Surprising uses for boxed cake mix

Boxed cake mix is one of the frugal heroes of the supermarket.

It’s one of the few convenience items that frequently costs less to buy than make from scratch. But have you ever looked at a cake mix and thought ‘What else can I do with this?” No? That’s fine because I have thought about it for you.

Here are my favorite cake mix hacks to bring variety to the humble box of cake.

Cake in a Coffee Cup

In my house, if I make a whole cake, we eat a whole cake. It’s much better for portion control if I can make just one fresh-out-of-the-oven serving of cake. Here’s my favorite way do it – The 3-2-1- Mug Cake.

You take one boxed angel food cake mix and one regular box of cake mix, any flavor – chocolate, lemon, red velvet, whatever.

Combine the powdered mixes together in a zip top bag or airtight container. When you want a single serving of cake you stir together: 3 tablespoons of this mix with 2 tablespoons of water in a coffee cup and cook it in the microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. See? It’s 3-2-1 so easy to remember and oh, so good.

Very Easy Berry Cobbler

This is so easy a toddler can make it. That’s my kind of recipe. You simply take two (12 ounce) bags of frozen mixed berries, peaches, strawberries, or whatever floats your boat and place them in a 9-by-13 baking dish.

Next you sprinkle one box white cake mix over the top covering the fruit evenly.

Then you slowly pour one can (12 fluid ounces or 1 ½ cups) of diet lemon lime soda over the cake mix trying to avoid dry spots as much as possible.

Do not stir the cake mix and soda as this will give you the “crust” on the cobbler.

Bake this at 350° for 55 minutes or until the berries are cooked through and bubbly. This is really juicy and divine served over a bowl of ice cream.

The Four Ingredient Cookie

This is an oldie but goodie. You blend together one (8 ounce) tub of whipped topping like Cool Whip, thawed, and two eggs. Next you add boxed cake mix (any flavor) and blend until the mix is well incorporated. This dough will be very stiff and sticky.

Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes to stiffen. Pre-heat the oven to 350° and spray a cookie sheet or use parchment paper.

Roll the dough, by tablespoon, in powdered sugar to coat. Place on cookie sheet and bake for nine-to-12 minutes.

Allow to cool a few minutes before removing from pan to cool on a rack. Some cake flavors that are especially good made into cookies are lemon, strawberry and Funfetti® and every Christmas I use devil’s food cake mix to make mock chocolate crinkles.

I hope one of these thrifty sweet treats will become your new family favorite. Enjoy!

Frugal Food Finds contributed by Patti Diamond from Divas On A Dime – Where Frugal, Meets Fabulous! www.divasonadime.com Join us on Facebook at DivasOnADimeDotCom.