Homemade Cake Mix Recipe

Would you believe making a homemade cake mix is faster and cheaper than running to the store to buy one in a box? It’s true. Make this homemade cake mix, and never use a box recipe again! You’ll like that it’s made without preservatives, GMOs, or other questionable ingredients, and the taste is top-shelf. Plus, you can store it in one of my favorite items of all time, a Mason jar. 

Why I Make Homemade Cake Mix

The original recipe is actually my great-grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe. You know a recipe is a keeper if someone passes it down for generations. No one will continue passing down a recipe that isn’t good! But I don’t always want a chocolate cake, so I reverse-engineered her cake recipe and broke it down into three cake mix variations: vanilla (yellow or white cake), chocolate cake and spice cake.

Homemade cake mix is easy to make. When you practice keeping a well-stocked pantry, you likely already have all the ingredients on hand. 

Here’s a little secret of making the holidays easier in the kitchen. You can use this cake mix as a gift or time-saving pantry item along with homemade hot cocoa mix, brownie mix in a jar, or no-knead bread mix in a jar.

Get yourself more from scratch cooking and time-tested recipes in my book, The Made-From-Scratch Life. Then, line your shelves with this homemade cake mix (one of my favorite homemade gift ideas) and stay tuned next week as I share how to turn it into the easiest dump cake recipe ever!

Boxed Mix vs. Homemade

When you look at the back of a boxed cake mix, you may wonder, “What is cake mix made of?” You’ll likely find many unfamiliar (or even illegible) words that are essentially additives and preservatives but certainly not ingredients you use in your own kitchen. 

The good news is that you can make a higher quality cake mix without needing these additives with basic pantry staples. Homemade cake mix has a long shelf life because you only prepare the dry ingredients in advance.

Assembling your cake mixes allows you to choose the ingredients carefully, allowing you to swap in healthier ingredients while still preparing your favorite foods.

Pro Tip: One way to maintain the light and fluffy texture that you get with a boxed cake mix is to make homemade cake flour (directions below). This isn’t a necessary step, but it’s recommended to get that light and fluffy cake.

How to Make Cake Flour

To make one cup of cake flour, add two tablespoons of cornstarch to your one-cup measuring cup, then fill it the rest of the way with all-purpose flour. If you need 1/2 cup measurements, add one tablespoon of cornstarch to your 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill the rest with all-purpose flour.

Azure Standard

This video and blog post are sponsored by Azure Standard. I purchase most of my bulk dry goods from Azure. Plus, the Mason jars you see me use for this cake mix are Azure’s new line of Mason jars and I love them!

Azure Standard offers high-quality products at incredible bulk prices to help us all stock our pantries well. For a limited time, first-time customers can get 10% off their first order of $50 or more by using code “Melissa10” at checkout.

Cake Mix Variations

• White or Yellow Vanilla Cake: Note that as the recipe is written below, you will get a yellow vanilla cake mix. If you want to keep your cake white, omit the whole eggs and substitute four egg whites.
• Spice Cake: For a spice cake, follow the vanilla cake modifications, adding 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp allspice, and 1/4 tsp ground cloves.
• Double Chocolate: To add depth of chocolate flavor, you can add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and 1/4 cup of chocolate chips to the jar. At time of baking, omit the water, butter and eggs and replace them with 1/2 cup brewed and cooled coffee and 3/4 cup mayonnaise.

How to Make Homemade Cake Mix

Supplies Needed

• Measuring Utensils – You will need measuring cups and spoons for dry and wet ingredients.
• Mason Jar and Lid – Any glass jar would work, but you know I love my Mason jars! You can reuse lids used for canning or buy reusable screw-on covers. Having a hard time finding canning lids? You can try my two favorite sources: ForJars (use coupon code “Melissa10” to get 10% off your order), and Denali Canning Supplies (use code “SPENDNSAVE” to get 15% off orders of $75 or more).
• Canning Funnel – I like to use the wide-mouth canning funnel as it’s easier to pour the ingredients into a larger opening.
• Whisk – A whisk works best for mixing wet and dry ingredients.
• Baking Pan – You can use two 8-inch cake pans for a layer cake, one 9×13 baking cake pan, or cupcake tins. Grease and flour the pans before pouring in the batter.

Ingredients Needed

Dry Mix Ingredients

• Cake Flour – I usually recommend milling fresh flour for most recipes. However, freshly milled flour doesn’t have a long shelf life, which we want for this cake mix. In order to get that nice fluffy texture, I recommend making homemade cake flour (see directions above). 
• Sugar – For a healthier swap, try this cane sugar.
• Baking Powder – Lightens the consistency of the cake.
• Salt – Almost no recipe is complete without salt. I love using Redmond Real Salt (use coupon code “Pioneering” to get 15% off your purchase at checkout).

Wet Ingredients

• Butter – The best cakes are made with real butter! For the chocolate version of this cake recipe I’d recommend omitting the butter and using mayonnaise instead. Mayo is the secret to a moist cake. I enjoy making my fool-proof homemade mayonnaise, but when I purchase mayo, I use Chosen Foods Avocado Mayonnaise.
• Milk – Any milk is fine, you can even substitute water if you don’t have milk on hand.
• Eggs – No cake would be complete without eggs! Eggs give structure to cake, creating that height and fluffiness that we all want.
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla – You can learn to make homemade vanilla extract or use a high-quality store-bought version. Trust me; quality vanilla makes all the difference in flavor.

Instructions for Making Mix in a Jar

1. Place the canning funnel on the Mason jar.
2. Pour in the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Tap the top of the dry ingredients to help remove the air pockets and settle all of the ingredients into the jar.
4. Place a metal canning lid and band on. Pro-Tip: Wash and dry used canning lids for projects like this.
5. Pretty up the jar if you plan to give it as a gift. I especially like this red and white jute twine for the holidays.

Printable Tags for Jars

Baking Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, combine eggs and vanilla. 
3. Add dry cake mix ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Add softened butter and milk and stir until smooth.
5. Pour batter into greased and floured pans. (Recipe makes one 9-inch square cake or 12 cupcakes.)
6. Bake at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Bake cupcakes for approximately 16 minutes. 
7. Allow to cool completely before frosting. 

Did you make this recipe? If so, please leave a star rating in the recipe card below. Then snap a photo of your cake mixes in jars and tag me on social media @melissaknorris so I can see!

More Posts You May Enjoy

• Homemade Spice Mixes and Herb Blends 
• DIY No-Knead Bread Mix Recipe in a Jar
• DIY Homemade Brownie Mix in Jar- Best Ever Fudge Brownies
• Homemade Pancake Mix
• DIY Homemade Pantry Mixes
• Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix 3 Ways (From Scratch!)