Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix Recipe - The Creek Line House (2024)

February 19, 2024 by Courtenay Hartford 5 Comments

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This homemade chocolate cake mix recipe can be made to replace a cake mix when you need one for a recipe, or you can multiply it to make a big batch so you’ll have it on hand so you can make chocolate cake in a snap.

I shared a basic homemade cake mix recipe that you can use to make a white cake, vanilla cake, or a yellow cake batter a few years ago, but I realized recently that I’ve never shared a recipe for a chocolate cake recipe version. This is the best yummy cake mix for my easy three ingredient chocolate zucchini cake and it also bakes a frosted layer-cake, cakes in a bundt pan, dump cake, or for making cupcakes with chocolate frosting. You can use this homemade chocolate cake mix recipe to make an easy cake to decorate for a party, or you can use it to replace a chocolate cake mix in any recipe that calls for a baking mix.

The great thing about making your own baking mixes is that you get the convenience of boxed cake mixes, but you can add in the types of high-quality baking ingredients that you would normally use for baking, and you can leave out all the not-so-good additives that you sometimes find in boxed cake mixes. If you consider yourself to be a good baker and don’t love the idea of using store-bought powdered cake mixes, but do love the idea of the convenience, you’ll think this fluffy recipe is just the best chocolate cake mix.

Ingredients Needed for the Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix Recipe

You’ll need:

Sugar (extra fine or regular granulated sugar)
Flour (all-purpose, whole-wheat, or spelt work well)
Your favourite cocoa powder
Baking powder
Salt

That’s it! Pretty basic, but so convenient and nice to have around.

Using the Chocolate Cake Mix

You really can use this for any recipe you can find that calls for a cake mix, as well as regular cake recipes and there are so many of them floating around the internet now. These chocolate cake mix pudding cookies that I shared a few years ago are always crowd pleasers! The next thing I’d like to try making with this cake mix is a batch of decadent, dense chocolatey fudge brownies.

If you want to just use the mix for a regular cake, that’s fine too! For that you’ll need:

Full Printable Recipe for the Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix

3 from 2 votes

Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix

Prep Time

5 mins

Courtenay Hartford

Author at The Creek Line House | Website | + posts

Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.

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FAQs

Add Milk, Coffee, or Soda

Boxed cakes often call for water, but swapping it out for equal amounts of milk, coffee, or even soda will give you a moister, more tender, and flavorful cake.

Scratch cakes have a distinctively different crumb and mouth-feel from box mixes because box mixes contain ingredients like emulsifiers that are not readily available to the home cook.

Enrich with fat.

Mix in room-temperature cream cheese, ricotta, sour cream, whole-fat yogurt, or peanut butter in addition to the fat called for on the box to yield even richer cakes.

Enhance With Extracts

Pure vanilla extract and pure almond extract are great options, but you could also try lemon extract or orange extract paired with fresh citrus zest. Although more expensive, vanilla bean paste or fresh vanilla beans will provide even richer flavor to a boxed mix.

The box mix is about $1.50 cheaper and requires less effort, energy, and attention.

Yes, sour cream can be added to cake mix as an ingredient to add moisture and flavor to the cake. It is often used as a substitute for buttermilk or yogurt in cake recipes. The ratio of sour cream to cake mix will vary depending on the recipe, but a common ratio is 1 cup of sour cream to 1 box of cake mix.

Use milk instead of water

Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.

Replace water with milk for more flavor and moisture. Replace the oil with melted butter for more flavor. For chocolate cakes, try replacing the water with cooled coffee. The coffee intensifies the chocolate flavor.

Martina says, “Late in the mixing stage, eggs will incorporate better if you lightly beat them before adding to the batter. The finished cake may be slightly shorter than expected, but its flavor and tenderness shouldn't be affected.” For egg-leavened cakes, the eggs are crucial.

Put some pudding in the mix: Add a small box of pudding mix in with the cake mix. (Don't make the pudding.) The mix adds additional flavor, moistness, and a denser texture.

Instead of using water, substitute whole milk or your favorite non-dairy milk (almond, oat, and coconut milk work especially well). The milk adds fat, which results in a better flavor and density in your cake. If you want to make your cake extra rich, swap out the milk for buttermilk.

Coconut Milk-Replace the liquids it calls for with full fat coconut milk. Coffee-For a chocolate cake mix or yellow cake mix, replace the liquid with brewed coffee. Soda-To amplify the flavor replace the liquid amount with a dark soda such as coca-cola or dr.

Most cake mixes call for oil, but butter will bring in amazing flavor. To substitute butter for oil in baking just melt the butter, measure it, let it cool, and add it as you would the oil. Compared to oil, butter will create a cake with a firmer, cakeier texture.