The Cake Mix Doctor - Tapa dura

"The Cake Mix Doctor" is in! And the prescription is simple: By doctoring up packaged cake mix with just the right extras--a touch of sweet butter here, cocoa powder there, or poppy seeds, vanilla yogurt, sherry, eggs, and grated lemon zest for the Charleston Poppy Seed Cake--even the least experienced baker can turn out luscious signature desserts, time after time. The proof is in the taste, and the taste never stops--from Toasted Coconut Sour Cream Cake to Devilishly Good Chocolate Cake; from a to-die-for Caramel Cake and a Holiday Yule Log to cheesecakes, coffee cakes, sheet cakes, pound cakes, bars, brownies, and those all-important frostings, here are 175 fast, foolproof recipes that will transform the art of home baking in America. Who could believe these cakes came out of a box? Moist, tender, rich, deep, and complexly flavored, without a hint of artificiality, each cake stand up and delivers. But without any of the fuss of baking from scratch. Anne Byrn, an award-wining food writer and self-described purist, creates recipes that employ a cake mix's strengths---convenience, ease-of-use, dependability, and almost imperviousness to overbeating, underbeating, overbaking, and underbaking. In addition to the recipes are the Cake Mix Doctor's Q&A's, extensive "Doctor Says" tips, lists--15 Beautiful Birthday Cakes, 15 Cakes That Will Cash in at a Bake Sale--and more, all illustrated in a full-color photographic insert.

WHO COULD BELIEVE THESE CAKES CAME OUT OF A BOX?

By enhancing packaged cake mix with just the right additions, even the least confident baker can turn out signature desserts. From Devilishly Good Chocolate Cake to a to-die-for Caramel Cake to coffee cakes, sheet cakes, bars, brownies, and frostings, here are 175 fast, foolproof recipes that marry the convenience, ease, and dependability of commercial cake mixes with a dash of creativity, a spoonful of richness, and a cup of pure inspiration.

From the Doctor's Pantry

Flavor Boosters-Lemon zest, nuts, coffee, poppy seeds, grated coconut, unsweetened cocoa powder, peppermint schnapps, fresh strawberries

Making It Richer-Buttermilk, whipping cream, sour cream, eggs, yogurt, butter, peach puree

Offsetting the Cake Mix Taste-Dry sherry, lime zest, pure almond extract