How to Turn a Brownie Mix Into a Cake Mix: The Easy Way
So you want to make a chocolate cake. You go to the store, grab a box of mix, and drive home, ready to bake, only to find that you purchased brownie mix instead of cake mix. What to do now?
Going back to the store would be a pain, but you still need to make that cake. Well, I am here to help! Your cake dreams aren’t ruined yet!
On a related note, check out these tips for improving a brownie box mix.
Is It Possible to Make a Cake from Brownie Mix?
The short answer is yes. You can turn a brownie mix into a cake mix with a minor ratio adjustment. All you have to do is to play with the ratio of fat, eggs, and the leavener. The eggs and leavener should increase, and the fat should slightly decrease.
Also, if you ended up making the other mistake (getting a cake mix instead of a brownie mix), you’ll be happy to know that you can still work things out. You can easily turn a cake mix into a brownie mix.
When you look at what is in a box of brownie mix, you will find sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and maybe a few other small ingredients that are standard in packaged dry goods.
Cake mix on the other hand has sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda or powder, and again, a few miscellaneous preservatives. Notice anything? The ingredients are practically the same!
Yes, the quantities may vary slightly but the basic ingredients are identical. Therefore, we should easily be able to transform a brownie mix into a cake mix.
By the way, do you simply want to make cake-like brownies? Check out my previous article to learn how!
Difference Between Cake and Brownie
Brownies are much denser than cakes. If you closed your eyes and someone gave you a piece of chocolate cake and a bite of brownie, you would know which was which based on texture alone.
Brownies are dense and chewy, and they feel like a chocolate explosion in your mouth. Cake, on the other hand, is more airy and fluffy.
So when making a cake from brownie mix, you don’t necessarily want the density that comes along with a traditional brownie.
You want the fluffier mix of cakes. So we will need to make the brownie mix lighter and fluffier somehow. In other words, you won’t even look at the instructions on the back of the box!
What to Change: The Three Pillars
Three main things will need to be altered to turn brownie mix into cake mix. The beauty of the whole thing is that it’s not difficult to do!
A few adjustments to the fat content, the egg quantity, and a quick baking powder adjustment, and that’s it!
The instructions on the side of the brownie mix box will serve as the basis of our new cake recipe, but we will take a few liberties from there. Let’s take a closer look:
The Fat
The first you’ll notice when comparing brownie mix to cake mix is the quantity of fat. Brownie mix calls for more fat into the mix, which is one reason brownies are more dense than cakes.
So, to make a brownie mix lighter, we need to cut or replace some of that fat. One way to easily do this is to use unsweetened applesauce rather than oil or butter.
Applesauce will act in the same moisturizing way as oil but without the heaviness. So bye-bye oil, hello applesauce.
The Eggs
Adding eggs will help with the texture of the mix as well. Adding one more egg to your brownie mix will instantly make it less chewy and more cakey when baked.
So get out those eggs, and if your box of brownie mix says to add one egg, go ahead and add two. The texture will already feel more cakey at this point.
By the way, if you prefer not to use eggs, you still have plenty of options!
The Leavener
There is probably already baking powder or baking soda (which aren’t the same thing) in the brownie mix, but to make it more cake-like, we will need to add more. A teaspoon of baking powder is all you will need to take the brownies up to cake height.
Adding baking powder will make the mix rise more as it bakes. It’ll also make it much fluffier than any brownie (which is what you need in this case).
Add the baking powder to the dry ingredients of the box mix and whisk it together before adding the wet ingredients. Mixing before adding wet ingredients will ensure no baking powder lumps in your batter.
Extra piece of info: Do you know how to make brownies without eggs, oil, cocoa, or sugar? Let me show you how!
Time to Bake!
Baking brownies and baking cakes follow essentially the same rules. The brownie mix box often says to bake the brownies at around 350 degrees °F for about 20 minutes. This applies to our newly created cake batter as well.
The best way to tell if your brownie cake is ready is by using the toothpick test – stick a toothpick or knife into the center of the cake and see if it comes out cleanly, with no sticky batter attached.
A clean toothpick or knife means the cake is ready to come out of the oven! Let it cool, and then flip it out of the pan.
What to Expect
Your cake is now ready, but how should it taste like for you to know that you did it right? Well, it will look and taste just like a rich chocolate cake. In other words, fluffy, airy, and chocolaty, without being too chewy like a brownie.
While making a cake from a brownie mix will never result in a super light sponge cake or angel food cake, it will be much fluffier than a typical brownie.
No one will ever know that you used a brownie mix, I swear!
Final Thoughts
So, can you turn a brownie mix into a cake mix? The answer is a resounding yes.
It’s simple to transform a simple box of brownie mix into a sweet decadent chocolate cake.
Both box mixes contain the same ingredients, so a brownie mix quickly becomes a cake mix with just the few adjustments we mentioned.
So next time you come home with a box of brownie mix by accident and need to make a cake, don’t worry! You will be eating cake in no time!
Now that you’re in a baking hacks mood, why don’t you check out my post about hacking a boxed cake mix?
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.
My brownie mix says to add the same amount of oil as in a cake mix. Do I still need to reduce the fat content?
Great question Karen! I still recommend swapping the oil with applesauce if you happen to have some applesauce around the house. That will definitely help make your brownies more cake-like. That being said, you’ll probably be fine if you just add an egg and some baking powder. That’s actually the advice that you’ll find on a lot of other sites. The applesauce just helps a bit more.
what if you don’t have applesauce? If I go to the store I might as well get a chocolate cake mix?
Thanks
Do I still add the water from the box directions?
Good question! Yes, you should still add the water as instructed on the box.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! Tried it and it turned out great!
Thanks for sharing, Doua! That’s great to hear!
HOW MUCH applesauce relative each oz or whatever of oil called for?
Good question, Mike. Replacing oil with applesauce is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is replace the oil at a 1:1 ratio. So if your recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil, use 1/2 cup of applesauce instead. I hope that helps!
My gosh I just stumbled across this site and WOW I’m so happy I did…. I never knew I could make brownies more cake like, I’m probably the odd ball that doesn’t care for chewy gummy brownies. Thank You so much for sharing all this information and I love that you’ve gone into details.
Thanks for the kind words, Abby! We definitely all have personal preferences for taste, texture, etc. when it comes to food, so it’s always great to have options. I’m glad you found the information helpful!
I’m crying cause I did everything you said and my cake came out like it had too much water. I actually put less applesauce and less water than required and added one extra Extra egg because the eggs was too small. So what happened??? 😢😢😢😢
I TAKE IT BACK!!!!!! I TAKE IT BACK!!!!! I let my cake bake longer and it looks great!!!!!!! Nice and fluffy!! 🤠 I forgot to tell you I added banana instant pudding to the mix! I’ll be back to share with you how it taste!!! This is my first ever to bake this way!!! I’m excited 🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠
Hi Brenda, That’s great to hear! It always takes a little bit of experimenting to get things to come out just right when swapping ingredients. I’m glad the texture turned out nice. I hope the taste did as well 🙂
HI…I am making the cake now…from Brownie mix…ty for the ideas…what about mixing? Should I mix a lot or like a brownie?
ty
Hi, Ann!
Sorry for the delay. I would mix it thoroughly, like a cake, and make sure you get all the lumps out. I hope it turns out well!
I love your idea momma. I’m a person who doesn’t have brownies on the top of my list of cheat items. Thanks for letting us not-in-the-loop mommies know that there’s a better way to use brownie mix than making brownies with it.
I’d like to ask you: I want to use 1 box of brownie mix, and then I’d like to add flour, shredded coconut, and chopped walnuts. what would be my new ratios??
Hi, Liahni!
Of course! I’m glad I could help.
As far as adding to the box of brownie mix, I have not done a whole lot of experimenting with adding flour. I imagine that you could do so in moderate quantities (like a half cup or so) without having to add to much to the mix. Don’t quote me on that though! I’d have to try it out myself to be sure.
With the coconut and the walnuts, that is going to be completely based on preference, but I would add a 1/2 cup to a full cup of both coconut and walnuts. It will fill out the batter a bit better, and you wouldn’t have to add anything to it other than what needs to be changed to make it like a cake.
Good luck! I hope it turns out well. I will let you know if I am able to test it out myself!
i knew it could be done I have 4 boxes of brownie mix so im going to be a masterbaker thank you {on my way to the store for apple sauce and baking soda }
I went back to the store and got baking powder I masterbake enough to know powder is better than soda
Hi, Marty!!
Good luck!! I hope they turn out well!
I’m out of applesauce what do I use
Hi, Tracy!
There are definitely other options to the applesauce. You can try banana (mashed – may change flavor), zucchini (cooked, unseasoned, and pureed), or a stone fruit (cooked and pureed peaches, pears, apricots – may also change flavor). You would substitute 3/4 to 1 cup per cup of oil, with the zucchini at 3/4 cup.
Give one of those a try! You could also just use the oil the mix calls for, if you aren’t concerned about the calories.
My boxed brownie called for 2 eggs, so I was thinking u doubled…putting in oven now. Praying that it’ll be fine. I used 3 lgb eggs and 1 small. Ty great recipes.
After adding all the extras would you still bake it at the temperature on the box?
Hi, Samantha!
Yes, you would typically bake it at the same temperature as what the box says (usually around 350 degrees). Good luck!
ummm do i still put water in this brownie recipe??
Hi, Jenni!
Yes, I would go ahead and add the water to it too. Good luck!
Hi Sarah: What is the ratio of applesauce to use in place of butter? How much applesauce would you use if you wanted to cut the amount of butter in half or by a quarter?
Hi, Larry!
You’ll want to use a 1:1 ratio when using applesauce to replace butter.
Thank you so much for posting this–really very helpful. I used a gluten free yellow cake mix but evidently it was smaller than a regular cake mix so was only enough for half of the snow person cake I was baking. The only other thing I had on hand was a gluten free brownie mix. In a panic I searched for ideas on how to adapt a brownie mix to cake and found your posting. It turned out beautifully–rich and wonderful. I used the applesauce, baking powder and extra egg as you recommended so thought I’d let you know your tips work with gluten free mixes as well. Thank you again!!! Kika
Hi, Kris!!
I’m so glad to hear that! I’ve dabbled a bit with gluten free mixes, but I hadn’t tried this trick on a brownie mix. It’s great that it worked out for you!
This is what I did: 1 PKG brownie mix, 1 c. AP flour, 1tsp. Baking soda, 1 1/2tsp baking powder, 1tsp. Vanilla, 1/2c. Milk (sour cream or yogurt ok too),2/3 c. oil, 1/4c coffee, 3 eggs separated(whip whites to almost stiff peak), combine all dry ingredients, combine all wet except whites. Beat until mixed & fold in whites. Fill NO more than 1/2full in muffin cups(if you want to add more DON’T) they rise absolutely perfect. Makes exactly 28 cupcakes.
Wonderful! Thanks so much!
For the love of god.. get to. the point. You don’t need to write a novel to explain something so simple.
And you don’t need to write a comment to complain about something so minor.
@Melissa, If you don’t like to read you can look for advice elsewhere. Don’t be rude to someone helping you.
An actual recipe with list of ingredients at the end would be helpful. Clearly I’m looking at this because I don’t have time to go to the store and am looking for a quick solution. I found another that I don’t have to decipher.
Hi, HCG!
I apologize for not providing a recipe, but the recipes are really all dependent on the brownie mix you use. Thanks for commenting!
I make the normal brownie recipe as per the box + the additional ingredients you mentioned, correct? I just want to make sure I’m not supposed to substitute the box ingredients. Thanks for the clarification.
I just made the perfect cupcakes out of brownie mix in case you ever need it again
Hi, Chris!
I’m so glad they turned out! Cupcakes are just as delicious as cake, so I love that you were able to use that option as well.
Chris Blogett, how long did you bake the cupcakes and at which temp?
Does the apple sauce affect the flavor of the chocolate cake???? Because I have never heard of chocolate cake and apple sauce. Also, this website is amazing and this article is very useful. Especially during quarantine because I want some chocolate cake but I only have a brownie mix.
Hi, Jacky!!
The applesauce shouldn’t affect the flavor all that much. Just make sure you use unsweetened, unflavored applesauce.
This quarantine isn’t fun for anyone, so I’m happy I can help you get that chocolate cake fix 🙂
If you add the banana instead of applesauce is it also 1;1 ratio?
Hi, Kay!!
Yes, you should be able to use a 1:1 ratio, but if it doesn’t turn out how you expect it to, you might have to play with the amount. Good luck!!
It turned into a solid mass with no air at all. Less cakey than brownies. Looks like a block of fudge. Replaced the all oil with applesauce and added 1 extra egg and one tsp of baking powder.
Did I undermix, overmix?
Toothpick come out clean.
Hi, Dylan!!
It sounds like you’re taking all the right steps. I would try to mix it a bit more to put a little more air into the batter, possibly with an electric mixer. I hope this helps! Good luck!!
I only have 2 eggs and the box calls for 2 eggs
What else can I substitute for the extra egg? Thanks.
Hi, Carol!!
You can try to add a 1/4 cup applesauce or banana in place of that extra egg. I hope that helps!
I tried this and the cake from my brownie mix turned out amazing !! I didn’t have applesauce so added pumpkin purée as a replacement for oil . doubled the eggs that were asked on the box . added baking powder like you recommended and a little bit extra water to make the right consistency of the batter !! best chocolate cake ever !! thank you so much for the post !!
Hi, Manisha!!
I’m so happy I could help!
Really want to make this, but I haven’t got Apple puree, pumpkin or nothing like that. What can I use instead? Can I use custard powder mix?
Hi, Maria!!
If you have bananas or sweet potatoes, you could mash those up as well! I don’t know that custard powder would work well (it might add too much fat), but you could give it a shot! Even if you don’t end up with a cake, you could end up with some delicious custard brownies 🙂
What if i only have sweetened applesauce? Is it better to just use oil?
Hi, Stephanie!
Using unsweetened applesauce is only a recommendation to avoid it being a little too sweet. If you don’t mind a little extra sweetness, give it a go! Good luck!
Hi there. I know you said if it calls for one egg, add two. What if it would for two eggs? Add 3 or 4?
Hi, MallR!
One extra egg should be enough. Good luck!
Hi I was so excited when I found this site bc I wanted to make a cake and not brownies (only had brownie mix). I followed all directions and the cake never rose. It came out like a round brownie cake? What did I do wong? TY Mo
The boxed brownie I have is Annie’s organic, it lists Palm oil and tapioca starch, but no baking soda or baking powder in it’s ingredients. Should I add more than just 1 teaspoon of one or the other as leavener?
Hi, Shay!
I would probably stick to 1 tsp of baking powder. I haven’t used an Annie’s mix though. I hope it works out for you!
Hi,
I don’t have any apple sauce..can I half the mount of oil the brownie recipe asks for..will that work?
Thanks,
Prachi
I’m tempted to beat the 2 egg whites for flufiness and add the 2 yolks for fat content. Would you recommend it or not? has anyone tried that?
I really wanted more lift and a lighter texture so I added one extra egg white, not the whole egg, 3/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, coffee in place of the water, and the apple sauce. It really turned out great!
Not gonna lie, I was pretty skeptical about this, but it worked absolutely perfectly. I used Ghirardelli Triple Fudge brownie mix, omitted the fudge packet that comes with it, and followed the advice on this page exactly. Baked at 325 for 30 minutes, and it’s just like a cake. I needed a compromise for my SO’s b-day, between a cake(I don’t like) and brownies(he doesn’t like). Thank you so much for this!
We forgot to comment when we used your advice a while back. I have a severe nut allergy- found some mixes from aldi that are gluten-free plus other top 8-free. (Before we were ordering online from specialty nut free places but it was pricey) We get to make them taste closer to what we’re used to and have used your tips! Soon enough will try scratch but it’s a work in progress. 🙂
This is years after your posting but still needs to be said –
First, and foremost, delicious!!
Second, your post made the directions very clear.
Last, but certainly not least, thanks for taking the time to explain why the substitutions make a difference (even the links for additional info are cool!). Read thru some of the comments and saw a few complaint. Why complain about help given or something you don’t have to do? Some people. Southern phrase comes to mind – bless their hearts.
Could you use half oil and half applesauce with an extra egg and baking powder? I love fudgy, chewy browines, but I make ice cream cakes and want to try a brownie base. Made as is, the brownie mix is very hard to cut when frozen, but I’ve done ice cream cakes with chocolate cake and it’s much easier to cut, just not as rich and yummy.