Ellington

Made-from-scratch cake is worth the effort, but if you've been making box cakes all your life, you might need the equivalent of culinary training wheels before you feel comfortable riding solo. Even if you're a fearless baker, sometimes a box cake is better than no cake at all. Here are a few favorite ways of creating a personal cake on the sly.

Replace the fat: I use pumpkin pie filling or applesauce as a healthier alternative to all the oil that goes into boxed cake mix. When paired with spice cake, the flavors are perfect for cooler weather, and your house smells wonderful.

Jams/Marmalade: Jam and marmalade are cake's best friends. Heat the jam on medium-low until thinned, spread between cake layers, and frost the top and outer edges. Yellow cake becomes exotic with rose petal jam (found at Mediterranean groceries) and fresh berries. Chocolate cake and icing with sweet orange marmalade never lets me down. Garnished with chocolate orange candy slices, it looks and tastes like you slaved in the kitchen all day.

Infuse Flavor: Boil a half cup each of sugar and water until a simple syrup is formed. When it's cooled to room temperature, add a shot of white rum along with a few drops of lime and mint extract. Spritz onto white cake, and frost with icing spiked with a bit of the syrup.

Garnish the cake with mint sprigs and thin lime slices, and you have a grownup Mojito cake.