Cake Mix Upsize Recipe

Do you have any recipes that start with a cake mix?  I have one, and it's a family recipe and a family favorite.  The past several times I've made Chocolate Caramel Layer Bars, the consistency of the dough has been off.  I suspect it's because cake mixes have gotten smaller in the years since my mother in law shared the recipe with me.  The cake mixes that I currently have in my cupboard* weigh 15.25 ounces, while the standard cake mix when the recipe was written was 18.25 ounces.  Perhaps the missing three ounces of dry ingredients (about 1/6 of the mix!) is responsible for my not right recipe consistency.

I came across a cake mix upsizer recipe (and subsequently found the same recipe on many other websites), and decided to try it.  The problem (not an actual problem) was all of the recipes were written in bulk: quantities of six.  And I rarely need to use a cake mix for a recipe, so I rarely need to upsize my cake mix.  So I did the division for you, to make up the difference for one cake.  And now I'm sharing it here in case you rarely need to upsize a cake mix for a recipe, too.

Here ya go:

For most cakes:

(click here to print)

Add the following to your dry cake mix, then continue with your recipe.

• 3 T flour
• 2T + 2t granulated sugar
• 1/3t baking powder (overfill your 1/4t or underfill your 1/2t)
• a pinch of baking soda (1/24 of a teaspoon to be precise)

For chocolate cakes (including German chocolate and red velvet):

Add the following to your dry cake mix, then continue with your recipe.

• 2 T flour
• 2T + 2t granulated sugar
• 1 T baking cocoa
• 1/3t baking powder (overfill your 1/4t or underfill your 1/2t)
• a pinch of baking soda (1/24 of a teaspoon to be precise)

Remember, this upsizer is only for when you're making a recipe that starts with cake mix, not when you're making a cake with the cake mix--the instructions on the box are written to work with that size cake mix.

I hope y'all find this helpful--let me know if you try it!

* I have cake mixes in my cupboard, despite my general dislike of cake mix ingredients, because every now and then my husband will ask, randomly, if we have cake.  And we never randomly have cake.  But if we have cake mix in the cupboard, I can tell him that yes, we do have some-assembly-required cake.