In this day, age, and economy, who has time to be making freshly baked goods from scratch whenever you want a little treat? Instead, we support going the semi-homemade route by doing things like making boxed cake mix taste homemade with unique ingredients. One easy way of upping the quality of your cake is super simple: just add fruit. Specifically, grab yourself some bananas and toss them right in for a great tropical flavor addition that will make your cake richer and more moist.
You’re going to want to mash your bananas up and add it into your boxed cake mix along with the other wet ingredients. The intensity of your mashing depends on personal preference, but the more light-handed you are, the bigger the banana chunks will be in your final dessert. If you don’t want any banana chunks at all, just plop those bananas into a blender and mix until pureed. Bananas aren’t just good for the flavor, either. You can also use bananas to replace some of the fats in a baking recipe, like the additional oil or butter that a boxed cake mix usually requires. You can substitute ¾ cup of mashed bananas per every cup of oil in baked goods to get the same tender crumb at the end.
The best boxed cake mixes to add bananas to
As far as banana and cake combos go, you have a lot of options at hand. You really can’t go wrong with a plain vanilla (or white) cake base. Banana goes well with the simple and clean flavor profile of vanilla, and you’ll definitely want to keep that banana taste in mind since it’s going to come through in your final product. A yellow cake mix works fine for the same reasons. But if you’re really feeling like getting decadent, grab a boxed cake mix with chocolate or caramel. Banana still goes wonderfully with both, but the flavor is richer and heavier, making it feel like a more robust dessert. Try topping the cake with banana slices and whipped cream, too.
To level up your banana cake even further, upgrade your boxed cake mix with these simple ingredient swaps and hacks along the way, like replacing the water with milk for a more decadent experience. You can also try out the water swap that makes box mix cakes extra fluffy if you’re really feeling fancy. Just a few of these swaps and the addition of banana will take your boxed cake mix from drab to fantastic, and all you need is a little fruit to get the job done.
