mix. It doesn’t matter if it’s a chocolate cake mix or a strawberry cake mix.
• Once everything is combined completely, it will be fine and you won’t be able to tell you added yellow cake mix to a chocolate cake mix. 

Easy Cake Mix Recipe Hacks

Let’s take what we’ve learned about cake mix hacks and turn a box of cake mix into a delicious recipe:

• Strawberry Bundt Cake with Marshmallow Cream Filling – starts out easy with a cake mix but then is made even more delicious by adding a delicious marshmallow cream filling.
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Cupcakes – easy to make with a chocolate cake mix, but stuffed with a surprise peanut butter filling that tastes very similar to a Reese’s peanut butter cup. 
• Aunt Betty’s Pound Cake Recipe with Mixed Berry Compote – turn an ordinary pound cake recipe into a delicious dessert by spooning homemade mixed berry compote on top.
• Chocolate Brownie Cake – not one but TWO cake mixes make this decadent chocolate cake with Homemade Chocolate Ganache.
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
• Baked Chocolate Donuts with Sprinkles – yes, you can even bake donuts using a cake mix.
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars – this recipe is for bar cookies using a cake mix.
• Chocolate Chunk Muffins – a simple baking tip helps turn chocolate cake mix into a dense muffin filled with chocolate chips.
• Peanut Butter Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies
• Easy German Chocolate Cake – another cake mix recipe that’s enhanced by a homemade coconut icing.
• Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies
• Chocolate Sugar Crinkle Cookies

A Few More Recipes

• Peach Crunch Cake
• Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
• Apple Dump Cake – one of the most popular recipes on the blog! 
• Lemon Poke Cupcakes
• Marble Bundt Cake