Devil's Food Cake Mix substitute

Substitutes for Devil's Food Cake Mix with ratios

1. 2Chocolate fudge or dark chocolate cake mix

   Close match

   Use the same amount no adjustment

   The same category of product sold under a slightly different name.

   What changes

   Best for

   layer cakes, dump cakes, cake mix cookies, sheet cakes, poke cakes

   Not really a substitute so much as the same thing. Chocolate fudge and dark chocolate mixes are built on the same dark alkalized cocoa that gives devils food its colour, and in blind tasting most people cannot tell them apart. Chocolate fudge mixes sometimes run a little sweeter and a shade less dark. Use the box measure for measure, follow its own directions for eggs, oil and water, and change nothing. If you are baking a layer cake where colour is the point, this is a better choice than plain chocolate mix plus cocoa.

2. 3From-scratch dry mix equivalent

   Taste and texture differ

   1 ¼ cups (155 g) flour, 1 cup (200 g) sugar, ½ cup (45 g) Dutch cocoa, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 2 tbsp nonfat dry milk, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp baking powder, ¾ tsp salt

   A homemade dry blend weighing roughly the same as a standard 15.25 ounce box, so it drops into any mix-based recipe.

   What changes

   Best for

   dump cakes, layer cakes, cake mix cookies, sheet cakes, cupcakes

   This is the one that genuinely rescues a recipe when there is no box in the cupboard. Whisk everything together thoroughly, breaking up cocoa lumps, then use it exactly where the recipe says mix and add whatever eggs, oil and liquid the recipe calls for. Two honest differences: commercial mixes contain powdered emulsifiers that hold extra moisture and produce that distinctively soft, fine, slightly bouncy crumb, so a scratch mix bakes up a little more open, a little more domed and a little less tender. It also tastes cleaner and less vanilla-perfumed, which most people count as an improvement. The cornstarch is doing the emulsifier's job of softening the flour, so do not skip it.

3. 4Yellow, white or vanilla cake mix plus cocoa

   Different taste

   Remove ⅓ cup of the dry mix, add ⅓ cup Dutch-process cocoa and 2 tbsp sugar

   Turning a plain mix chocolate by trading some of the mix for cocoa so the total dry weight stays the same.

   What changes

   Best for

   sheet cakes, cupcakes, dump cakes, poke cakes

   It works, and the swap-by-volume trick matters: if you just add cocoa on top of a full box, you throw off the ratio of dry to wet and the cake bakes dry and tough. Even done properly, the result is lighter in colour and clearly milder than devils food, with a vanilla note underneath that reads as a cheap chocolate cake rather than a dark one. Adding half a teaspoon of instant espresso powder and using Dutch rather than natural cocoa gets you most of the way there. Best in a poke cake or a sheet cake where frosting and filling carry a lot of the flavour.

4. 5Brownie mix, for bars and dump cakes only

   Taste and texture differ

   1 box brownie mix in place of 1 box cake mix, using half the oil the brownie box calls for

   A high-fat, low-leavening mix used where a dense, fudgy result is acceptable.

   What changes

   Best for

   dump cakes, cake mix cookies, brownie bars, cobbler toppings

   Be clear about what you are getting. Brownie mix contains far more sugar and fat and far less leavening than cake mix, which is exactly why it bakes fudgy and dense rather than light. In a layer cake it will fail outright: heavy, greasy, barely risen. In a dump cake, a cookie bar or a cobbler topping, where dense and chewy is a virtue, it works well as long as you cut back the added oil, since the recipe was written expecting a mix with much less fat in it. Adding an extra egg and a quarter teaspoon of baking powder pushes it a little closer to cake if you need lift.

5. 6Gluten-free chocolate cake mix

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight, plus 2 tbsp Dutch cocoa

   A gluten-free mix used in place of the conventional box.

   What changes

   Best for

   layer cakes, cupcakes, sheet cakes, poke cakes

   Swaps in cleanly for flavour, with two practical differences. Gluten-free mixes are often packaged at a different weight, frequently smaller, so match by weight rather than by box, and top up with the scratch blend above if you are short. They also absorb liquid more slowly, so the batter thickens as it sits, which means resting it for ten minutes before baking gives a much better crumb and avoids a gummy centre. The texture is slightly more tender and more fragile, and cakes bake a shade faster, so start checking five minutes early.