I baked a chocolate cake this afternoon and tried the "doctored"box recipe. I replaced the water with milk, the oil with butter, and added a box of instant chocolate pudding. The batter was so thick it barely spread. There was very little rise to the cake. I have the cakes cooling now, but they resemble thick brownies, not cakes. Did I do something wrong?

What kind of mix was it? Duncan Hines is the only mix that doesn't already include pudding. I usually only use 1/2 box pudding even then, because I don't like them too dense. I would also have increased the eggs to 4. Be sure and bake at 325.

When I doctor a mix I don't use the whole thing of pudding ...usually about 1/2 packet per mix & I always have to put more milk in..not alot more but just until the batter pours nicely. My cakes come out great like this all the time.

When I add pudding I also add one egg and one cup milk. Don't know if this will help, it sounds like you are using two doctoring processes.

This was Pillsbury. I did decrease the oven to 325. They smell good, they just look "brownie-like". My son is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and eat one of them just to be sure they're o.k.!

It'll taste good. Next time, just use maybe 1/3 pkg of pudding, an extra egg and increase the milk a bit. Check out www.cakemixdoctor.com and click on recipes and newsletters. There are some recipes on the site that will give you an idea about "doctoring".

What does adding an extra egg do?

Thanks everyone!

An extra egg will help it to rise.

As far as the pudding thing goes, do you only do that with Duncan Hines cakes since they don't have pudding in them, or could you do it with Pillsbury or Betty Crocker that already has pudding in them? Also, is it always a good idea to use only 1/2 a package of pudding?

Sorry I forgot to add that the 1 box instant pudding 1 egg ( or 2 egg whites for white cake) and 1 cup milk is added to two (2) mixes.

This has happened to me when I doctor up chocolate mix as well.

I use the extra egg and pudding with DH mixes all the time and it makes great chocolate cakes.

I have tired replacing the oil with butter, and the cake came out flat and not as tall as they usually do. I haven't tried replacing the oil with butter since then, because it worked better the other way for me.

I haven't used milk, but I have used buttermilk in place of the water with the chocolate and red velvet mixes with the egg and pudding additions and haven't had any problems with it.