Give Boxed Cake Mix A Fruity Twist With Fresh Juice

A cake made from a boxed mix can feel rather ho-hum, but with the easy substitution of juice, the cake can get a burst of fresh flavor. For decades, people have been making "homemade" cakes from mixes. Although originally created by P. Duff and Sons during the Great Depression in the United States to use up extra ingredients, other companies — including Pillsbury and Duncan Hines — got on board in the 1950s, and the popularity of boxed cake mixes has remained strong to this day.  In fact, in 2020, 186.18 million Americans used a mix to bake a cake. 

With so many people using the same mixes for chocolate, vanilla, or Funfetti cakes, why not make yours stand out from the crowd? Just imagine how a hint of orange could enhance a carrot cake and pineapple cake mix or how cherry could add a fun twist to a chocolate cake mix. So how do you accomplish this? The secret lies in adding one easy ingredient: fresh fruit juice.

Adding fruit juice to your boxed cake mixes is super simple; there's really just a few considerations to make. First, fresh ingredients are key when it comes to using fruit juice to enhance the flavor of a cake made from a mix. According to Duncan Hines, using canned juice may limit how much a cake rises because it contains methyl silicone so opt to squeeze fresh fruit if you can. 

If adding juice to a cake mix, there is no need to add water. Simply use the same measurement of juice that is listed in the directions for water. If swapping fruit juice for milk, also use the same amount of juice, but you may also want to add a teaspoon of olive, canola, or coconut oil if the milk to make up for the fat content the dairy would have added to the cake. Remember: the fat from milk or eggs helps to create a rich and moist batter.  

Our last bit of advice? If hand squeezing some fresh orange juice to be added to the cake, don't stop with just the juice. Zest the orange for even more flavor. Or use a combination of lemon and lime juices and zests for even more citrus flavor. With a little fresh fruit juice there is no reason why a cake from a mix shouldn't be anything other than spectacularly delightful.