This moist and delicious White Cake (doctored box mix) recipe has a wonderful flavor and fluffy texture, making it PERFECT for both cakes and cupcakes.
We have quite a few fabulous doctored cake mix recipes on our site, which have all of the convenience of using a standard cake mix recipe, but with a few extras that make ALL the difference in flavor and texture.
I hope to one day have a scratch version and doctored cake mix version for each of our cake recipes. We’re off to a good start!
This particular recipe has a “secret” ingredient. Nobody would ever guess, but a dollop of mayonnaise (2 tablespoons if we’re being exact) lends an unmistakable boost of moisture to this cake!
I promise that you cannot taste it, but that added bit of fat really does make a difference! It’ll be our little secret.
White Cake (Doctored Cake Mix)
Ingredients
- 1 box White Cake Mix ( I use Duncan Hines 15.25 oz. cake mix)
- Ingredients as listed on the box (water, eggs, and oil)
- 5 Tablespoons all purpose flour (34g)
- 2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise (We use Hellman's (full fat) )
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon almond (or imitation almond) extract (optional)
Directions
- Sift cake mix into mixing bowl. (Sifting improves the texture)
- Add ingredients according to box instructions
- Add vanilla, almond, flour and mayonnaise
- Mix all ingredients for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Leftover batter can be refrigerated for up to one day.
- Pour into 2 greased and floured 8" pans and bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs
- *Also works well for cupcakes! For cupcakes, bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
I have another secret for a super moist cake that I want to share with you. I do this step whenever possible for both scratch cakes as well as doctored cake mix recipes.
After removing your cakes from the oven, allow them to cool for ten minutes or so and then while the cakes are still warm, wrap them with a layer of plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and place into the freezer.
(We often place the cake layers on aluminum-foil wrapped cake boards for stability so that we don’t have to worry about them becoming misshapen.)
Whether you freeze your cakes for a few hours, or a few months, I guarantee that they will taste ultra moist. They key is wrapping them while warm, so that the steam/moisture becomes trapped and works it’s magic!
*The “fluffy factor” of this White Cake recipe makes it less than ideal for covering with fondant. It could *possibly* work if the filled, unfrosted cake is fully settled for several hours and covered with a sturdy base coat of ganache frosting…but I wouldn’t recommend it. The softer the cake, the more likely it is to settle, and the added weight of the fondant makes it even more likely to bulge.
This is my preferred doctored cake mix recipe for white cupcakes since they bake up nice and fluffy. However, for layer cakes, I also love this White Almond Sour Cream Cake recipe which is a bit denser! It is also a great choice if covering a cake with fondant.
Also, make sure to check out our Chocolate version of this doctored cake mix recipe! This doctored chocolate cake is fluffy, moist, and deliciously chocolatey! Again, a favorite of mine for doctored cake mix cupcakes! Chocolate Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe.
Thank you for stopping by! Now that you have an amazing doctored White Cake recipe, you’ll need a fabulous frosting! We have SO many frosting recipes in our Frosting section, but for a great go-to Vanilla Frosting recipe, I highly recommend our Classic Vanilla Buttercream recipe!
**Don’t miss our full collection of favorite tried and true recipes for cakes, frostings, and fillings in our Recipes Section! If you enjoy simple, free step by step cake & cupcake tutorials, we’d love for you to check out our Free Tutorials Section.
Finally, if you are interested in having full online access to our entire video tutorial section, you should consider becoming a member of My Cake School! Find out all of the details here: Membership Info for MyCakeSchool.com
Can you leave out the almond extract?
Yes, it is fine to leave out the almond extract.
Thank you for updating this recipe recently to show the size of the cake mix you were using. I’m assuming you add the 5 TB of flour to it to bring it close to the original 18 oz size. Instead of adding the 5 TB of flour to this recipe would it be ok to just add 5TB of another cake mix? Or would it be better to stick with flour? TIA
Hi Tina, I have read that some bakers use additional cake mix to increase the weight. Anne Byrn author of The Cake Mix Doctor uses flour, so that was my reason choosing that, plus I always have flour:)
Hi Melissa,
I have an order for a very moist vanilla cake so i was planning to use this recipe as I suppose this is the moistest white cake . I have to cover the cake with fondant but it’ll be only one tier, a normal two layer cake. Do you think it’ll be okay. I have to bake it in a 10 inch pan so should I double the recipe. Il be using Betty Crocker.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Urooj, this is a very moist, soft cake and so it’s not ideal to cover with fondant as it may settle/bulge a bit under the added weight. My favorite cake mix cake for covering in fondant is our White Almond Sour Cream cake recipe (you can leave out the almond if you’d like).
You can see Wilton’s chart for serving and batter info– but 6 cups is the approximate recommended amount per layer for a 10 inch, two layer cake. Straight box mixes (since they’ve downsized over the years) make approximately 4.5 cups of batter….but our doctored White Almond Sour Cream Cake recipe makes approximately 7 cups and so doubling the recipe would work well for a two layer 10 inch cake.
Here’s a link to Wilton’s chart: link to wilton.com
Thank you Melissa for always replying ❤️
When I first subscribed, you had a different white doctored cake mix which I’ve been really happy with. I don’t see it any longer on your site and wondered why you took it off. It actually makes much more batter than these other recipes so I can actually make a 3-layer cake with the one recipe. How do you go about increasing the batter to make 3 – 8″ cakes instead of 2 – 8″ cakes? Just wondering if there’s a formula for this. Thanks. Love your site! Niki
NOo Eggs fr this recipe?/!!?
Hi Rosa, Yes, there are eggs. Follow the directions on the back of the cake mix box then add other listed ingredients. Melissa list this just below the list of ingredients. Hope you like it.
does this work the same with yellow cake mix?
I don’t have white but these look like the perfect texture i am looking
Hi Coco, Yes, you can use a yellow cake mix for this recipe.
I plan on doing a small tiered cake, 9″ bottom and 7″ top layer; just buttercream and using bubble tea straws for supporting my top layer and board. Is this recipe too soft to use?
Hi Tina, Yes, it will be fine to use this recipe for your tiered cake.
Thank you!!
So soft, fluffy, bouncy, jiggly. Moves a lot, not dense at all. I used two 6″ by 2″ deep cake pans and the cake was almost overflowing but just barely stayed in the pan.