Transform Any Boxed Cake Mix Into a Homemade Marvel With This Decades-Old Trick

Difficulty: Novice
Time: 30 minutes
Cost: ~$8

Why You'll Like This (The Lost Art of Better Boxed Cakes)

There's a moment every baker lives for, when someone takes a bite and says, "Wait, this was from a box?" This decades-old upsize trick gets you there. The secret isn't fancy, it is about putting back what mixes used to have before the shrinking started. Boxed mixes have dropped from 18.25 ounces to the current 13.25 ounces, and with that came thinner batter, flatter layers, and ho-hum texture. Restore the balance and you get cakes that are moist, fluffy, and chocolaty, the kind that rise tall and stay that way. People will swear you baked all afternoon. You did not.