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Make-Ahead Yellow Cake Mix

From

April​/May 2010

Make-Ahead Yellow Cake Mix

For our Make-Ahead Yellow Cake Mix, we found the tender crumb of cake flour mimicked that of box-mix cake, but substituting half with all-purpose flour provided a sturdier structure. Because we didn’t cream our butter or beat in the eggs individually, we needed to add extra baking soda to achieve the same rise as a box mix cake. Cutting butter into our cake mix and then storing it in the freezer allowed us to eliminate an extra step at the end.

Taking the mix directly from the freezer prevented the fat and liquid from emulsifying but left us with a greasy finished cake. To help the liquid and fat to emulsify, we used room temperature eggs and warm water when mixing the cake. To eliminate another ingredient from the final step, we added the vanilla extract to the dry ingredients before placing the mix in the freezer. Cold temperatures can dull flavors, so we increased the amount of vanilla to compensate.

Makes enough mix for two 9-inch cake layers

You can make a second batch of mix without cleaning out your food processor, which will give you the makings for two cakes at the ready in your freezer.

Ingredients

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