• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • Press
  • Browse Categories
  • Work With Us
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

Give Recipe logo

menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Browse Categories
  • Turkish
  • Desserts
  • About
  • Start Here
×

Home » Cakes » Basic Homemade Cake Mix

Published: Oct 24, 2019 · Modified: Dec 14, 2020 by Zerrin & Yusuf

Basic Homemade Cake Mix

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

It is super easy to bake a cake when you have a jar of Homemade Cake Mix in your party. The recipe calls for just 4 dry ingredients. Ready in 5 minutes. Then store it for later baking or give it as a gift to your friends. Just combine the cake mix with wet ingredients for an easy vanilla cake, yellow cake or lemon cake.

With a jar of homemade cake mix ready in your pantry, it’s really easy to bake cakes, muffins, cookies or cake mix cobbler. And if you are after a chocolate flavor, you can easily prepare your own chocolate cake mix and easily make chocolate cookies afterwards.

Homemade cake mix in a jar and a bundt cake on the side.
Jump to:
  • Why bother making cake mix at home?
  • What goes in the cake mix jar?
  • How to make  
  • What goes in the lemon cake?
  • Homemade yellow cake
  • Homemade white cake
  • Homemade vanilla cake
  • With or without butter
  • Frequently asked questions
  • More lemon desserts
  • More Homemade Edible Gift Ideas
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

If you love cake mix recipes? Go check out our favorite red velvet cake mix crinkle cookies too!

Do you ever buy a box of cake mix from store? I agree it is a great shortcut when we are too busy or when we don’t feel like thinking over the measurements. The dry ingredients are already measured in the box and you just combine them with wet ingredients.

Tell you what? You can make your own cake mix at home in 5 minutes and keep in jars for those days when you want things get easier for you. Perfect for last-minute cakes!

Why bother making cake mix at home?

 I can hear some of you asking why on earth you should think of making cake mix from scratch while you can easily grab a box from store. Well, we have three reasons for that:

  1. Homemade cake mix is healthier than the store bought options. You get what I mean if you have ever read the ingredients written on a cake mix box. You need 4 simple ingredients to make a cake mix at home. These are flour, sugar, salt and leavening (baking soda or baking powder). On the other hand, a boxed cake mix mostly have several chemicals such as modified corn starch, vegetable oil shortening, propylene glycol mono and diesters of fatty acids, palm oil, dextrose, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, guar gum, etc. I don’t even know what some of these are.
  2. Easy to make. Really. The only thing you need to do is to combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl and put it in a jar. You can make several of these and keep in your pantry for a later baking.
  3. It makes a wonderful holiday gift that you can give to your friends. A DIY gift is always way better than a store-bought alternative. Make sure you prepare several jars of your cake mix for the upcoming holidays. Your friends will love it! You can even print out our lemon cake recipe in the recipe card below to help them bake an easy bundt cake.
Cake mix from scratch ingredients in ceramiz bowls on a light background and a whisk on the side.

What goes in the cake mix jar?

We need just 4 ingredients for this cake mix recipe:

  1. Flour, sifted (2 and ½ cups)
  2. Sugar (1 cup)
  3. Salt (¼ teaspoon)
  4. Baking powder (2 teaspoons)

How to make  

Learn how to make cake flour mix from scratch and then you will never buy it from the market. Please don’t let the phrase ‘from scratch’ discourage you. It is literally the easiest thing you can make at home. You need just 5 minutes or less.

There are two super easy steps to make the mix.

First, put all the ingredients in a bowl, in no particular order and whisk them up.

Second, put in an airtight container or in a mason jar. You can keep these in your pantry for three months or make several of these to give your friends as a gift.

Pro Tip: The measurements we use here make 3 and ½ cup cake mix and is for a medium size bundt cake pan (6 cups). You can bake it in a 8 ½-inch standard loaf pan or a 9-inch cake pan too. You can even make 15-16 muffins using this cake mix.

The homemade cake mix recipe I’m sharing with you here is a basic one. So you can customize it with different types or amounts of wet ingredients to make yellow cake, white cake, vanilla cake, spice cake or lemon cake.

Homemade cake flour mix lemon cake ingredients

What goes in the lemon cake?

We use this cake mix to make a simple lemon cake by adding the following ingredients:

  • Cake mix
  • Eggs
  • Buttermilk
  • Oil
  • Lemon zest
  • Lemon juice

Optionally, you can prepare an easy lemon glaze by combining powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.

Please read the recipe card below to see the full recipe for the cake.

A slice of lemon cake made with homemade yellow cake mix on a white plate and a bundt cake on the side.

Homemade yellow cake

You can easily use this basic cake mix to make a yellow cake. Whisk together the following ingredients in a bowl:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 and ½ cup milk or buttermilk
  • ⅓ cup olive oil

Gradually add in the cake mix you prepare and whisk just until everything is combined. Bake in a greased cake pan for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Homemade white cake

You can use your diy cake flour mix to make a white cake too. The most important difference between a yellow cake and a white is that we use 3 egg whites in the batter instead of 2 whole eggs. So we need these:

  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 and ½ cup milk or buttermilk
  • ⅓ cup oil

To use this basic diy cake mix to make a white cake, follow these steps:

  1. Beat egg whites in a bowl and put it aside.
  2. Put the cake mix in a bowl and add milk and oil.
  3. Combine using a spatula.
  4. Gradually add in beaten egg whites and mix until combined.
  5. Bake in a greased cake pan.

Homemade vanilla cake

A vanilla cake is almost the same as yellow cake. So you can use your homemade cake mix for it too. To make a vanilla cake, whisk together the following ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 and ½ cup milk or buttermilk
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine this wet mixture with your homemade cake mix and bake in a greased pan for 40-45 minutes.

Easy homemade cake mix in a jar as a gift.

With or without butter

I make this homemade cake mix with dry ingredients only, so it doesn’t have butter because it is easier to store when you don’t add any wet ingredients in the mixture. Just put it in an airtight container and keep in your pantry. Also, it is easer to turn the cake mix into an edible gift this way. You can even send it to someone living miles away. Nothing in the mix goes bad at room temperature.

On the other hand, there are some points you should keep in mind if you want to make your mix with butter. These are:

  1. Use cold butter. ½ stick of butter is enough.
  2. Cut the butter into pieces and blend well in a food processor with the dry ingredients. Make sure all pieces of butter combine well with the flour mixture.
  3. Put this mixture in a zip lock plastic bags and store in the freezer up to three months.

I find the cake mix without butter more practical because of the reasons I mentioned above, but it’s up to you to make your mix with or without it.

Tip: My lemon cake recipe below calls for olive oil, but if you love your cake with butter, substitute melted butter for it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use self rising flour?

Yes, you can. Self rising flour is basically a combination of all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. So the only ingredient you need to add in your mix is sugar. 

Is this mix dairy free?

Yes, it is. I don’t use any dry or powdered milk in the mix. No butter either. What’s more, you can make the lemon cake recipe given in the recipe card below completely dairy free. Just substitute water or a plant based milk for the buttermilk.

How long does this cake mix last?

You can store it up to three months in your pantry but check the expire date of the ingredients you use. It shouldn’t be earlier.

Can this DIY cake mix be frozen?

If you are making it without butter and using dry ingredients only, you don’t need to freeze the mix. However, you should freeze it if you use butter in your mix and are planning to store it more than two weeks.

More lemon desserts

  • Zucchini Lemon Bread
  • Lemon Bread Recipe With Kefir
A slice of lemon cake made with homemade lemon cake mix on a white plate.

More Homemade Edible Gift Ideas

  • Lemon Crinkle Cookies From Scratch
  • Homemade Lemon Jam
  • Lemon Meltaway Cookies
  • Melting Moments Cookies (Cornstarch Butter Cookies)

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

Sign up for the FREE GiveRecipe Newsletter to get the new recipes into your inbox! And stay in touch with us on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram for all the latest updates.

Print

📖 Recipe

Basic Homemade Cake Mix

Homemade cake mix in a jar and a bundt cake on the side.
Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Easy homemade cake mix recipe with flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

  • Author: Zerrin & Yusuf
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 batch 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

Cake Mix

  • 2 and ½ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Lemon Cake

  • 1 batch cake mix (3 and ½ cup)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 and ½ cup buttermilk (milk, kefir or yogurt works fine too)
  • ⅓ cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Cake Mix

  1. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl, whisk them up well.
  2. Put in an airtight container or in a mason jar.

Lemon Cake

  1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Butter a bundt cake pan very well.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.
  3. Gradually add in the cake mix using a hand whisk just until everything is combined.
  4. Pour it into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  5. Remove from the oven and let it cool down for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let it cool completely over a wire rack.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 1931
  • Sugar: 200.4 g
  • Sodium: 607.6 mg
  • Fat: 3.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 447.8 g
  • Protein: 32.3 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg

Keywords: homemade cake mix, homemade cake flour mix, cake mix from scratch, edible holiday gift, DIY holiday gift

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @give_recipe on Instagram and hashtag it #giverecipe

« How To Brine Olives
Spiced Apple Compote Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Anita Gaston says

    December 24, 2021 at 5:29 am

    I didn't know it was this easy to make my own homemade cake mix and I will be making this tomorrow for the holidays. One question I have is how to make the cake mix extra moist?

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Zerrin & Yusuf says

      December 24, 2021 at 6:02 am

      Hi Anita,
      To make your cake moister, you can add in 2 extra egg yolks. Let us know how it goes.
      Happy holidays!

      Reply
  2. Sandra says

    March 26, 2021 at 2:41 am

    I didn't know that it is possible to make cake mix at home. I buy yellow cake mix boxes very often, but don't feel very comfortable about it. I followed your instructions and made two jars of cake mix today. Used one of them to make that lemon muffins and they turned out great. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Yusuf says

      March 26, 2021 at 2:42 am

      Hi Sandra! Making lemon muffins with this cake mix is a great idea! Thank you for the feedback!

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Zerrin & Yusuf

Meet Zerrin and Yusuf Gunaydin: The couple behind this blog. We bring Turkish food into your kitchen! From kebabs to desserts, everything you crave is here.

More about us→

POPULAR

  • Turkish Breakfast (How To Prepare It)
  • Air Fryer Chicken Wings Baking Powder
  • Baking Powder Chicken Wings Baked In The Oven
  • Adana Kebab (Turkish Ground Lamb Kebab)
  • Healthy Greek Yogurt Coleslaw with Low Fat Dressing
  • Turkish Chicken Kebab Recipe (Tavuk Şiş)

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

All content, recipes and photographs are copyrighted and the property of Give Recipe. They may not be republished in part or whole without proper credit and permission.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 GIVE RECIPE

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Privacy PolicyACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT