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This moist, sweet and tender cake is easy to make with homemade vanilla cake mix. This decadent dessert can take on different yummy flavors like pistachio, coconut and more. Learn how to make One Cake 5 Ways – and they’re all delicious!
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One Cake 5 Ways
Today’s recipe takes one super easy cake and shows you how to mix it up into five different flavors! Each is delicious and super moist. Pistachio, banana, lemon, coconut and vanilla – take your pick!
So you may remember the Homemade Vanilla Cake Mix I shared with you a few weeks ago. Well, I expanded upon that today and added pudding mix to the batter!
Like most cake mixes you buy at the store that come with “pudding in the mix!”, I decided to add some pudding to the mix. It not only adds moisture to the cake that lasts for days, it adds some fun and different flavors without having to change your recipe. I’m loving it! I’ve also included a couple different frosting options that are easy to adjust to the cake flavor you choose. One is a more standard buttercream and the other is a cream cheese frosting.
So to start, we’ve got our standard vanilla cake. You could certainly leave out the pudding mix, but it totally amplifies the vanilla flavor and adds moisture that lasts and lasts. I paired it with a vanilla buttercream, but you could change it up for the cream cheese frosting – or add some flavored extract.
Next up is the coconut. Again, so much amped up flavor and moisture. And with a coconut frosting – summer in a cake pan!
I also tried one of the new JELLO “Simply Good” pudding mixes in the banana flavor. I considered using the regular banana pudding flavored mix, which would totally work too, but I loved the idea of a more natural banana flavor. It was perfect in this cake! And when paired with the cream cheese frosting – it’s the jam!
Another delicious option is the pistachio pudding. Such a great way to give a cake some pistachio flavor! I topped it with some cream cheese frosting with a little honey mixed in and some chopped up pistachios. I’d be lying if I said I’m not slightly in love with pistachios these days, and this cake just made them even better!
And last, but not least – lemon! Citrus can be tricky when baked into a cake, so this is a great, easy way to make a moist and easy lemon cake. It’s perfect with a cream cheese frosting – yum!
I did try a few other pudding flavors, but these were the ones I found to be most successful. One I really wanted to work out well was the butterscotch and sadly, even though it baked fine, the flavor didn’t come through. 🙁
All five cake options are delicious and super easy to make! It’s such a great way to mix up a cake flavor without a lot of fuss. Plus, the cakes are super moist! I hope you have fun switching it up!
Watch How To Make Them
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One Cake 5 Ways
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This moist, sweet and tender cake is easy to make with homemade vanilla cake mix. This decadent dessert can take on different yummy flavors like pistachio, coconut and more. Learn how to make One Cake 5 Ways – and they’re all delicious!
Ingredients
CAKE MIX
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3.4 oz instant pudding mix*
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) hot water
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 3/4 cup (168g) butter
- 1/2 cup (95g) shortening
- 5 cups (575g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp flavored extract
- 3 tbsp (34ml) water or milk**
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 8 oz (226g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (57g) butter, room temperature
- 4 1/2 cups (518g) powdered sugar
- 2–3 tbsp (30-45ml) water or milk**
Instructions
TO MAKE THE CAKE:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and grease a 9×13 inch cake pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pudding mix in a large mixer bowl.
3. Add the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs to a medium sized bowl and combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
6. Slowly add the hot water to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
7. Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
TO MAKE THE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
1. Combine the butter and shortening in a large mixer bowl and mix until smooth.
2. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Add the flavor extract of your choosing (vanilla, coconut, etc) and the water or milk and mix until smooth.
4. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
5. Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake.
TO MAKE THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1. Combine the cream cheese and butter in a large mixer bowl and mix until smooth.
2. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Add the water or milk and mix until smooth.
4. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
5. Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake.
Notes
Feel free to use the pudding mix of your choice. I used Jello brand and found vanilla, coconut cream, banana, pistachio and lemon to work the best.
The milk or water can be replaced with another flavoring, such as honey, lemon juice or something else to add additional flavor to the frosting.
Makes 12-16 servings.
Nutrition info is for any flavor of cake with buttercream frosting.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 689
- Sugar: 93.8 g
- Sodium: 536.2 mg
- Fat: 26 g
- Carbohydrates: 112.7 g
- Protein: 3.9 g
- Cholesterol: 53.1 mg
Enjoy!
Wow it looks divine and delicious
Hi! Can I use this recipe for cupcakes? I hope so! Looks so good!
Yes, you can find that recipe here. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/moist-vanilla-cupcakes/
Can I use these recipes to make cupcakes?
Yes, you can find that vanilla cupcake recipe here.
I made this cake last night. The flavor was amazing but the cake itself turned out super dense and a little on the chewy side. (Even though it was very dense the flavor was so good I would totally make it again) Usually my cakes turn out light and fluffy so I’m not entirely sure where I went wrong. I’d like to try it again with some of the variations so any suggestions would be appreciated.
That is a great recipe but i have egg allergy.. Can i add this pudding mix to eggless cake recipe? Do you think it works?
You could try it. Usually adding pudding mix to things is alright.
Can this be done with a 12×17 sheet cake?
double recipe?
bake time?
I’m guessing it’d be fine but I haven’t tested it to be able to say on alterations.
Hi there, love this recipe and would like to know if I can bake it is 9″ round cake pans and if so how many cake pans do I need 2 or 3?
It should be fine in 9 inch pans. I’d try two layers.
Hi! What alterations should I make if I want to do a chocolate version?
I would check out this chocolate cake. It’s very similar. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/best-chocolate-cake/
Hi, yr video states baking soda, however, your written recipe shows baking powder, could you please clarify which powder to use.
Thanks
Follow the written recipe.
Do you have a chocolate version of this recipe with chocolate pudding mix?
I don’t. I’m sorry.
Could you please make it? This recipe of yours is a hit, a chocolate version would be to die for.
Hi, I want to bake using banana flavoured pudding mix but wondered if I could add 1-2 ripe mashed bananas too for that real touch of banana, or would that affect the end result? Thanks
The bananas would mess with the batter, so you may need to make other adjustments as well.
Hi – I’m baking this right now and it’s in the oven, but the cake mix smelled like corn bread. Is that normal?
Helllo. Decided to make this my for a birthday. Just wanna know do I have to change the recipe for 3*9 inches pan?and also can I make this in advance and put it in the freezer? Thanks
It really just depends on how tall you want your cake to be. You could leave it as is, but it wouldn’t be a super tall cake. I haven’t tried freezing it, but generally that’s fine. Just wrap the cake well and thaw it in the fridge.
I would like to make this recipe since I have been searching for from-scratch cake mix recipes with pudding mix added in. I noticed between your vanilla cake mix recipe and this one, the added sugar remains the same (2 cups). The added sweetness from the pudding mix is not adjusted, so I am concerned about this recipe coming out too sweet. Is this not the case?
I didn’t notice it being a problem.
Paula Dean has a fabulous strawberry cake recipe made with jello and frozen strawberries. Super moist and flavorful!
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Hello! This recipe looks amazing. I was wondering if this cake will hold up as a 3 layer 6 inch cake?
Yes, I would think it should be fine.