One Cake Mix - Two Ways

Here's an interesting bit of info about boxed cake mixes: many of them can be prepared in ways that have nothing to do with the instructions on the package.  This blog post will give you two delightful recipes that can be whipped up in less than five minutes and that produce wonderful, tasty results.

Both of these two recipes use Duncan Hines Spice cake, which is easy to find in Loblaws, Metro, and Highland Farms.  I am certain that it is available in other stores as well.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

For this recipe you will need one box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix, and one can of pumpkin purée.  Make sure you purchase pumpkin purée NOT pumpkin pie filling.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F

Empty the box of cake mix into the bowl of your stand mixer (or into a bowl if you use a hand mixer).    If you purchased a small can of purée, empty the entire can into the bowl, and if you purchased the large can of purée, scoop out about half of it into the bowl and mix on medium speed until the mix is completely blended with the pumpkin.  

If you want to add any nuts or dried fruit to the mix do that now, and stir them into the batter.  

Spoon the batter into a prepared muffin tin, or use paper liners.

Place the muffin pan in the oven on the middle rack and set your timer for twenty minutes.  At the end of twenty minutes, check for done-ness using a toothpick.  If the toothpick comes out clean, your muffins are done.  If the toothpick does not come out clean, bake your muffins for another five minutes.

Spice Cake

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.

For this spice cake, you will need one box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix, and one can of ginger ale.  I used Canada Dry Ginger ale when I made the cake.  I imagine other brands of ginger ale would work just as well.

For this recipe you should not use a stand mixer or hand mixer - you will be mixing this cake by hand.

Empty the box of cake mix into a mixing bowl.  Open a can of ginger ale and pour it into the bowl.  Using a spoon or spatula, mix these two ingredients together until they are well blended.  

Prepare two 8"x8" cake pans and divide the batter between the two pans.  Place the pans onto the middle rack of your oven and set the timer for 25 minutes.  Test for done-ness at 25 minutes and cook it for five more minutes if the cakes are not done.  

Let the cakes cool in the pan for a five minutes, then put the pans on a rack to let the cakes cool completely.  

If you are going to put icing on the cake, wait until the cakes are completely cool before spreading icing on them.  I put plain vanilla icing on my cake and sprinkled toasted coconut on top.