This Simple Chocolate Cake from a box mix is the secret to the most moist chocolate cake at home! Made with simple ingredients like, sour cream, extra eggs and instant pudding it absolutely will become the best chocolate cake from a box you’ve ever had… possibly the best cake you’ve ever had!

Learn how to doctor up a chocolate cake mix by reading further! I’ll show you all of the tips and step-by-step photos to teach you how to bake this doctored chocolate cake mix recipe!

Easy Chocolate Box Cake Recipe

This easy chocolate cake is made for anyone from a beginning baker up to an absolute expert! Which is why it has become so popular on Pinterest and Instagram, just like our Peanut Butter Monster Cookies.

Why We Love This Recipe!

I love that this moist chocolate cake recipe starts off with a Devil Food’s or Fudge cake mix! When life is busy and you want a special dessert but aren’t a cake baker, this recipe is for you! We love that it’s doctored up with some chocolate pudding and sour cream to give it an amazing texture and taste.

Cake mixes already include the flour, some sugar, salt and leavening agents like baking soda and/or baking powder. By using a cake mix for your dry ingredients, just eliminate the steps of measuring out all those ingredients. Total time saver!

Ingredients For a Doctored Cake Mix

For the Cake

• Cake Mix: A 15.25 oz. Duncan Hines devil’s food cake mix seems to work best. You can use any mix you’d like though. The base that provides flour, sugar, cocoa powder, leavening, and stabilizers. It gives structure and the initial chocolate flavor. 
• Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding: Use the 3.4 ounce size. Adds extra cocoa

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting is a dreamy blend of rich, tangy cream cheese and light, fluffy whipped cream. Silky and smooth with just the right hint of sweetness, it’s the perfect topping for cakes, cupcakes, and fruit.

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting

You only need 5 ingredients to make this easy whip cream frosting with cream cheese. Here is what you’ll need:

• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Cream Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Salt
• Vanilla Extract

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Whip Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

Want the creamiest, fluffiest frosting ever? Whip up whipped cream, beat cream cheese until smooth and add a little powdered sugar to sweeten things up. This Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting is the lightest, and most delicious frosting ever! Here are the steps in a little more details:

1. Beat: Add the whipping cream to a mixing bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
2. Combine: In a separate bowl, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla and mix until well combined and smooth.
3. Fold: Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and fold in until well combined.

The recipe card at the end of the post contains all the information you need to make this recipe. The photos below show each step of the recipe.

Can This Frosting Be Colored?

Yes absolutely! We prefer to use food coloring gel for the best color. Adding food dye to the frosting makes it perfect for any festive occasion…holidays, baby showers, Superbowl parties, graduations, etc.

How to Use This Frosting

Whip cream and cream cheese frosting goes great on op of cupcakes and cakes of course. It also make a delicious dip for fruit. There’s no reason to stop there either! Use it on cheesecake or pie too! It’s so creamy with a slight tanginess, perfect for just about any dessert!

Storage Tips

Unused frosting should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to 5 days. When you are ready to use it again, you’ll want to let it sit at room temperature for few minutes so it will become spreadable again.

This quick and easy recipe for whip cream and cream cheese frosting is the perfect addition to your favorite cakes and cupcakes. With just a

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

Indulge in these delicious chocolate marshmallow cookies, perfect for satisfying your sweet tooth. With a soft and gooey center and a chocolate frosting, these cookies are a treat for any occasion.

These cookies are thick and chewy and loaded with chocolate flavor. They are topped with a gooey roasted marshmallow and then frosted with a luscious chocolate cream cheese frosting. Totally indulgent and decadent!

Chocolate Marshmallow cookies always make me feel loved. I have had two lovely connections with these cookies and not only do I want you to read about my experience, but I totally want you to have the recipe too.

First memory…going shopping with my mom at the Vancouver mall in Vancouver, WA. They had a cookie shop and we weren’t really a family to eat out, actually, we weren’t really a mall family either, haha. Well, on one occasion my mom and her best friend had to run to the mall and I was with them when they allowed me and her friend’s child to buy a cookie from the little cookie shop on the top floor. I got a chocolate marshmallow cookie and I can still remember the feeling of my teeth sinking into that thick and chewy cookie. IT WAS AMAZING!!!

Fast forward a few short years and an interning teacher in my 4th grade class treated another little girl and I to a fun day out which included… a chocolate marshmallow cookie!!! I can still remember what a special teacher she was and mostly because she made me feel special and seen. It’s no wonder that all these years later I wanted to share the cookie with those I love! Don’t you love when food is linked to special moments?

Ingredients for Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

We are going to use cocoa powder and chocolate pudding mix to load these cookies with chocolate flavor. The rest of the ingredients are pretty standard cookie ingredients. Here is everything you’ll need:

• Unsalted Butter: make sure it is softened
• Granulated Sugar: adds sweetness
• Brown Sugar: adds rich flavor and sweetness
• Large Eggs: gives structure to the cookies
• Vanilla Extract: adds flavor
• Flour: just regular all-purpose flour is all you need
• Salt: enhances all the flavors
• Baking Soda: adds rise and fluffiness
• Cocoa Powder: adds bold chocolate flavor
• Instant Chocolate Pudding: grab a 5.1 oz box of either Devil’s Food or Chocolate Fudge flavor
• Marshmallows: you want large marshmallows

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post. See the next section for all the ingredients for the chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

There aren’t any surprises in the ingredients for this smooth chocolate cream cheese frosting. Here is the ingredients list:

Read more

Vanilla Cake with Fresh Strawberry Frosting

Soft, moist vanilla sheet cake topped with strawberry buttercream – you’ll love the flavor combo and pretty pink color of this vanilla cake with fresh strawberry frosting.

I don’t know about you, but every spring I get so excited as fresh berries come into season. The change in season rejuvenates me, and the new fresh produce always makes me so excited to get into the kitchen and bake.

So when I was grocery shopping and saw ripe, juicy, bright red strawberries coming back in season – it was the perfect reason to make this classic vanilla cake recipe with fresh strawberry frosting.

The cake is a simple vanilla sheet cake that’s made in a 9×13 inch pan. It has a fluffy and moist texture with a soft cake crumb and delicious buttery, vanilla flavor. But it’s the strawberry buttercream made from fresh berries that really makes this cake special.

The buttercream frosting is fluffy and creamy with a delicious strawberry flavor that comes from fresh berries, so there’s nothing artificial or unnatural tasting. I love how the subtle strawberry flavor of the frosting compliments the vanilla cake, without overpowering.

What Ingredients Do I Need?

Here is what you will need to make this tasty vanilla cake and strawberry buttercream frosting:

For the Vanilla Cake

• Dry Ingredients: Cake Flour (sifted, not self rising), Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt
• Wet Ingredients: Unsalted Butter, Granulated Sugar, Eggs, Egg Whites, Vanilla Extract, Sour Cream and Milk

For the Strawberry Frosting

• Fresh Strawberries
• Unsalted Butter
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Salt
• Whipping Cream

The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to Make Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Now making strawberry frosting using fresh berries takes a few extra steps, but it’s definitely worth the process. So I’m going into a little extra detail here on the process, and the full instructions and ingredients are listed in the recipe.

1. First we process the fresh berries in the blender. Then the puree is pushed through a sieve to remove the seeds.
2. The strawberry puree is then boiled in a saucepan to remove the water/excess liquid. The mixture will boil as you gently stir, and after the mixture boils down it will be thick in consistency and about 1/4 to 1/3 of the original volume. It’s so important to really boil down the puree and remove the excess liquid. Otherwise your frosting will be watery.
3. Then the puree needs to cool fully. I recommend putting it in the freezer or refrigerator.
4. From there, making the strawberry buttercream is straight fo

Samoa Cupcakes

Girl scout cookie meets cupcake in these rich chocolatey, caramel, and toasted coconut Samoa Cupcakes!

I’m so thrilled that stores have started making knock off Girl Scout cookies so that I don’t have to wait until March to devour all my favorite Girl Scout cookie flavors. Keebler has a version of the Samoa cookie and Walmart even has it’s own Great Value version. So you can make these Samoa cupcakes all year round!

Samoa Cookie Inspiration

I love cupcakes and Samoa cookies so why not mash the two together?! Voila! It’s seriously a party in your mouth. I chose to use a yellow cake for the cupcake to mimic the shortbread in the cookie and then I dipped it in ganache similar to how the bottom of a Samoa is covered in chocolate.  

I was going to top the cupcake with just a caramel/coconut mix but what kind of cupcake would that be without a buttery frosting?! The caramel buttercream is divine! I could eat it by the spoonful! And we top it with a sprinkle of toasted coconut!

Oh and for extra good measure I drizzled more caramel and ganache on top of the cupcakes creating a delicious mess.  These Samoa Cupcakes are going to blow your minds!  Enjoy!

Ingredients for Samoa Cupcakes

There are a few steps that go into making this cupcake recipe, but don’t worry, every ingredients and step is worth it! Here are the ingredients you will need:

Cupcakes:

• Dry Ingredients: All-Purpose Flour, Cornstarch, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt
• Wet Ingredients: Butter, Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla and Sour Cream

Ganache:

• Milk Chocolate Chips
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• Heavy Whipping Cream

Caramel Frosting:

• Butter
• Powdered Sugar
• Caramel Sauce
• Vanilla

Topping:

• Samoa Girl Scout Cookies
• Sweetened Coconut Flakes
• Caramel Sauce

The measurements for each ingredients can be found in the recipe at the end of this post. Keep scrolling down for all the details!

How to Make Samoa Cupcakes

Now that you know all the ingredients you need, here is the step-by-step guide to making them:

Cupcakes:

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Combine: Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix to combine.
3. Beat: Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until light and creamy.
4. Mix: Add the eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly between each egg. Then mix in the vanilla and sour cream.
5. Combine: Add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
6. Bake: Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners