Chewy Chocolate Caramel Bars
With chocolate chips, caramel candies, nuts, and butter, this is a 6-ingredient cake mix recipe you'll crave often. Keep the cake mix bars in an airtight container for a few days at room temp, or freeze them for up to three months.
Carrot Cake Bars
Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts, but I rarely make it due to the multiple hours it takes to prepare. Enter this yellow cake mix recipe to save the day. A bit of fresh ginger, raisins, and shredded carrots turn the cake mix into a dreamy bar. Topped with cream cheese frosting (use canned for easier prep), it's just as tasty as the real layered cake.
Dulce de Leche Cake
Upgrade your boxed cake mix with a can of dulce. The sweet caramel filling is sandwiched between layers of yellow cake we hacked with a few extra eggs, butter, and orange zest in the mix.
Test Kitchen Tip: This cake mix recipe tastes even better when chilled overnight. Just wait to frost until serving time.
Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Bars with Chocolate Ganache
Fans of peanut butter cups will gobble up every one of these cake mix bars. The thin chocolate base starts with a box of devil's food cake mix. Next, homemade fluffy whipped peanut butter filling gets crunch from honey-roasted peanuts. Finally, add the rich chocolate ganache for a showstopping shiny finish.
Berry-Lemon Cupcakes
This lemon cake recipe, using cake mix, is perfect for last-minute summer gatherings. Seasonal berries are tossed in flour (preventing the colors from blending into cake batter) and added to the cake mix. Garnish the buttercream frosting with lemon peel for a pretty finish.
Champagne Cake with Fresh Strawberries
One way to absolutely make box cake mix better? Add champagne. This white cake mix recipe swaps the water for sparkling wine for an easy upgrade. It's the perfect easy cake recipe for birthday parties.
Candy-Bar Bars
When you have leftover Halloween candy, use the chocolate bars to make this easy recipe using cake mix. It's a 5-ingredient dessert (plus some nonstick cooking spray) that the kids will love as an after-school treat.
Butterscotch Marble Cake
Yes, Bundt cake recipes from cake mix exist, and (spoiler alert) they're just as delicious as a from-scratch recipe. The stunning marble effect is made by adding a bit of chocolate syrup to a portion of the yellow cake batter.
Pumpkin Spice Whoopies
Say hello to your new favorite way to enjoy fall's signature spice blend. The fluffy spice cake mix cookies get super moist from adding canned pumpkin. And that spiced marshmallow-cream cheese filling? It's good enough to eat with a spoon.
Hummingbird Dump Cake
Dump cakes are some of our favorite recipes using cake mix when time is short. A couple of cans of crushed pineapple, bananas, and pecans give this easy dessert the same flavors as the popular fruit-filled cake—only much this one's much easier to make.
Million Dollar Cake
PHOTO: RACHEL MAREK, PROP STYLING: SOPHIE BABCOCK
This nostalgic cake recipe comes right from grandma's recipe box! First, we're flavoring the cake with mandarin orange syrup. Once it's baked, layer it with a fluffy pineapple cream cheese frosting and top with the rest of the mandarin oranges.
Confetti Cake and Ice Cream Pops
You can make this cake mix dessert into individual pops, but it can also be assembled as an ice cream cake. To make this eye catching sweet, layer confetti cake with swirls of mango and raspberry sorbet.
Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake
GRANT WEBSTER
A homemade strawberry puree is the start of this easy dessert. The cake is also dressed up with strawberry gelatin mix. A fluffy strawberry cream cheese frosting adds the perfect bit of sweetness. As one reviewer raved, "The strawberry frosting for this recipe might have been my favorite ever! It was so luscious and sweet. I would definitely make this cake again."
Blueberry Dump Cake
GRANT WEBSTER
You're three ingredients away from making this dump cake recipe. Simply layer in a can of blueberry pie filling, a box of cake mix, and butter. As it bakes, the cake mix and butter creates a cobbler-like topping.
Two-Ingredient Soda Cake
BHG/ANA CADENA
Mix and match your favorite cake mix and soda for the easiest dessert ever. Some of our favorite combinations are chocolate cake with cola and white cake with lemon-lime soda. Top with whipped cream or your favorite frosting.
Black Forest Dump Cake
GRANT WEBSTER
Traditional black forest cake is a combination of chocolate cake, cherries, and cream. Here, we're making a shortcut version with cherry pie filling and devil's food cake mix. You can have cake in the oven with just 10 minutes of prep.
Strawberry Crunch Cake
GRANT WEBSTER
Inspired by the ice cream treats you ate as a kid, this dessert is made with strawberry cake mix, cream cheese, and a crunchy topper. Our recipe tester's favorite part was the topping, which is made with crushed cookies and freeze-dried strawberries.
Chocolate Dump Cake
JASON DONNELLY
If you love fudgy brownies, this chocolate cake mix recipe is a must try. Amp up the chocolate flavor with a package of pudding mix. Top the cake with chocolate chips just before baking.
Strawberry Dump Cake
RACHEL MAREK. PROP STYLING: GABE GRECO
The best part of this yellow cake mix recipe is the homemade cheesecake cream it's served with. Adding salty pretzels on top helps balance the sweetness and adds texture to each bite.
Tres Leches Cake
If you're wondering how to make a boxed cake mix better, soak it in sweet milk. Layer the cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. This white cake mix recipe is one of our favorite summer desserts.
Gooey Butter Cookies
RACHEL MAREK
Cake mix cookies are one of our favorite shortcut treats, and gooey butter cookies is our favorite way to use yellow cake mix. Sprinkled the finished cookies with powdered sugar and enjoy!