My Grandma's Best Cake Recipe Is Almost Too Easy (2024)
One of my very favorite cakes in existence isn't my favorite because of the nostalgic taste, the family history, or the uniquely irresistible flavor. Nope — it's how easy it is to make.
That was my grandma's secret. And perhaps it's why she made the cake so many, many times that it became her signature dessert.
My grandmother, who we called Omi, used to bake her famed Kahlúa cake for all her friends and relatives in Midland, Texas, and I would always look forward to a delightfully spongey slice when we came to visit. It wasn't until making the recipe on my own that I realized why her kitchen cranked out so many of these cakes. Sure it's homemade, but with not one, but two pre-made mixes involved, it feels almost like a hack.
My grandma passed the same habit on to my mom, who baked this one-bowl dessert for every sort of occasion. Whether it was a bake sale, teacher's gift, holiday party, or my mom's personal "thank you" to any family who invited me along on a lake trip, I can't count the number of times I was sent out of the house with this cake in my hands. She's even morphed the recipe into sheet-cake squares for easy party finger food.
The 3-Ingredient Appetizer My Dad's Been Making for Years
Everybody just loves this cake, and as for flavor and texture, there are a few reasons why it stands out.
It may look like an ordinary chocolate cake, but it isn't actually all that chocolaty. The rum-based Kahlúa liqueur adds a rich, buttery flavor with hints of coffee, cocoa, vanilla, roasted chestnut, and even orange peel. A tried-and-true twist is swapping in coffee for the water to add even more richness and depth to the flavor.
The cake itself isn't incredibly sweet, but it's finished with a light, sugary glaze that crackles with every forkful. Plus, it's painfully moist with a tender, almost airy crumb, making it feel light enough to take from tonight's dessert to tomorrow's breakfast (warning: this cake pairs dangerously well with a cup of coffee).
The Bundt pan makes for an effortlessly beautiful presentation, and whether you top it with the sweet glaze or just a dusting of confectioners' sugar, this cake is an absolute showstopper of a treat. And, gift wrapped in cellophane with a big gold bow like Omi used to do, it's the perfect holiday gift.
I'll admit — for a while, my promise to "send the recipe" was a bit deceptive. I wanted my trademark dessert to seem just as impressive as it tasted, but now, I'm done gatekeeping.
This cake has defied the seasons and the generations, and although it's no longer a family secret, it'll always be a family staple. So, now it's time for you to meet the cake that was just as fabulous as my Omi was.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a Bundt pan.
Beat together cake mix, pudding mix, water (or coffee), oil, eggs, 1/2 cup Kahlúa, and vodka in a large bowl until smooth and light, about 4 minutes.
Transfer the batter to the Bundt pan. Cook in the preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool, then flip out onto a plate or cake stand. Let sit 20 minutes before glazing.
Make the glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar, milk, and 1 tablespoon Kahlúa in a small bowl. Spoon over the crest of the cake and allow it to dip down the sides.
A Few Baking Tips
If baking on the bottom rack, make sure the top rack isn't too close to the top of the Bundt pan. It only takes one instance of the cake puffing up into the grates to learn from that mistake. When making the glaze, you want it a little thicker than you might expect — thick enough to take a minute or two to run down the sides. If it's too runny, it'll soak right into the cake instead of icing the top. It's also worth noting that that not all the alcohol will cook off during baking.
On their own, boxed cake mixes have a structure that's loose and airy. But if you add ¼ cup flour or half a box of instant pudding mix, the texture of the cake becomes denser and tighter, ideal for a pound-cake-like consistency that will hold the shape of a Bundt pan.
You need to incorporate as much air into the eggs as possible, as this is what levels the cake and will give you a light and fluffy sponge. Set a timer for 7 minutes and allow the electric mixer to do the work before adding any sugar. The eggs should triple in volume and look pale, thick and shiny.
Boxed cakes often call for water, but swapping it out for equal amounts of milk, coffee, or even soda will give you a moister, more tender, and flavorful cake. For white cake mix, you can use whole milk or your favorite non-dairy milk.
Oh yes, you sure can. This recipe has a combination of butter and oil to give off that nice buttery taste while keeping it soft and moist at the same time. Cake using pure butter tends to be more dense and dry compared to adding oil into the batter.
Six common baking-fails, and how they can be prevented. Your cake is too dense A cake that is overly dense typically has too much liquid, too much sugar or too little leavening (not excess flour, as is commonly thought).
Boxed cake mixes tend to be lighter in consistency, but if you're craving that thicker, moister, denser cake, then all you have to do is add an extra egg to your mix. The additional fat in the egg yolk helps create a more tender and moist cake that is full of flavor.
Most cakes begin with creaming butter and sugar together. Butter is capable of holding air and the creaming process is when butter traps that air. While baking, that trapped air expands and produces a fluffy cake. No properly creamed butter = no air = no fluffiness.
Leavening agents, such as baking powder and baking soda, play a crucial role in making cakes rise and achieve a fluffy texture. These agents produce carbon dioxide gas when combined with liquid and heat, creating air pockets that lighten the batter.
Check expiry dates on your ingredients and use only fresh baking soda and powder. If the oven temperature is too low, it will take longer for your cake to set which may cause the centre to collapse as it cools, leading to a dense final product.
Martina says, “Late in the mixing stage, eggs will incorporate better if you lightly beat them before adding to the batter. The finished cake may be slightly shorter than expected, but its flavor and tenderness shouldn't be affected.” For egg-leavened cakes, the eggs are crucial.
Add an extra egg to box mix for a luxurious upgrade
The addition of an egg allows the cake to hold onto some liquid that is lost to evaporation during the baking process, resulting in a moister final product. Plus, egg yolks introduce fat, and fat equals flavor.
Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.
The texture of cakes made with oil is—in general—superior to the texture of cakes made with butter. Oil cakes tend to bake up loftier with a more even crumb and stay moist and tender far longer than cakes made with butter. So why do most cake recipes start with butter? Flavor.
Canola oil is, without doubt, one of the best types of oil for baking. It's preferred in many recipes since it has the most neutral flavor compared to other types of oil. It also tends to be lighter in flavour, so it will not negatively affect the baked product's flavor and texture.
One of the first reasons why your cake may be too dense is if you use too much liquid, sugar, baking soda, or baking powder. Unlike cooking, baking is an exact science, and if you round up the measurement of your ingredients, you can add too much and get a dense cake.
Eggs also contain a variety of proteins that create the structure of a cake, and when beaten, they can act as a leavening agent by adding air to the cake batter. However, if you add too many eggs to your cake batter, then your end result could be spongy, rubbery, or dense.
Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery.
Address: Apt. 203 613 Huels Gateway, Ralphtown, LA 40204
Phone: +2135150832870
Job: Regional Design Producer
Hobby: Nordic skating, Lacemaking, Mountain biking, Rowing, Gardening, Water sports, role-playing games
Introduction: My name is Fredrick Kertzmann, I am a gleaming, encouraging, inexpensive, thankful, tender, quaint, precious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/68313289832-0A684179-D63C-4321-A971-8D28ACE32730-2000-4f468fcebd274fd2b9da576db862c89e.jpg "My Grandma's Best Cake Recipe Is Almost Too Easy (1)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/69320736385-24B6E3FB-94B5-4A1A-B202-42DC3C258C5A-2000-fe7341d3357e4ae2951ab9aafe75e61c.jpg "My Grandma's Best Cake Recipe Is Almost Too Easy (2)")
