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Around here, we are always baking recipes using spice cake mix in the fall. The box already has the warm spices mixed in, so a can of pumpkin or a few apples turns it into muffins, cookies or a dump cake without pulling a single spice jar off the shelf. If you like shortcuts like this, I have a whole collection of easy cake mix recipes too.
Below are the best recipes using spice cake mix, sorted into pumpkin recipes, apple recipes and a couple of fun extras, plus a few tips for making a boxed mix taste homemade.
Most of these need only two to four ingredients besides the box. If you want the easiest possible start, go straight to the two-ingredient pumpkin cookies or muffins.
Every recipe below starts with a box of spice cake mix. Most of them need only two or three more ingredients.
Pumpkin Recipes Using Spice Cake Mix
2 Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Start here if you have never baked with spice cake mix. It is the mix plus a can of pumpkin and nothing else, and you end up with soft, cakey cookies. Cook Eat Go has the method.
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Allergy Safe Pumpkin Muffins (2 Ingredients)
Same two-ingredient idea, baked as muffins, and with no eggs or oil added. That makes these a handy one for a class party or a friend with egg allergies. Check the cake mix label for your own allergy needs. From Home and Plate.
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Weight Watchers Spice Cake Pumpkin Muffins
A lighter take on the pumpkin muffin for anyone counting points. Cook Eat Go keeps it to a short ingredient list, so it is still a weeknight kind of bake.
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Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake Mix Muffins
Four ingredients: spice cake mix, a can of pumpkin, a splash of milk and mini chocolate chips. The chocolate chips are what turn a plain pumpkin muffin into something kids will actually pick off the plate.
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Pumpkin Spice Cake Cups
Little single-serve cake cups that are easy to pass around at a party. Simply Stacie builds them on spice cake mix, so most of the work is already done.
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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
Bring these when you want people to think you tried hard. The cupcakes are a cake mix shortcut and the salted caramel frosting is what everyone talks about. From Home and Plate.
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Apple Recipes Using Spice Cake Mix
Apple Spice Dump Cake
The easiest dessert on this list. Fresh apples go in the pan, the spice cake mix goes on top, and the oven does the rest. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream. From Diana Rambles.
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Apple Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing
All the flavor of apple pie without rolling out a crust. Crystal and Comp tops spice cake cupcakes with a homemade apple pie topping and cinnamon icing, and they are a good pick for a bake sale table.
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Apple Spice Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies
Cinnamon applesauce goes into the dough and powdered sugar goes on the outside, so they crack as they bake. They look much fancier than the effort involved. From From Val’s Kitchen.
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More Ways to Use Spice Cake Mix
Easy Cake Mix Zucchini Bread
A great way to use up a pile of garden zucchini. Spice cake mix gives it that warm cinnamon flavor without measuring out a cabinet full of spices, and it slices nicely for lunchboxes.
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Kitty Litter Cake
Save this one for a Halloween party or anyone with a sense of humor. It gets served in a brand new litter box with a scooper, which is the whole joke. Gross to look at, good to eat.
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Tips for Baking with Spice Cake Mix
- The pumpkin trick: stir a 15-ounce can of pumpkin into the dry mix instead of the eggs, oil and water on the box. That is the whole batter for the two-ingredient cookies and muffins above.
- Check the box size: most cake mixes are about 15.25 ounces now, and a lot of older recipes were written for 18.25-ounce boxes. The smaller box still works in most recipes, but start checking for doneness a few minutes early.
- Pick the right topping: cream cheese frosting is the classic match for spice cake. Cinnamon icing, salted caramel or a scoop of vanilla ice cream all work too.
- Add-ins that fit: chopped apples, shredded zucchini, raisins, chopped pecans or mini chocolate chips all go well with the spices already in the mix.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions that come up most when people start baking with a box of spice cake mix.
More Cake Mix Recipes
Which one are you baking first? On a busy weeknight, the two-ingredient pumpkin cookies are hard to beat.
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Thank you for featuring my Apple Spice Dump Cake!
I can’t wait to try some of these awesome recipes! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
What a great array of recipes for Spiced Box Cake. Living in Britain I have never come across one! But the sound of those Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars sound divine! Thank you for sharing with #FiestaFriday