How to Make an Orange Thyme Cake Using Boxed Cake Mix

IMG_6317-768x1024.jpg

One of my all-time favorite things to do when I have some spare time, is whip up a cake from a boxed mix and doctor it up to create something special! I just love to take something ordinary and turn it into something unexpected. And in celebration of my month of citrus I decided to experiment with a vanilla box cake and some oranges! The end result? A delicious Orange Thyme Cake with Maple Buttercream!

IMG_6219-e1556946520908-778x1024.jpg
 
 

THE MIX

For this cake I started with a Betty Crocker Super Moist French Vanilla Box Mix as the base. In general I find that this a pretty delicious box cake without a super overwhelming flavor. This really lends well to adding the orange and thyme flavors in and ensuring that they come through.

IMG_6499-768x1024.jpg

ALTERATIONS

To start, rather than preparing the cake based on the instructions, I make a few small alterations to ensure a more flavorful and moist cake. These are only suggestions and not required but I have found them to be fairly tried and true methods to making your cake taste homemade or bakery bought!

  1. Add 2 extra eggs.

  2. Substitute the oil for melted butter.

  3. Substitute the water for milk.

IMG_6240-768x1024.jpg

ADDITIONS

Now there are tons of flavor additions that you can make to a box cake. But for this particular one I really wanted to have something with a subtle zesty kick, which is why I chose orange! And I just love the aroma as well as flavor of thyme, not to mention that it pairs wonderfully with the orange! I added the following to achieve the perfect blend:

  1. Zest from one large Cara Cara Navel Orange.

  2. Juice from one large Cara Cara Navel Orange.

  3. 2 Teaspoons of Orange Extract.

  4. Leaves from four 6" sprigs of fresh Thyme. (You can substitute 2 Teaspoons of dried Thyme for fresh)

Mix the additions in to the prepared batter and place into your favorite cake pans. For this cake I used two 6" pans.

Another great tip, is when you are dusting your pans to prevent your cake from sticking, spray them with nonstick oil and then coat them with sugar. This will keep the cakes from sticking to the pan while also creating a delicious and slightly crunchy crust to the outside!

Finally bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes!

And that's it! Your orange thyme cake will be moist, unexpectedly exciting and most importantly, delicious!

*Please note that I had some leftover batter that I just threw into an additional pan and baked afterwards for the hungry mouths in the house that were denied this event cake!!

IMG_6235-768x1024.jpg

MAPLE BUTTERCREAM

I chose to frost this cake with a maple buttercream that I made using my Simple Buttercream Frosting Recipe. In order to change the original recipe into a maple buttercream I added a 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract and 2 teaspoons of maple extract! Just whip it up and use in between the two layers as well as on the outside. I chose decorate the cake with some cara cara navel orange slices and fresh thyme sprigs to round out this beautiful little cake!

IMG_6317-768x1024.jpg

Well, there you have it! A deliciously zesty, slight savory orange thyme cake that is perfect for any event. And it all started with simple box of French vanilla cake mix!

Thanks so much everyone and I hope you have an Aloha filled day! For more DIY party ideas head over to our DIY EVENTS section HERE!

signature.jpg