Pretty much all I've been doing during quarantine is trying out new recipes and watching TikTok, so when I was scrolling on my phone and saw a hack for boxed cake mix, I was like YES PLEASE.
Karly Stoddard, a self-taught baker who runs a small local cupcake business out of her home in Oregon, learned a hack that makes cupcakes from a pre-mixed box EVEN BETTER. She then shared it on TikTok, where it's since gone viral.
Basically, the trick to making your $1 box of cake mix taste magical is using milk instead of water, (double) butter instead of oil, and using five eggs instead of three.
"All three ingredients really help to make it more rich, dense, and moist," Karly told BuzzFeed. "[The] big part is the fat from the milk and butter. The eggs help hold all that together and prevent crumbling! And, I mean, more butter is always better!!!!"
I happened to have a strawberry cake mix — it's the best flavor!!! — in my pantry, so I decided to try out the hack myself.*
I'm more of a cook than a baker so, uh, my first batch came out as what I will kindly refer to as my "big boys."
But for my second batch, I practiced self control and didn't put as much batter into the cupcake tins, and they came out perfectly!
I was a little skeptical that it would actually be better, but I gotta say, the cupcakes were fluffy yet dense and so, so yummy. They tasted luxurious! My friend — who picked some up while socially distancing — tried them and said they were definitely "elevated" cupcakes.
TL;DR: If you don't mind baking with lots of butter and you want something special, I *definitely* think this baking hack is worth it. It just makes the cupcakes way more decadent and satisfying. But hey, there's also nothing wrong with using the $1 box mix and calling it a day. Either way, you're eating a cupcake!
