When I was in high school, Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Frosting was my favorite. Red Velvet Cake is the current winner when I am looking to satisfy my sweet tooth.

This extra chocolatety cake with chocolate frosting prepared by one of Dave Ramsey’s staff members looks extremely scrumptious.

I plan to give it a try – maybe for Valentine’s Day. The double chocolate cake would be the perfect ending to a memorable dinner with your sweetheart…or sweathearts in my case since it will probably be a family dinner.

Of course I will substitute the shortening in the recipe for butter.

Here ya go.

Cake Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup shortening
• 4 eggs (at room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups of buttermilk

Icing Ingredients

• ½ cup butter (softened to room temperature)
• 1 3-oz package of cream cheese (soften to room temperature)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• Dash of salt
• 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of whole milk
• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate (1 oz. each) melted and cooled

Visit Dave Ramsey’s site for directions on how to prepare More than Enough Chocolate Cake and Icing.

The Big Top Cupcake includes 3 pieces: Top Mold, Bottom Mold, and Removable Insert. Approximately 6-1/2″ diameter x 7″H. Non-Stick, Dishwasher safe, Oven safe, Fridge/Freezer safe.

• Softened butter instead of vegetable oil
• Buttermilk instead of water
• A teaspoon of flavoring (ex. vanilla or almond flavoring if baking a yellow cake, lemon flavoring for a lemon cake, etc.)

The tips above are tried and true ways to doctor up a cake mix. I always frost my cakes with homemade frosting which definitely adds another layer of richness and great flavor to the cake. You can make frosting taste more like homemade by stirring in a teaspoon of vanilla or other flavorings. Sandra Lee gave this tip on an episode of the Food Network show Semi-homemade.

I’ve also come across other ways to dress up cake mix such as:

• Adding pudding mix before adding any liquid ingredients.
• Adding instant coffee mix to chocolate cake mix to enhance the chocolate flavor.

Do you have any tips for making cake mix taste homemade? If so, share them with others in the comments!

The stand came in handy for my daughter’s 2^nd birthday party.  I made vanilla cupcakes decorated with vanilla butter cream frosting in pastel green, pink, blue and yellow with sprinkles. I stuck a birthday candle shaped like the number “2″ on the top cupcake and it was too cute!

Individually decorated cupcakes are the perfect way to add a personal touch to parties. The twisting, towering design holds 23 cupcakes or muffins, is easy to assemble and collapses for convenient storage.

I really like this Wilton product because it is super easy to put together and take apart. I like to keep the pieces in a Ziploc plastic bag instead of storing the stand fully assembled in the kitchen cabinet.

Recipe from: More from Magnolia
by Allysa Torey, Photographs Zeva Oelbaum 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
5. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Note: Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes (depending on the size of your cupcake papers and muffin tins). If you would like to make a layer cake instead of cupcakes, divide the batter between two 9-inch round cake pans and bake the layers for 30-40 minutes.

Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix

That’s right, I use a cake mix to make my famous Red Velvet Cake. I make no apologies for it. In fact, most of my cakes are semi-homemade and baked using a mix.

To make my Red Velvet Cake taste homemade, I add the following ingredients:

• softened butter instead of oil
• buttermilk instead of water
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring

For even richer homemade taste, I top the Red Velvet Cake off with homemade Cream Cheese Frosting. For more ways to doctor up a cake mix, check out my post How to Make Cake Mix Taste Like Homemade.