Two Birthday Cakes and a Little Box Cake Mix Secret

I'll admit, I am not good at making homemade cakes from scratch.  They always come out dry and dense.  My sons were born 1 day apart - 4 years apart.  They actually could have been born on the same day!  My first son was 2 weeks late - emergency C-section and my second son two weeks before his due date since I was having another C-section.  It just happened to fall on the same day as my first son, Brian's birthday.  I asked the doctor if I could wait one more day - I wanted them each to have their "own" birthday.  So even though we celebrate both on the same day now, I still make two cakes.  Brian is getting a Devil's Food Cake with Strawberry filling and buttercream frosting.  I am using Rhondi's @ Big Mama's Home Kitchen homemade strawberry jam recipe for the filling.   Rob is getting his favorite, my Pistachio Pudding Cake.

A friend of mine gave me a cookbook with a little secret on the last few pages of the book.  How to turn a box cake into something special.  Want the secret?

If anyone loves to make cupcakes, and I know there are quite a few out there - Veronica @ My Catholic Kitchen made some gorgeous Communion Cupcakes!, I recommend getting the book, Hello Cupcake!  This book has adorable cupcakes for each season and every occasion.  In the back of the book, they revealed the secret to the best cake with a few secret ingredients added to the box mix.

Would you like to know what it is?

 All you need to do is the following:

• Add to your favorite box cake mix (avoid the ones with the pudding in it) follow the recipe on the box  and replace the water with 1 cup of buttermilk.  Add one additional egg.  

This gives a box cake made-from-scratch taste and texture!

I would have included a  pic of a slice of this cake but unfortunately it is no longer available.