Completely transform boxed cake mix with a sparkling ingredient
One of the advantages of boxed cake mixes is that they are quick to prepare and only require a few simple ingredients that you normally always have on hand. Typically, all you have to do is throw the packet of dry ingredients into a bowl with oil, eggs, and water and whisk them together. But if you want to make an improved boxed cake mix, you can make a simple modification to this process: replace the water the recipe calls for with club soda.
While this may seem like an odd substitution, it may be the key to making a lighter, fluffier cake with a more delicate crumb and chewier consistency. In addition to creating an airier dessert, soda also lends an extra boost of flavor to your treat. Whether it’s the earthy, sweet sassafras flavor of root beer or the hint of citrus from 7Up, it can take a boxed chocolate or vanilla cake from good to great.
Read more: Cake-Making Tips Every Baker Wishes They Knew Sooner
Why Adding Soda to Your Boxed Cake Mix Works
It’s not just happenstance that makes soda a more delicious dessert; the bubbles in your soda can help the cake rise by adding air bubbles to the mixture. At the same time, they interact with the leavening agents in the dry ingredients. In fact, you can actually make a two-ingredient soda cake, because that carbonation means you don’t even need the usual eggs in your mixture. However, simply swapping out the water and using soda as well as eggs can lead to an even moister, cakey dessert.
But it’s not just the carbonation in soda that enhances your treat. Soda often contains high-fructose corn syrup. This corn syrup helps brown your cake better and also adds moisture to the mixture. Plus, it gives your cake a hint of sweetness that can also make for a more flavorful boxed cake.
Many types of soda, like Sprite, contain citric acid. This ingredient adds acidity to your cake, balancing the pH and bringing out vanilla, lemon, chocolate, and other flavors. Citric acid also reacts with leavening agents, allowing your desserts to rise more. This helps give the light, airy texture that soda cakes are known for.
Choosing a Soda to Add to Your Cake
Before you pour a can of soda into your cake mix, it’s important to think about how the flavors of the drink and dessert will pair together. For example, a chocolate cake might benefit from the sweet and slightly spicy flavors of Dr. Pepper. While Dr. Pepper’s 23 flavors are a proprietary blend, there are notes of clove and nutmeg, which deepen the natural chocolate flavors in your cake. Another good choice for chocolate cake might be Coca-Cola. This drink has similar flavors of nutmeg and vanilla as well as cinnamon, which can also complement the cocoa in your dessert.
If you have a vanilla cake, this boxed mix can serve as a blank canvas. Use 7Up in your cake to transform it into a slightly lemony dessert, for example. You can also use a fruity flavor, like with a blood orange soda cake. You can also enhance the vanilla flavor by adding cream soda, which gives your dessert a little sweetness and a hint of caramel flavor. Or, if you want a light and fluffy dessert without any added flavor, you can use sparkling water as a substitute ingredient for your boxed cake mix. Get creative and come up with combinations of soda and cake mix that result in a delicious marriage of unique flavors.
Read the original article on The Daily Meal.
