Well, my "recipe" depends on how you want to use the mix. If you want to actually make a yellow cake, I like this one. I got the recipe in a link from a site called "Community Chickens", LOL. Yup, it's about chickens, go figure. Anyway, it linked to a blog called "chickensintheroad", who had this recipe.

How to make Homemade Yellow Cake Mix:
(This is the standard size mix for recipes calling for an 18.25 ounce mix.)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and non-fat dry milk. Store in an airtight container or baggie. Keeps well in the pantry for months!

To replace in recipes calling for a standard-size 18.25 ounce store-bought yellow cake mix:

Use in any recipe calling for a yellow cake mix as a base (add 1 teaspoon vanilla to the recipe along with the cake mix as the recipe will assume vanilla was included in the store-bought mix).

Or to make a basic yellow cake, use the following instructions.

Cake mix directions:.

1 recipe Homemade Yellow Cake Mix
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs

Place Homemade Yellow Cake Mix in a bowl. Add water, vanilla, butter, and eggs. Combine with an electric mixer then beat two more minutes. Pour into a greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350-degrees, using these baking times (watch carefully as your oven may vary��"test for doneness using a toothpick):

8″ or 9″ cake rounds ��" 20-25 minutes
13 x 9 pan ��" 35-40 minutes
cupcakes ��" 12-15 minutes
tube/bundt pan ��" 45-50 minutes

Don’t overbake! You’ll dry out your cake.

NOTE: If you don’t like using dry milk in your cakes, you can always leave the dry milk out of the mix. When making the cake, replace the water in the recipe with milk.

If you're using it for topping, etc., one with added fat would probably work better, like this one:

Yellow Cake "Master Mix"

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 scant teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter

Thoroughly combine dry ingredients together. Cut the butter into small pieces throughout the flour. Using a pastry cutter or food processor, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is thoroughly incorporated (very small pieces, like sand).

To make this into two 8 inch layers, use the entire recipe of Master Mix and add:

2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8" round cake pans OR one 13" x 9" cake pan with nonstick baking spray containing flour and set aside.

Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Make a well in center of mix and add vanilla, oil, eggs, and milk. Beat mixture 1 minute with electric mixer at low speed until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and beat 2 minutes longer at medium speed until batter is smooth.

Pour into prepared pans and bake the layer cakes at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until cake springs back when pressed lightly in center and begins to pull away from edges of pan. Bake the 9" x 13" cake for 25-35 minutes until the cake tests done.

The "Master Mix" can be made in larger quantities, but must be refrigerated, whereas the first recipe can just be kept in the pantry without spoiling or becoming rancid.

Have fun!

Annie

Thanks Annie

Went with the first one and it was just fine. It was for a 7-up cake I am dropping off for dinner tonight so while I haven'y tasted it, it came out of my Bundt pan perfectly.

Ilana, you are so welcome. I just cannot bring myself to buy a cake mix, I don't like the texture or the chemical flavor and it's just too darned easy to make one from scratch.

When the girls were home I made biscuit mix, brownie mix, pancake mix, they just stirred them up. Now I don't use much of any of those things, so I just bake from scratch mostly.

Annie

annie - thank you for posting. I've never thought about making a cake mix, but it seems very sensible. I have a whole grain pancake mix recipe from King Arthur's which I like a lot. I make big batches of it and store it in the freezer. It means DH can make pancakes when he's in the mood. They're just about as good as making from scratch. I'm going to give your cake mix a try.

I haven't ever bought a cake mix, but I've eaten cakes made with them. The chemicals bother me and they have such strange texture.

Cheryl

Cheryl, I'm glad I'm not the only one with that texture issue, plus, even on sale, they're expensive and you still have to add oil and eggs.

I like the old fashioned homemade cakes, a little heavier or denser than cake mix cakes. My youngest daughter Ashley loves cake mix cakes, though, says they're fluffier.

So what I dislike about cake mixes is the thing she likes, go figure.

I don't really buy any box mixes at all, the preservatives leave an odd metallic flavor in my mouth plus it's cheaper and easier to just make them or make the item from scratch. Other people say I'm crazy but the doc says I'm not, so I'm going with his opinion, LOL.

I got an advertisement from King Arthur last week, for popover mix. It was over $10 plus shipping for 3 bags of mix and you still had to add eggs. I just had to check the ingredient list. Sure enough, they are selling flour and non-fat dry milk. Popovers take about 2 minutes to put together, I can't see that the mix is even saving any time.

Annie

This doesn't answer your question but I usually cook without a recipe so I don't like all the measuring I have to do when baking.

My solution is that most times when I'm baking something with lots of measured ingredients like the spices in our favorite fruit and nut cake or molasses cookies, I make three of them. I measure the dry ingredients including leavening into two plastic bags in addition to the bowl for the one I'm making for that day.

I end up with a pile of mixes like this in a lidded plastic storage container. Then I can just grab one and make it in a few minutes.

Annie - tell your daughter to separate her eggs and whip the whites with about 1/2 the sugar until they're like a meringue, and then fold them into the rest of the batter at the last minute.

There's no way a box mix, with all its horrible flavors and artificial aromas can compare. She'll get a light and fluffy cake and it will actually taste good. She can also lighten up on the liquid and add another egg, again separating and adding to the fluffy meringue.

Rose, trust me, I've told her. I've showed her. I've given her detailed instructions. She just likes cake mix cakes.

Of course, she also loves Velveeta Shells and Cheese and eats Cream of Mushroom soup cold right out of the can. Ugh. I swear, sometimes, she cannot be related to me.

And she grew up eating my cakes made from scratch. Hmmmm. Maybe my cake isn't as good as I've been told, LOL.

Annie