Look, I love baking, but to me the best kind of baking is truly lazy. I don’t always have the time or patience to make a cake entirely from scratch. My secret? This 75-cent cake mix from Woolies.
The packet cake mix comes in three flavours – vanilla, chocolate and butter cake – and it’s usually found on the bottom shelf in the simplest of packaging. Nothing fancy here. All you have to do is add a couple of eggs, a bit of melted butter and some milk, give it a whizz with some electric beaters and whack it in the oven.
But the key to an impressive take on the 75-cent cake mix is in the glow up. The wonders of iso baking taught me to be creative in the kitchen and just give ideas a shot. It’s what you add that makes the magic. The options are endless, but here are my favourites so far.
By the way, don’t forget you can save on your next grocery shop with one of our Coles promo codes.
Banana Cake
This is the easiest hack ever, and a great way to use up overripe bananas. Just mash 1-2 bananas and add them to the cake mix. You can take your pick from any of the three flavours but the vanilla or butter cake varieties work best with the banana flavour imo. You can also add some choc chips if you’ve got them on hand.
Raspberry Bunt Cake
Now, this one I’ve done with both the butter cake and chocolate 75-cent cake mixes. Both came out a treat but the Butter Cake had a nicer texture. All you do is add some frozen raspberries to the base of a bunt cake pan and pour the cake mix over the top. When it’s cooked and you turn it out, the raspberries form a delightful topping. You could also try frozen blueberries or mixed berries.
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Cake
This was purely a boredom bake for me. I had time to kill and a curiosity to see if the flavours would work. You just take a packet of the chocolate cake mix, make it as per the instructions, pour it into a pan, then add dollops of peanut butter (I use the all-nuts, no added sugar type) and use a skewer to swirl it about. The distribution of peanut butter in my cake could have been better (it clumped together in parts) but the flavour was ace.
Lemon Syrup Cake
I’m lucky to have a cracking backyard with a whole collection of fruit trees. But when it came to the end of the lemon season I was in a mad rush to use them all up. So I gave making lemon syrup a crack. It’s pretty easy – you just pop lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and boil it until the sugar is all dissolved. When the cake is fresh out of the oven (I used the butter cake), poke holes in the top with a skewer or toothpicks, then pour the hot syrup over the top. Leave it to absorb and then serve with Greek yogurt or ice cream.
Marmalade & Choc Chip Cake
Ok, some more backyard bragging. I have an epic mandarin tree that I put to good use in winter by making my own marmalade. I end up with dozens and dozens of jars, so I’m always looking for ways to add some marmalade to recipes. And what do you know? It goes great with the 75-cent cake mix, along with some dark choc chips to balance out the sweetness. My marmalade also makes for an outstanding glazed ham. Just saying.
The Classic Swimming Pool Cake
This, friends, is the ultimate glow up of the 75-cent cake mix. You’re no doubt familiar with the glorious Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake book. Well, I used the butter cake as the base for the iconic swimming pool cake. Topped with blueberry jelly, Betty Crocker’s ready-made chocolate frosting and several packets of chocolate finger biscuits and voila!
You’ll never overlook the humble 75-cent cake mix again. Give it a whirl and tell us about your bespoke creation.
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