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If I want to bulk up a box of cake mix or muffin mix, do I need to add extra eggs/oil?
For example, if I want to add ground flax to a brownie mix or oats to muffins? What if I want to add some extra dried blueberries to boxed blueberry muffin mix? The box instructions usually say 1/4 cup of oil and 1 egg, and I'm wondering if I need to double both or either if I want to add some more dry ingredients. Or is there maybe a max level at which I don't need to add extra oil/eggs, like a quarter cup at most of oats?
I know baking is a science and ratios are important, but still it'd be nice to have a way to make storebought convenience mixes a wee bit more filling or healthier. I'm used to substituting applesauce for oil in brownies, but I'm curious what else I could do with a storebought mix.
I experiment a lot when I bake, subbing for whole wheat or adding flax/bran to recipes to "bulk" it up. I don't use box mix, just adapt recipes and make from scratch, but the concepts still apply--
For add-ins that are whole pieces/chunks like dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, etc. there usually isn't any need to change the base recipe. If it's less than 1-2c total for a regular box's worth of batter, just fold them in after you make the batter. (If you want to add more, you still can, the batter would be fine, it's just a matter of how many nuts/fruit you would want per bite in your cake. )
I would say rolled oats are also something that can be folded into the batter without additional liquids if it's like <1c. Hemp seeds also would be ok (but would affect flavor)
Coarse-r grained/milled stuff like the ground flaxseed and wheat bran or wheat germ, quick oats, you might be able to get away with <1/2-3/4c without additional liquids. They will likely make the cake crumb more grainy though. Mix well into dry mix first and then add the wet stuff (eggs, oil, milk)
FYI ground flaxseed is often used as an egg substitute: (1tbsp ground flaxseed/meal soaked in 2.5tbsp water 'till thick = 1 egg) I haven't tried it exactly to sub for eggs in box mixes though.
Fine-grained flours can't be added in without adding additional liquid or you'd get a drier, denser batter. If you want to use whole wheats, they'd need to be substituted in, which you can't do exactly from a premade mix.
Grated carrots-- if they're squeezed of juice, you can toss them lightly with flour (1c grated carrots to 1tbsp flour maybe) and also fold them into the batter (I haven't tried with box mix)
Fresh berries-- toss in flour and then fold into batter.
For what it's worth, I think I've tried baking protein powders into recipes and the flavor isn't great. Once I tried to bake soylent powder into brownies and it did not turn out well. Do not attempt, or do attempt and tell me how you've also failed miserably.
There isn't much you can really do to make box mixes that much healthier, it's really the sugar content and the not-whole grain flour that they use, which you can't manipulate. Oil is not bad for you. Eggs are not bad for you. It's the sugar.
If you really want to go the healthy route, at this point if you're manipulating and finicking with box mix recipes this much, you ought to just play with recipes from scratch, there are plenty of recipes for "healthy"-er muffins/cakes/brownies.
What did you think of Soylent? I tried it for a week and could not stand the flavor. So to me those brownies didn't turn out because you used Soylent.
I actually don't mind soylent. I wouldn't say it's delicious, but to me it was drinkable. I don't buy it anymore, it was more of a meal replacement when I was in college. As for the soylent brownies, it was not the flavor so much as it was the consistency/chemistry. All I remember is that it didn't act the way I expected it to baked into a batter.
I know there's not a lot I can do to reduce the sugar or replace the flour in a box mix, but I struggle to get certain nutrients and so I try to sneak them into my foods where possible. It's less how do I turn junk food into health food and more 'Well, I'm eating this anyway, what can I add so my body gets something out of it?'
Your very specific advice on how to add dry/wet ingredients is fantastic! Thank you!
Oil in cake is for locking in moisture. More oil, more wet ingredients and moister final product. Egg whites provide structure, aka they keep the batter from collapsing. If you add more dry ingredients, I would compensate with some more egg. If you add flour, you need to also adjust the wet ingredients.
Edit: oil & sugar are both needed for having a moist cake
A friend of mine modifies the chocolate chip cookie recipe found on Nestle chocolate chip bags by adding one box of vanilla instant pudding powder. It makes them a bit fluffier/spongier-in-a-good-way in texture, with a nice small boost in vanilla flavor to the cookies. I'm unsure if she adds any additional moisture to the mix to go with the pudding mix, but an approach like this might work for ya...
I have done this in the past, it makes it more like a pound cake with that sponginess. I don't usually add any additional moisture or oil to the batter though.
In bread making, water absorbing food like seeds are generally first soaked for some amount of time to make them more tender and to avoid a dry dough. I'm not sure how this is done with cakes but some extra water or milk could be needed.
In a cake or brownie mix, I often use zero calorie ginger ale instead of oil. It saves a lot of calories and the outcome is just as good in my opinion.