Homemade Yellow Cake Mix

As I've mentioned before, we are *trying* to use less processed or boxed things and make more things from scratch at my house. There are still times when I choose easy over healthy, but all in all we are trying to move towards healthier choices. I would also like to say that I think butter is healthy. haha As opposed to margarine, so I only cook with butter. Now that I've said that, I can introduce you to homemade yellow cake mix, and call it healthier than a box, although it does have butter in it. That's what makes it so good! And it was good. I made it last week and divided it into two equal parts to make two different desserts. I ended up making cupcakes and they turned out great. I will warn you, I do think you have to have a food processor for this recipe. I have a small one, and did my main mixing in my stand mixer, and then did batches in the food processor. You have to get the butter processed very fine, and you can't really do that with a pastry cutter or even a blender. My blender wouldn't work at all. (If you're keeping count, yes I used A LOT of bowls and gadgets in the kitchen to figure out what would work best for this. I've come to the conclusion that I will be buying a real food processor for myself for my birthday!) So, go borrow one if you don't have one. You'll be so proud of yourself for making this cake without a box, it really isn't that hard! I promise!

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

*Makes enough for two 9-inch layer cakes (bake according to recipe), or one 9X13-inch cake (bake for 30 to 35 minutes), or one 12-cup bundt pan (bake for 40 to 45 minutes), or 24 cupcakes (bake for 18 to 20 minutes)

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

16 tablespoons butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Process sugar, flours (or flour and cornstarch if making the substitution for the cake flour), milk powder, baking powder, and salt in a food processor for 15 seconds to combine. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal (you want this much finer than, say, a pie crust). Freeze the dry mixture in a zipper-lock bag for up to 2 months or use immediately.

To make the cake:

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your pan of choice.

With an electric mixer, beat the prepared cake mix, 1 1/4 cups warm water and 2 large room-temperature eggs until the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-27 minutes for two 9-inch layer cakes. See the note above the recipe for alternate cooking times with other baking pans. Cool the cake in pan for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack. Cool completely.

This recipe is linked to It's a Keeper Thursday.Tidy Mom,
Fat Camp Friday