Experimenting with Cake Mix

In my stash of cookbooks I have two that are focused on mixing up cake mixes to make something better or different, I found the idea for this little science project in one called 101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix. It said simply white cake mix one cup yogurt. Now I've seen the pictures all over Pinterest of the Greek Yogurt and cake mix recipe, so I was curious. Hungry Girl had a newsletter with 5 different substitutions for the eggs and oil in a cake mix, and I was curious to see how well they would work. Naturally I don't want to make 5 different cakes, but I figured a 16 oz cake mix would divide into 4 portions easily--and I could try 4 different ratios to compare.

The number one tool that made this work was my food scale--which helped me divide the cake mix and figure out the amount of liquid ingredients to add to each.

Ingredients: 

1 box moist style white cake mix
zest and juice of tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, and lime
unsweetened coconut
Egg substitute
apple sauce
lite coconut milk
pink grapefruit flavored no-calorie sparkling water
key lime flavored Greek yogurt

So I divided the cake mix into 4 bowls with about 4 oz in each. The mix is really lumpy, so I used a fine mesh strainer to break up the lumps. I chose a different citrus for each batch, and added some zest to each to pull out the flavor. The ratio is 4 oz of cake mix to 4 oz of liquid.



Batch 1:
Cake Mix
Lime Zest
Key lime Fat Free Greek Yogurt
Lite coconut milk


Batch 2:
Cake Mix
grapefruit zest
pink grapefruit flavored no-calorie sparkling water

Batch 3:
Cake Mix
tangerine zest
tangerine juice
lite coconut milk

Batch 4:
Cake Mix
lemon zest
egg substitute
applesauce


 The nice thing about this experiment is that each batch was just enough batter to mix up in my cereal bowls. I made these in my new mini muffin pan--and mini donut pan though I didn't succeed with that so used the mini muffin tin for most. It was difficult to figure the cooking time, so I think the first batch that came out poorly is partially a need for a few more minutes in the oven to give it more structure since it is so soft anyways.

The Verdict: The best is absolutely the one with the egg substitute and apple sauce. It tastes just like what one would expect with a cake mix made with egg and oil. It also has the best texture and color. Next is the coconut milk and juice--the texture was not as good, it was more crumbly and most didn't come out of the pans in one piece. But it still had good color, flavor, and more cake like texture. The soda one was very soft, almost mushy, didn't rise well, and had a more unpleasant taste. I love the fake ruby red grapefruit flavor, so it wasn't just that, they just tasted gross. The very worst, however, was the yogurt one. It was so gross that I put the leftovers down the drain. It was soggy, mushy, tasted off and while it raised more than the soda one, it didn't get a good texture. After these were mostly so bad, I wanted to try two recipes from scratch to compare. I'll post on those next!

A Pot Pie by Any Other Name...

So I started off with a plan--lots of veggies, chicken, a savory sauce, a nice top layer of crust. I even had two different recipes marked to follow, but as is typical, I wandered off and made something pretty unrecognizable to the makers of the recipe. The one really appealing factor in this recipe is that while I ate it all week long (it made enough for 11 lunches/dinners, and I added veggies to my eggs a couple of breakfasts as well), there was quite a bit of variation in what was on my plate. A versatile base, with lots of ways to build off of it. Take this as a model and build your own!

Ingredients:

 Veggies:

1 small acorn squash
8 oz baby bella mushrooms
1 red pepper
1 red onion
2 bunches asparagus
4 small carrots
4 stalks celery
1 large head cauliflower
2 small bunches broccoli
4 small red skinned potatoes 
1 clove roasted garlic

Meat:

2 chicken thighs
2 chicken breasts

Sauce:

chicken broth
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
3 tbs flour
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tbs spicy brown mustard
dash cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

The first step is epic amounts of chopping--each vegetable needs to be diced pretty small, so it will be small in the pie. I had pre-roasted the squash and cooled and peeled it. Once that was prepped, I heated the butter in the pan and added the butter and oil to make a roux. That cooked until nice and golden, and I whisked in the broth and the seasonings and let thicken. Then I added the longer cooking veggies--the carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, peppers, mushrooms, cauliflower. The chicken was chopped and added along with some more broth (I shouldn't have added as much as I did, next time I'd go easier on it.) This cooked down until the chicken lost that pinkness, and I added the broccoli, asparagus, and squash. This continued until the chicken was fully cooked, and the veggies had a little bite.

I divided the mixture into individual oven proof dishes (a new purchase that I LOVE--got them BOGO in a 6 oz and 12 oz sizes) After I'd split them up, I changed my mind and ended up just cooking 4 pies the first day and baking off 3-4 at a time through the week. The rest of the filling went into the fridge.

I used 4 completely different toppings for my top only pies--phyllo dough sheets, cauliflower mash, yogurt biscuits, and cornbread stuffing. The most successful, in my opinion, for eating over the week were the ones topped with the mash and the stuffing. Each baked for 15-20 minutes until the tops were done.

The Verdict: This is a comfort food classic for a reason--it is warm and satisfying. The variety of veggies provide a nice contrast of textures and flavors, and it allowed me to give into my desire to experiment whole heartedly. I love that I can eat a huge bowl of veggies, and have room for a biscuit or stuffing!

Buffalo Turkey Meatloaf

I was just going to do 3 flavors when I ran across a picture of a chicken buffalo meatloaf muffin and knew I had to try it. I bought a bottle of buffalo sauce a while ago and have been finding more and more things to put it on, and I had an almost limp beyond relief bunch of celery. So this seemed perfect!

Ingredients:

8 oz turkey and chicken sausage mix
1 bag (about 1/3 cup) baked potato chips crushed in the bag
1/2 cup celery stems and leaves chopped fine
half a green bell pepper chopped fine
1 1/2 tbs blue cheese crumbled
1/2 cup mushrooms and onions
1/4 cup egg substitute
2 tbs frank's buffalo wing sauce
salt and pepper
roasted red pepper
roasted garlic

Since this one was last minute addition , I was trying to think of a different binder to use to bring it together. I'd bought these individual serving bags of chips, in a variety of flavors, and I ate all but the plain ones--they just aren't good without some flavor added or with a dip. So this is not a bad use, the bag was even thick enough to break the chips through without tearing the bag!

All of the ingredients went into the bowl and got smooshed together--it was really loose and seemed like there was too many add ins to meat. So I added another bit of meat. It got packed into cupcake tins and baked in the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

The Verdict: Yum! The celery and buffalo flavors really come out very well in this--and topped with just a splash of extra buffalo sauce it is spicy and flavorful. The cheese doesn't really come out, and the texture is really loose so it is fairly crumbly. My naughty dogs really wanted some of this delicious celery filled yumminess, so while I was off hanging out with Alice, the two of them got into the garbage and dragged the remains of the celery out to gnaw on for a while. They were probably jealous that Huck got to eat a whole muffin!

Spinach Feta Meatloaf Muffins

For my third flavor profile, I went with what I think of as Greek flavors, though really it is more of just a lemony herby combo with some cheese, some spinach, and a little spice. I had bought some marked down spinach and forgotten it, so I cooked it down and threw it in.

Ingredients:

8 oz ground turkey/ground beef mix
1/3 cup oat bran
1/4 cup egg substitute
2/3 cup steamed drained spinach
1 1/2 tbs crumbled feta
1/2 cup mushrooms and onions
1 tbs roasted red pepper
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
nutmeg

Lemon Caper Sauce:
greek yogurt
capers
dill
marjoram
lemon zest
roasted garlic








Recently I hit up the bulk bins at Winco--which I've recently come to love, and picked up not only oat bran, panko bread crumbs, but a wide variety of dried herbs and spices. It is amazing how much cheaper it is, but it is also nice to be able to try a little before you invest 5 dollars on a bottle. I got dill, marjoram, rosemary and lots more. I used the marjoram and dill to throw together this sauce--a couple spoonfuls of capers, lemon zest, roasted garlic, the herbs, some yogurt to bind it, and some spice and salt and pepper. Very flavorful and fresh.

That went in with all of the meat and other ingredients--I finished with a grate of nutmeg, and mashed it all together. The bran was much finer than all the other binders I used, so this formed a very nice tight mixture. It went in the muffin tin and baked at 350 for 25 minutes.

The Verdict: Lemony and delicious! I might go heavier with the herbs next time, and more feta as well. The oatbran was an excellent binder--this muffin held together very well, and stayed moist and didn't have a strong flavor. I'm thinking I'll serve the leftovers like a pita sandwich with some cucumber and yogurt sauce--yum! Alice said she might try some when she was a grown up lady, if she likes meat, but her parents don't know how to make it. Fortunately, she can enjoy her own invention--rice and feta!

Pizza Meatloaf Muffins

I've had a jar of pizza sauce sitting in the pantry for a while, and when I set out to make different kinds of meatloaf this one sounded like a sure winner. Pizza sauce, spicy sausage, garlic, extra Italian seasonings, and a surprising hint of Parmesan really reads pizza. I took these over to finish cooking while hanging out with Alice here--she liked the idea of pizza, but meat in muffins sounded terrible to her--it has veggies! I couldn't get her to try any. Though she also thought the idea of adding carrots to cake sounded terrible.

Ingredients: 

8 oz Spicy Chicken Sausage/Ground Turkey
2 tablespoons pizza sauce
2/3 cup zucchini shredded and blotted dry
1/3 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/8 cup roasted red pepper
1/3 cup mushrooms and onions
1 1/2 tbs Parmesan grated
Italian seasoning mix
salt and pepper

I did a mix of beef and chicken sausage, so it would have that nice pizza sausage taste. I measured the meat into a bowl, I added all of the rest of the ingredients and went to work mixing it up. It went into the muffin tin and baked for 25 minutes.

The Verdict: The sausage was extremely spicy, so while it had a nice pizza taste, it mostly read spicy sausage. It also had a really loose texture, more crumbly than I would have liked. I think this could work better with a different binder, with less sausage, and topped with the pizza sauce. But it wasn't bad--I like sausage, and I could still enjoy it in pieces. Before I bake the rest, I'll try adding some more binder and more pizza sauce. [Edit: What I really need to do is mix the sausage in more--the rest of the muffins had a much milder sausage flavor, and the extra pizza sauce helped enhance that flavor as well]

 

Soy Ginger Meatloaf Muffins

In part one of my mix and match meatloaf madness, I went with some Asian flavors, spicy and sweet with all the flavors of a good stir fry in one little meat and veggie muffin.

Ingredients:

8 oz mix of ground turkey and ground beef
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
2/3 cup chopped broccoli slaw
1/2 cup mushrooms and onions sauteed
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tbs chopped roasted red pepper
1 tbs roasted garlic
ground black pepper

Soy Ginger Sauce:

1 tbs soy sauce (plus more to thin)
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp oyster sauce
orange zest
1 roasted thai chili crumbled
1/2 tsp honey

This would go together quicker if you used a prepared sauce--because everything else is pretty much prepared in advance. But this sauce is easy to throw together, and is similar to ones I've used in stir frys before. I whisked together the fresh chopped pealed ginger, soy, oyster sauce, orange zest, and the crumbled pepper. I did taste it and found it pretty spicy--but not too much is going in, so it shouldn't overwhelm the dish.

I did chop down the slaw, so the pieces were shorter--no long thin strands poking up everywhere. It folds in much better if it is smaller.

So I selected the panko crumbs for this--seemed appropriately Asian inspired. I used beef and turkey, though one or the other could also be used. I just thought the sausage might be too overpowering with the other flavors.

So I weighed out the meat, and then dumped all of the other ingredients on top. I didn't add any salt to this, since the soy has so much salt--even the reduced sodium kind I used, but I did add a generous amount of cracked pepper. Once it was all in the bowl, I got my hands dirty and squoushed it all together. This is one of my biggest visceral memories of making meatloaf as a child--the oozy goozy meat through my fingers. This is a pretty tight mixture, not too dry or too wet.

This along with the three other flavors went into a muffin tin--about 1/3 of a cup per muffin, packed not too tight. It cooks for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I thought about adding some more soy as a glaze, but it is pretty moist and flavorful. If you made one large loaf you could use the sauce as a glaze.

My sister had asked me to come babysit when I'd gotten about half way into the epic prep for these 4 meatloaf muffins, so I packed one pan with the four flavors and schleped it over to her house for cooking and tasting. After I took these out of the oven I took them out of the pan to cool, and one of the household residents couldn't wait for a taste. Mr Huck grabbed one of these before I could stop him and gulped it down in one bite. He definitely approves!

The verdict: This was very successful both texturally and flavor wise. The panko did a nice job holding it together, and the ginger soy sauce really came through. I added some extra slaw before cooking the second half, and that was nice. I served this with stir fried mushrooms, onions, the rest of the broccoli slaw, and some broccoli, with a similar sauce of ginger, soy and oyster sauce. It made a very nice and healthy dish. Plus the slaw was pretty easy to prepare both for the meatloaf and for the side dish!