Homemade Yellow Cake Mix | Chickens in the Road

Apr
29

Any recipe that calls for a yellow cake mix can be made better with a scratch cake! It’s easy, so why not? This homemade mix (my own creation and tested to perfection, inspired by my frustration with recipes that call for a yellow cake mix but don’t tell you how to make the recipe with a scratch cake) makes a light, moist cake you can count on every time. You can make batches of cake mix ahead of time and take one out just like a cake mix, or make the mix one at a time as needed.

How to make Homemade Yellow Cake Mix:

3 cups all-purpose flour
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 yellow cake mix:

Use in any recipe calling for a yellow cake mix as a base (add 1 1/2 teaspoons 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
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 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 — 25-30 minutes
13 x 9 pan — 40-45 minutes
cupcakes — 15-20 minutes
tube/bundt pan — 45-50 minutes

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

Have you ever read the label on store-bought cake mixes? They’re packed with additives, preservatives, artificial coloring, oils, corn syrup, etc. Make up several batches of Homemade Yellow Cake Mix at a time, store in the pantry, and whip ‘em out any time for a quick, easy cake with none of that stuff!

Let them eat (homemade) cake!

Great-Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake, made with Homemade Yellow Cake Mix. Want the recipe?

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70 Responses
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4-29
1:49
am

There are a lot of recipes out there calling for a cake mix, if I wanted to make a box cake, I wouldn’t be looking through recipes!! You are so brilliant……thank you one more time for bringing the “scratch” back to a basic yellow cake that can be used in so many ways!! Once again (I’ve been saying this daily lately, I think) brilliant!!

And ummm, yea, I’d love Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake… did I miss where it can be found??

CindyP - Reply
4-29
2:09
am

How wonderful, thank you for the alternative to a commercial option! Is the mix good for cupcakes too??

Ms E - Reply
- 4-29
  5:56
  am
  
  Yes, you can use it for cupcakes!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
4-29
5:02
am

Bright yellow cake. I bet you are using farm fresh eggs with dark orange yolks!

Sheila Z - Reply
4-29
5:05
am

You did it again. Now I have to buy dry milk this weekend. lol. That is ok. Your recipies always come out great when I make them. And so easy and better for you than the box kind.

I was thinking I will have to get a little binder for all your recipies so I can find them easy. lol. You are going to have enough for a cook book soon.

Speaking of. I bought a big thing of strawberries. I should look up your recipe on makeing jelly and try it also. Yep I think I will. It looks like I will be doing some baking this weekend. lol.

Diane - Reply
4-29
5:07
am

Do I want the recipe?? Does a wild bear %&*# in the woods???

shirley - Reply
4-29
5:43
am

This may be a perfect cake for hubby special birthday–especially since he finished the beautiful ‘Chicken Condo’! His is May 7 and he loves yellow cake!

monica - Reply
4-29
5:51
am

You mean you have to ask? When have you shown us food and we didn’t want the recipe?LOL This is a great idea homemade cake mix. You think of everything don’t you? Thanks again for another wonderful recipe.

Linda - Reply
4-29
6:14
am

OMG! Woman!!! now you have to come up with a white one ya know! LOL The ramps ARE WONDERFUL!! THANK YOU! I fried a couple with just 3 pieces of bacon – my mouth watered the whole time. I have a couple left that I am going to make for the Milk Man when he wants some breakfast this morning. Thanks so much for those!!!! and the book is a “I cant set it down till I’m done’ kind of read!! Great Job Suzanne!!!

Heidi - Reply
- 4-29
  7:18
  am
  
  I’ve got a white one, too!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
4-29
6:46
am

I know what I’m making today!

Cyndi Lewis - Reply
4-29
7:19
am

What a great idea, I will make some mix this weekend. It is scary to read the ingredients on the box mix, I need to elminate so much of the ’stuff’ that is in prepared food and stick to simple ingredients. Thanks lady!!

JeannieB - Reply
4-29
7:34
am

I’m afraid this brings back memories of my first scratch cake – my excuse is that I was only 16. Made a marble cake. It was truly marble – if I’d dropped it on the floor it would have shattered. We couldn’t eat it, so offered it to the fat dog next door who always ate any food offered her – no! Poor thing turned away from it. I have no idea what went wrong – sounds like too much flour now. That was almost 50 years ago!!!! Oh, the stories I could tell of my attempts to make something edible. See why I’m bake-shy?

Nancy in Atlanta - Reply
4-29
7:43
am

I will definitely make some yellow cake mix! Now, I want Aunt Ruby’s recipe. Wahoo!
Thanks

Kathleen H from Bloomington IN - Reply
4-29
7:45
am

I will NOT tell you how to mix this up so that you can make individual cakes in a mug. In the microwave. In 3 mins.
I don’t want your weight-gain on my conscious. lol

Darlene - Reply
4-29
7:47
am

P.S. Can we have the white one too???? Just asking

Kathleen H from Bloomington IN - Reply
4-29
7:55
am

I can’t wait to try that cake with fluffy white icing and coconut. (although, the white would be better…) You are super to share these recipes with us.

Marley Delarose - Reply
4-29
8:11
am

I love this recipe. I hate giving my kids all that artificial junk. Definately going to try this. Looks real easy and convenient too!

Sarah Brewer - Reply
4-29
8:32
am

Is there really 2 cups of sugar in a cake mix??????? OMG!! I’ll use Splenda.

June Gregory - Reply
- 4-29
  8:35
  am
  
  That’s why cake is so darn good……
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
4-29
9:18
am

Just yesterday I was thinking that I needed an easy yellow cake mix and was looking around the net and your site and then what do ya know here it is today…I already have a basic chocolate cake mix that is my standard chocolate cake now..the hubby and kiddo won’t even eat another choc cake…I guess the next cake I make is gonna be this yellow cake and yes to wanting the white and lemon cake recipe….

Love your site.

Tammy - Reply
4-29
9:43
am

You must be inside my head.

I made chess cake/gooey butter cake the other day and was thinking about home-made yellow cake mix. I would rather bake totally from scratch. Maybe next time.

I think we are all chanting:
Great-Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake…Great-Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake. (please)

Kris7
Working hard at http://www.sccworlds.com

Kris7 - Reply
4-29
10:01
am

My husband loves lemon. Is this what you call a tease????? I am definetly going to try this cake mix. Wish I had known about it last week for my birthday. No worries, my daughters 22 is this week and my son’s 26th is next week. Whew! I’m exhausted just thinking about it! lol

trish - Reply
4-29
11:04
am

I will add this to my “to try” list. I have been looking for a really good cake from scratch recipe.

Bev - Reply
4-29
11:29
am

Suzanne, I really love your blog but you cannot, I repeat, cannot, tease us by mentioning another awesome recipe and then leaving us in the dark. Please, please give us the recipes for Aunt Ruby’s cake and the white cake. (You like to see us beg, don´t you?)

Alexandra - Reply
4-29
11:44
am

What a great idea! I never thought of premixing and storing!!

Michelle - Reply
4-29
12:13
pm

SUZANNE!!!! You TEASE you!!!! Lemon? I LOVE lemon!!! I want lemon!!! *grabs Suzanne by the shirtfront* -give-me-LEMON-!!! ok… I’ll calm down now. “May I please have Great-Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake, made with Homemade Yellow Cake Mix?” I’ll behave, I promise!

Your Great-Aunt Ruby must be the smartest Aunt anyone could have to have come up with both a yummy lemon cake AND a man/woman’s side of the road theory!!!

Please tell us how to be as wonderful as she is?

BuckeyeGirl - Reply
4-29
12:33
pm

Thanks so much for posting this! I quit buying store mixes because of all the scary stuff in them and am always looking for a good homemade recipe! Thanks again

amy - Reply
4-29
12:41
pm

I love homemade mixes without the added chemicals and I’ve been substituting Splenda for the sugar to make them more Diabetic friendly. Of course I’d also love to see Great Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake recipe too!

Karen - Reply
4-29
1:02
pm

I’ve got to ask – what’s the point of the powdered milk? Can I sub reg milk for part of the water and get the same results? I don’t think I have room in my cupboard for another canister of anything!

Kris - Reply
- 4-29
  1:20
  pm
  
  Cake mixes include dry milk, and recipes that call for a yellow cake mix as a base vary in many ways by what they call for to be added to the cake mix, depending on the recipe. In order for a homemade mix to work in recipes as a base, it needs to include dry milk just as a store-bought mix would so that it will react in recipes as expected. If you’re making the mix as a basic yellow cake, it would be fine to go ahead and use 1 1/4 cups milk (instead of water) and leave out the dry milk!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
4-29
2:16
pm

Thank you!

Rachel - Reply
4-29
2:19
pm

Oooh, now we’re talkin’! I love cake. Do share your white cake recipe with us too, please.

BTW, I found your book at Wally World today. Thanks for getting me hooked on that first chapter.

Christine - Reply
4-29
3:34
pm

Do I want the recipe? YES!!!!

Rose - Reply
4-29
4:25
pm

Yummmy. I love cake. I have to agree. The storebought cake mixes now, are PATHETIC – they are light as AIR and have basically NO flavor. I like heavy/dense cake..some texture and def. some TASTE.
I LOVE yellow cake! Yellow cake with chocolate icing! I copied this down!

Donna - Reply
4-29
5:07
pm

This looks terrific …but I live about a mile above sea level. D’you think adding a 1/4 c. extra flour to the recipe — as you have to with most store-bought mixes — would work as a high altitude adjustment?

Karen Templeton - Reply
- 4-29
  5:45
  pm
  
  Karen, I really don’t know. I’ve never had any first-hand experience with high altitude baking! I would think that the usual adjustments that you’ve tried before would work.
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
4-29
6:49
pm

THIS IS AWESOME!!! Our family’s favorite cake is yellow cake w/chocolate icing!! Thanks!

Blessings from Ohio…

Kim W - Reply
4-29
8:14
pm

I think you should publish a Chickens in the Road cookbook!

Amber - Reply
4-30
9:55
am

I would like to know how to halve this recipe as there are only two of us and a 13×9 or a two layer is way too much. Would this be easy to do? How do you use half an egg, the white or the yolk. Seems to me you need the yolk for the ‘yellow’ cake.I want to make the mix, but am not sure how to make a small cake out of it.

Sharon - Reply
- 4-30
  9:59
  am
  
  Hi, Sharon! I haven’t tried that, so you’ll have to experiment. For a yellow cake, I would definitely use the yolk not the white to “split” an egg. Let me know how it comes out!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
4-30
10:42
am

DARLENE!!!! You have to tell how to mix for a mug of cake!! Jumping up and down here to know! Tell! Tell! Tell! Please?
Smiles, Barbara

Barbara - Reply
4-30
7:07
pm

Hi Suzanne,

I have powdered whole milk, not non-fat. Do you think I can use that in this recipe with the same results?

Also, PLEASE post the lemon cake recipe!!! It is a moral imperative!

Laurie in NJ - Reply
- 4-30
  8:36
  pm
  
  Laurie, I haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure, but I can’t think of any reason why that wouldn’t work just fine!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
5-1
6:12
am

Thank you so much for posting the homemade yellow cake mix recipe! I’m always on the look out for recipes that don’t use preservatives, artificial dyes/ingredients, etc, so THANK YOU!

Jenny Sterling - Reply
5-1
7:30
am

Perhaps you could make the whole recipe then wrap one half well and freeze it for later. Also, on halving the egg, I would mix the egg up in a measuring cup, then use half of the whole thing. Not that I am an expert baker, I just thought those might be helpful.

Terri - Reply
5-1
7:40
pm

Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. I’m printing it out and will definitely use it. What a great money saver!

Amy W. - Reply
5-7
8:51
am

Sounds so good–can I add coco to make chocolate mix?

JOJO - Reply
- 5-7
  8:55
  am
  
  I can’t say as I haven’t tried that, but my very favorite homemade chocolate cake in the world is here:
  http://suzannemcminn.com/blog/2008/09/12/old-fashioned-chocolate-cake/
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
5-12
3:44
am

Wonder if you could use powdered vanilla when you make up this dry mix?

Sandy - Reply
5-24
3:20
pm

What can you substitute for the powdered milk in this recipe if you wanted to make this cake mix fresh without storing it? I never have powdered milk on hand.

Thanks.

Linda

Linda Watters - Reply
- 5-24
  3:50
  pm
  
  Linda, you’d go ahead and use regular milk in place of the water and just take out the powdered milk. I need to do this recipe if you’re making a cake straightout, not using a recipe that uses a mix as a foundation, to show that!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
6-16
5:10
am

Hi Suzanne:

Was wondering what you would use as a substitute for the milk powder if someone is allergic? Would soy powder work?

Ruth Bloch - Reply
- 6-16
  2:35
  pm
  
  Hi, Ruth! I really don’t know as I’ve never tried that. The best thing I could say is give it a shot and see how it works out!
  
  Suzanne McMinn - Reply
- 7-4
  12:56
  pm
  
  There is no doubt that you can substitute milk in the place of milk powder. Most of the time if a recipe calls for milk any type of milk will do. Whole milk, 2% milk, skim milk, or powdered milk. If you don’t say anything to anyone the only one who will know what you did is you.
  
  If someone does notice make the adjustment the next time and say I make the same way every time. Trust me they will still eat what ever you make. Anything beats the store bought junk.
  
  Riverdog - Reply
6-17
1:43
am

lol ok i will!!!! will report back!

thanks!

ruth b - Reply
7-4
12:24
pm

Well tried the yellow cake last night and was really good. I turned it into the Rum cake recipe from Bacardi with a lot of tweaking. I used bananas 1 cup, along with 1/2 cup of Banana Rum mixed with water and Canola oil. For the glaze I used the Banana Rum also. Anyway it was great and it started out with your yellow cake mix.

Do you have a mix for a Chocolate cake mix ? Now that would be the bomb.
You could also use the mix for Red Velvet Cake by adding 1 tsp of vinegar 1 tbls of cocoa, and 3 tbs of Red Food Coloring. Top it off with Cream Cheese Icing, and you can swear you were in the kitchen baking all day long.

Riverdog - Reply
8-21
10:58
pm

you just saved me from staying up all night searching for a recipe instead of getting the sleep I need for my 7am morning tomorrow. you’re a life saver.

I plan on mixing up batches of this godsend and turning some into key lime pie cupcakes soon! YAY!

thank you thank you thank you!!!

Colleen - Reply
8-26
8:31
am

This rcipe is great< I found it while looking for an easier way to prep cakes , my brother and I are gertting readu to open a bakery, and we donnot want to use "commercial" mixes like most bakeries do, I have found to make a white cake, simply use eggs whites instead of yolks, and chocolate add some cocoa powder and melted chocolate, This mix is so versatile, and will really save us in the long run on prep work, we plan on mixing it in 55 gallon food drums since we will be going through it like crazy!~!!! Thanks again!

DIXIE - Reply
10-5
12:41
pm

What is the purpose of the non-fat dry milk in here? Is there something else I can substitute or can I just leave it out? I need a mix that is milk-free.

Abby Hanson - Reply
- 10-5
  12:45
  pm
  
  The dry milk is a replacement for the actual milk that would be used if making directly from scratch. To make the mix easier, you can add dry milk–makes baking the cake from the mix faster. (Store-bought cake mixes usually include powdered milk, which is why you just add water.) But, if you use something else in your cakes (such as soy milk?) you could leave the dry milk out of the mix and use milk instead of water when reconstituting.
  
  Suzanne - Reply
10-5
12:46
pm

Oops! Just saw all of the previous comments. I couldn’t get to them before! I guess I’ll just search and see if I can find something that’ll work as a substitute or run to the store for more rice milk (what I usually use in place of cow’s milk).

Abby Hanson - Reply
10-5
12:50
pm

Hi! Me again…I found a great substitutions website. Anyone else wondering if they can make this without the milk powder or without milk — go to http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/bakingtips.ingredientsubstitutions/IngredientSubstitutions.cfm

Abby Hanson - Reply
- 10-5
  12:53
  pm
  
  Thanks, Abby!
  
  Suzanne - Reply
10-24
1:51
am

Suzanne,

Is the recipe for the homemade cake mix equal to one whole box of store bought cake mix? Or do I only need to used a portion of it to the “wet” ingredients? Thanks!

Wendy R - Reply
- 10-24
  5:21
  am
  
  You can use it in replacement of one box of cake mix!
  
  Suzanne - Reply
11-14
8:58
pm

Again~Just Brilliant!!!!

Laura - Reply
11-15
1:22
pm

That looks delish and I would love to try the lemon cake…One of my favorites. I love to make mixes to use when I am in a hurry ..I just made cornbread mix…it’s so easy to use prepackaged mixes and the ones you make are soooooooo much better. I have in my life time used a few cake mixes but I have for the most part wondered what was so hard about measuring out the few ingredients it takes to make a cake …especially when you consider that the end result is ssssssoooo much better. Thanks for the recipe.

TXLady - Reply