Quick Tip #4 - Delightfully Dense Cake Mix

Have you ever noticed how light and fluffy every cake mix seems to be?  Sometimes it's great, but other times it's nice to have a delightfully dense cake that will let you add in a few delicious mix-ins to the batter without having them sink to the bottom.  Don't worry, I have just the fix for your cake mix to create a deliciously dense cake...YEAST.  One package or 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast turns your moist, bouncy cake mix into a compressed, pound cake like texture.  And if you don't have active dry yeast in the house, beer will also do the trick!

So, how do you do it?  Measure out the amount of water the recipe calls for, but make sure it's warm.  Add your yeast and mix it in until it dissolves.  Now add everything else as per usual (eggs, cake mix, oil, etc).  Now that your batter is ready, pre-heat your oven as directed on the package.  In the time it takes your oven to pre-heat, your batter will thicken up.  Bake you cupcakes as directed and you're done.  If you're using beer, just substitute beer for all or most of the water called for on the cake mix package.

I've used this trick in many of my cupcake concoctions, like my Strawberry Short-Cupcake.  Curious?  Stay tuned for the recipe later this week.