What To Do With A Cake That Has Fallen Apart

Molly Allen is a previous bakery owner and freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience focused on food and beverage, lifestyle, travel and parties. Her work has been published in Taste of Home, HuffPost, and Brides, among others. When she’s not writing or baking, she can be found hiking or paddleboarding near Hood River, Oregon, where she calls home.

While baking a cake from scratch will produce delicious results, it’s not the only option for making dessert. Cake mixes are ideal if you’re short on time, missing certain ingredients for a recipe, or simply want an easier method for baking a cake. The only issue? Cake mixes often have a very specific flavor to them.

How do you spruce up a cake mix to make it taste homemade? There are several ways to swap ingredients, add mix-ins, or switch up its structure to make your dessert that much better. Try just one swap or incorporate multiple tricks for the best tasting cake.

The Perfect Birthday Cake

Most boxed cake mixes call for an ingredients list of eggs, oil, and water. Many homemade cakes, however, are made with butter. Melted butter will enhance the flavor of your cake, while providing a moist, tender crumb. Swap the amount called for on the cake mix box with the same amount of melted unsalted butter.

Cake mixes are developed for quick and easy baking. Calling for water on the ingredients list makes them convenient and approachable. Adding a liquid with a higher fat content though will make your mix taste just like it was made from scratch. Use the same amount of milk in place for water, or try buttermilk to add a touch of tang and create a fluffy crumb.

Cake mixes typically incorporate artificial flavorings, which play a role in that distinct cake mix taste. Add one to two teaspoons of a pure extract to make it taste like a from-scratch cake. Pure vanilla extract and pure almond extract are great options, but you could also try lemon extract or orange extract paired with fresh citrus zest.

How To Tell When Cake Is Done

Want a wonderfully moist, tender cake? Cake mixes don’t always provide that texture on their own. When you’re adding the wet ingredients to the dry, mix in two tablespoons of sour cream or mayonnaise.

Hoping for something more than a plain cake? Your favorite carrot or hummingbird cake often has nuts mixed into the batter. Add in 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts before transferring the batter to your prepared cake pan. This is an excellent pairing for a white, yellow, or spice cake mix.

While it sometimes requires a long list of ingredients to bake a cake from scratch, making homemade frosting requires far less. Instead of reaching for canned frosting, mix up your own buttercream or cream cheese frosting to elevate the flavor of your cake.

How To Store Cake Like A Pro

Hoping to serve an elaborate dessert for your company visiting? Utilize a box mix as the base. Bake two or three 8-inch cake rounds, and prep a homemade filling and frosting to put it all together! Homemade lemon curd or a whipped ganache filling is sure to impress.

Did you grow up with poke cakes served after dinner? Dish up this classic, but use your cake mix as the base. Bake the cake and let it cool. Then, use a wooden pick to poke holes all over the top. Mix your favorite pudding, pour it over the cake, and then add homemade frosting. It will enhance the flavor tenfold and bring back nostalgic memories!

We Blind Taste-Tested Boxed White Cake Mixes, And We Have a Winner Yellow Cake with Malted Chocolate Buttercream The Biggest Mistake Not To Make When Baking A Dump Cake Lemon Cake with Lemon-Thyme Frosting White Cake with Berry-Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Mini Confetti Cake Recipe Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting The Lessons We Can Still Learn From The Cake Mix Doctor

Cakes For Kids

Pumpkin Dump Cake Cheerwine Cherry Cupcakes with Cherry-Swirl Frosting German Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe Confetti Cake with Vanilla-Sour Cream Frosting Strawberry Dump Cake Caramel Apple Dump Cake Pineapple Upside-Down Dump Cake The Secret Ingredient I Always Add To Boxed Cake Mix

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.Like with most foods, cakes and cupcakes are at their peak of quality when they're fresh. That means serving them the day they were baked is always your best option.

But sometimes you have no choice but to bake (or buy) a cake in advance of when you plan to serve and eat it. Or maybe you have leftover cake that you can't finish on the first day. Either way, you need to know how to store it to make sure it stays fresh for as long as possible. 

How To Build A Cake Like A Pro

Your friend. If you're accustomed to operating as if anything stored in the fridge will automatically last longer, this idea might take some getting used to. But the fact is, refrigerating cake actually makes it go stale

This has to do with the way the starch molecules in the flour absorb water when the batter is baked, and then afterward, starting as soon as the cake starts to cool, those molecules recrystallize, or harden, forcing the water out and to the surface of the cake, where it evaporates. In brief, refrigerating a cake causes this process to occur significantly faster than at room temperature. So, don't refrigerate your cakes.

If you're planning to eat your cake within three days of when it was baked, the best thing to do is keep it at room temperature. This means on the counter, away from heat, and out of direct sunlight. If your cake is in a bakery box, you can leave it in the box, and if you're planning to eat it within 24 hours, that's all you really need to do. 

How To Cool Down A Cake Before Icing

If you're thinking of holding your cake for longer than that, you can leave it in the box and wrap the box with plastic wrap, which will keep the cake from drying out for up to three days.

If your cake isn't in a box, an acrylic cake lid will come in handy. It's simply a hard, clear dome with a handle that goes over the cake. Just set your cake on a plate, cover it with the lid and store it on the counter for up to three days. You can drape a kitchen towel over the dome to keep the sunlight off it.

Another great option is the plastic cake storage container, which is a two-piece affair consisting of a tray that the cake rests on and a domed top that fits over it and snaps shut, creating an airtight seal. They're also great for transporting cakes and are available to fit round layer cakes as well as square or rectangular sheet cakes. You can also find containers with shelves for storing cupcakes and even bundt-shaped ones. 

Cake Ideas: 36 Quirky And Unique Cakes And Bakes For Special Occasions

If you need to store your cake for longer than three days, you can freeze it. Unlike storing it in the refrigerator, freezing a cake is actually a wonderful way to keep it fresh, particularly for longer periods. This will work for both unfrosted and fully frosted cakes.

If your cake is in a bakery box, simply wrap the box in two layers of plastic wrap and store it in the freezer just like that. You can also freeze a cake, frosting and all, in one of the snap-tight storage containers we just mentioned. 

When you're ready to serve, just remove the cake from the freezer and let it thaw on the counter. The frosting might be slightly tired-looking, but overall, the cake will be better than if you refrigerated it, or left it on the counter for longer than three days.

Tips For Making Your Cake Taste—and Look—way Better

If you've baked a cake and want to store it for a few days before frosting and decorating it, the freezer is ideal. Simply cool the individual layers, then double wrap them in plastic and store them in the freezer, where they'll keep for several weeks, up to two to three months (although angel-food or chiffon cakes don't freeze well, so keep that in mind).

When you're ready to frost and decorate, take the layers out of the freezer and let them thaw on the counter, still in their plastic wrap, for 20 to 30 minutes. In fact, freezing layers like this, even overnight, makes frosting and decorating them much easier. They're easier to trim, and they don't shed as many crumbs into the frosting.

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your

Easyish Ways To Actually Make Your Cakes Look Professional