An unexpected use for cake mix — cake streusel
Cake mix + melted butter = a crispy, crunchy cake addition.
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Last spring, I baked a wedding cake for two good friends. Before settling on a flavor, I held a taste test for them so they could try all the frosting, filling, and cake elements they could choose from: white chocolate Swiss buttercream, fudgy bittersweet chocolate ganache, dreamy whipped caramel, cloud-like diplomat cream, and much more.
“Okay, but what are these?” asked the groom, and took another huge bite of cake.
Of everything, what had stood out the most was the chocolate “cake streusel” I’d sprinkled atop the cake for extra crunch and flavor.
It’s a technique I picked up from Christina Tosi’s seminal All About Cake years ago and have been using in my cakes ever since. It’s simple: Just mix boxed cake mix with melted butter until clusters of crumbs form, like making streusel, then bake the crumbs until crunchy.
Christina employs this method specifically for yellow cake crumbs, but I’ve used it with cake mixes of all flavors: vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and more. Our Deliciously Simple Chocolate Cake Mix and Golden Yellow Cake Mix are both perfect for this — after testing several different brands, I found that these mixes have the best flavor because of their clean, simple ingredient lists (basically just flour, sugar, baking powder, etc.), which translates to better-tasting streusel. The chocolate cake mix has a deep, dark chocolate flavor that tastes almost like a pan of rich, fudgy brownies. The yellow cake, meanwhile, has ample vanilla notes and a hint of almond extract, so the crumbs taste unequivocally like a classic birthday cake. Combined with melted butter, the crumbs make for a sugary, buttery bite of concentrated cake flavor. And bonus: This method also works well with our gluten-free cake mixes.
I love using cake streusel for two reasons. For one, it’s an excellent way to add an extra textural dimension to cakes, providing some crunch to contrast with all the soft and creamy elements throughout. To add, you can sprinkle the streusel atop fillings in between cake layers, where they may soften a bit but still retain nice texture. Also, it’s a super-easy way to decorate the top of a frosted cake without much time, precision, or skill required — I simply sprinkle the streusel in a ring around the top of the cake.
How to make cake streusel
Combine 2 cups (290g) cake mix with 4 to 6 tablespoons (60 to 90g) melted butter. Mix by hand to form soft crumbles (similar to making streusel). Start with the lower amount of butter, and add more as needed to form clumps no larger than the size of almonds. Note: This method is quite flexible; you can typically add melted butter to any amount of cake mix a tablespoon at a time until clumps form.
Spread the crumb mixture in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake at 300°F for 15 to 20 minutes, until mostly crispy. The crumbs will continue to harden as they cool, so it’s OK if they’re still a bit soft when you remove from the oven.
As a bonus, cake streusel freezes beautifully, so you can prep a big batch and keep it in your freezer to pull out whenever you need to fill or decorate a cake. These crisp crumbs would also be wonderful sprinkled on other desserts: ice cream sundaes, chocolate pudding, or even a creamy frozen pie. But be careful: A handful of crunchy cake streusel straight from the freezer is also an irresistible snack, something I’ve learned the hard way.
Thankfully, it’s always easy to make more.
Pick up a box of cake mix for your next celebration, whether you’re making cake, cake streusel, or both.
Cover photo by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
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