CAKE MIX FIX

I am not a big fan of cake mixes, but I DO enjoy a good cake mix based recipe. I recently tried this versatile, ultra moist and flavorful recipe; it was a huge hit with my family.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can change the flavor combination to just about anything you can imagine, since the main ingredients are just a commercial cake mix, similar flavor  pudding mix and similar flavor baking chips.

Today, I made a butterscotch version of this recipe, using a yellow cake mix, butterscotch pudding mix and butterscotch baking chips....yum!!!  (see flavor combo suggestions below).

The original recipe was for a chocolate version; here is the basic recipe:

(1) 18¼ ounce devils food cake mix (ignore the directions on the box)
(1) 5.9 ounce instant chocolate pudding mix (ignore the directions on the box)
2 cups semi-sweet MINI chocolate chips (see note)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water

IMPORTANT FIRST STEP: Put the DRY cake mix, DRY pudding mix and mini chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl and stir to coat the chocolate chips (this will keep the chips from sinking in the batter when you bake the cake).

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until very smooth. The directions say to bake at 350 in a well greased 12 cup bundt pan, for 50 to 55 minutes, but I opted for cupcakes and I baked them with paper cupcake liners at 350 for 25 minutes. Test with toothpick for doneness.

If you are using the bundt pan, the recipe says to cool the cake in the pan for at least 1½ hours before removing. Since I made cupcakes, I let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.

NOTE: This recipe calls for MINI chocolate chips because they do not sink like the full size chocolate chips tend to. However, today I used butterscotch chips (which do not come in the mini size) so I put them in the food processor and chopped them up and it worked well.

NOTE: Flavor combinations are endless. Next time, I'm trying a Cherry Chip cake mix + vanilla pudding + cherry mini baking chips (chips sold by King Arthur)...what a great idea for kids!!!  Other combos that sound good are chocolate cake + chocolate pudding + chocolate mint chips or even peanut butter chips....Just remember to run the chips through the food processor if they are full size chips.