How To Make A Cheap And Tasty Chocolate Cake

When I was growing up my mother made everything from scratch, and I still like to do this from time to time. However, when I am busy, there is no problem with buying a simple cake mix and topping it with a store bought frosting. Some people will cringe at the idea of using a pre-packaged cake mix, but at least this is better, and cheaper, than buying a cake at the bakery. Also, you can always decorate and top the cake to make it look special, and perhaps someone who is into cake decorating would rather focus on that than making a cake from scratch.

Today I bought a cheap cake mix and frosting container at Walmart and I paid about just two dollars for both. Some people feel that more expensive name brand cake mixes and frosting taste better, but in my humble opinion I think they all taste the same. One time I even made a cake for friends who swore they would only eat the name brand varieties of cake mix with a generic variety, and they did not even notice the difference until I mentioned which brand I really used. So however you decide to spend your money is up to you, but I find I save a lot of money buying generic and on sale brands.

I enjoy making omelets several days a week, so I used a more expensive organic variety of brown eggs. However, this is what I had on hand so you can use anything you like. I try to use up all of the contents of my refrigerator before I go out and buy something new, which I find is a great way for planning small mini-shopping trips around what I already have on hand.

Sometimes I use non-fat dried milk to make the cake taste richer, but today I just used water like the recipe called for, but do not be afraid to use milk as it adds moisture to the cake. The final cake was a little bit more dry than the last one I made, so next time I will add milk where the recipe calls for water.

Lately I have been using soybean oil for baking cakes. However, I like to use different oils to enhance different recipes and dishes, such as using corn oil for frying corn chips, and using olive oil for making baba ganoush and pasta sauces. However, any type of oil can be used for baking. Another choice is the use applesauce if you want to cut the fat content of the cake.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until there are no more lumps. First I add the cake mix and then the oil and water. Finally, I crack one egg at a time and mix in each egg before adding another. A mixer can be used if you do not want to mix the cake by hand, but I find it is fun and a good work out for the arms to mix manually.

Pour the cake mix into a baking pan and preheat the oven at 350 F degrees before placing the pan in the oven. I usually preheat the oven before I begin mixing the cake, which helps the cake to bake more quickly. Turning the oven on when putting the cake in will require more time than if the oven is already preheated.

I made this short YouTube video showing how easy it is to frost a cake. However, I was not able to show much as it is hard to film myself frosting a cake, but this short video shows the basics behind frosting a cake. The most important thing to remember is to allow the cake to cool at least two hours before frosting, or the frosting will be absorbed into the cake.

Sometimes I put sprinkles on top of a cake to make it more festive, but today I decided to sprinkle cinnamon on top to give it a distinctive look. Also, sprinkling cinnamon on top of a chocolate cake gives the frosting a unique flavor, which is similar to that of Mexican hot chocolate. Use any supplies on hand to decorate the frosting, or just leave it plain. The choice is yours.

Simple cake mixes are not only tasty, but these make an easy and affordable gift for mother's day. You can buy some fancy frosting tips and create a beautiful cake for your mom, which she will enjoy. Have fun and happy cake baking.