If I'm making the basic cake (white, yellow, chocolate, etc.) I always sift the powder mix first. I use applesauce instead of oil and I always add vanilla no matter what flavor cake I'm making. If I use the whole egg (I usually use the whites only), I beat the whites separately from the yolk before adding anything else. I've been told that my cakes have the texture of wedding cakes. Now as for variations I have added peanut butter and chocolate (a personal favorite) to a white cake, sour cream to a chocolate cake, strawberries to a white cake (omit water) and I am currently making pumpkin bars from a spice cake mix (which led me to your site because I was looking for a way to turn a white cake into a spice cake so I can double it). Use four eggs instead of three, add a can of pumpkin and a quarter of a cup of applesauce (or oil if you prefer), omit water. Bake as directed on the box.

Oh, Archie, you're too funny! The ones in our respective tummies were "perfectly good!" (g) Annie, no bake sale this time! I had them packaged up for our electrician and his son (his apprentice electrician) as I always try to make goodies for them so they got one box each, and for our friends who are in the process of moving into their first house (we're returning their round loc-n-loc container with muffins inside) --we've been helping out with moving by providing our pick-up truck but no "muscles." The five on the plate got sent to a member of hubby's darts team who had a recent surgery. The box was labeled with the fellow's name and "plus team" on it, but when hubby came home from the darts game, he told me that the (post surgery) fellow did not share & took them home with him! :O) You're so right about goodies like this not lasting very long in the freezer. Freezing is certainly not a deterrent! All in all, it was a really good, quick, easy recipe! Smiles, Sooz

Ok Rum cake turned out wonderful as always Bacardi Rum Cake 1 yellow cake mix with pudding in the mix 3 eggs 1/2 cup water 1/3 cup oil 1/2 cup rum ( light or dark) Mix pour into greased and floured bundt pan bake 1 hour 325 Glaze 1 stick butter (1/4 cup ) 1/4 cup water 1 cup sugar Bring to a boil, boil 5 minutes while stirring take off heat. Add rum 1/2 cup rum Pour over cake while warm and still in the pan wait 30 minutes turn onto serving plate. Patty

Some of the more popular cake mixes were downsized in 2012. However, home bakers, and professional cake decorators, have been 'extending' cake mixes for many years. I learned about cake 'extenders' through MBN's publications, about 30 years ago (when I was new to cake decorating), so, of course, I'm sure the practice goes beyond that. Then back in the 90s, cake mixes were resurrected, so to speak, by the author of 'The Cake Mix Doctor,' whose cookbooks, and line of cake mixes, are being actively hawked on her website today. Incidentally, her cake mixes weigh 18.25 ounces and eschew the use of vanillin, and other fake stuff; I'll probably never try them, or any other mixes on the market, for that matter -- blame it on sensitive taste buds. Regardless, I won't repudiate her product. Sister has built a successful business, and I'm all for that ☺ Sol