Milk: Add MILK, not water, when your box mix calls for liquid. The milk adds density, fat and, most importantly, extra flavor to your mix. Egg WHITES: Not adding the yolks to the cake makes the cake fluffy and whiter!
Replace the Water
Instead of using water, substitute whole milk or your favorite non-dairy milk (almond, oat, and coconut milk work especially well). The milk adds fat, which results in a better flavor and density in your cake. If you want to make your cake extra rich, swap out the milk for buttermilk.
Milk does help to make cakes moist. It also does a number of other things in cakes such as helping to provide the proper texture and it enhances the taste.
Adding whole milk will give the cake more fat and therefore a better mouth feel and smoother taste. If you don't have whole milk, two percent or skim will do just fine- anything is better than plain old water!
In baking, it moistens batter or dough, and adds protein, color and flavor to baked goods. The most common form of milk in baking is non-fat dry milk (NFDM), which is dehydrated skim milk. The shelf life of dry milk is longer than liquid and easier to bulk transport.
If you were to replace water with actual real milk though its perfectly fine. In fact studies show milk rehydrates the body better because of its sodium content. Just take the extra calories into account unless you dont mind gaining a bit of weight.
Butter is always the best substitute for oil in cake mix. Butter is high in fat and will make your cake mix rich and decadent. You may even like cake mix made with butter better than when it's made with oil! Be sure to replace the oil with the same amount of melted butter.
Water vs milk
Milk produces a softer loaf with a finer crumb due to its higher fat content. It also gives richer flavour and browns more easily than a water-based dough because of caramelizing lactose sugars. It also has a longer shelf life due to the fat it contains.
Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery. The explanation for this lies in the fact that eggs are made up of protein.
Add an Extra Egg
Just one more egg will add extra moisture, fat, and a little protein, which means the cake will be softer and less likely to overbake and dry out in the oven.
Overbaking the cake: If the cake is overbaked, it can become too dry and may not absorb the milk mixture. What is this? Using too much flour: If there is enough flour in the cake batter, it can become too dense and may not absorb the milk mixture.
Add More Eggs
To get an extra rich and moist cake, stir in two extra egg yolks along with the eggs the recipe calls for (save the egg whites to make these delicious meringues). For a lighter and more airy cake, use only egg whites (and save the egg yolks for crème brûlée).
In a muffin mix that calls for water, can I substitute milk? A. We don't recommend using milk instead of water because the milk can make holes in the paper liners or the sides of the muffins.
Water has several functions in baking: Solvent: dissolves salts, sugars and baking powder so they can perform their roles as fermentation regulators, tenderizers, stabilizers and leavening. Hydration: hydration of gluten is essential for dough network formation and starch gelatinization.
Overall, changing the number of eggs in your cake recipe can alter the properties of your cake. Too few eggs will yield a cake that is overly compact and doesn't hold together will. Too many eggs can leave you with a spongy or rubbery mess.
More egg yolks can make a denser cake. Whipped egg whites and folding batter usually results in a fluffy cake. Cake flour also makes it fluffy vs all purpose making it dense. In my experience, cakes with butter are denser than the ones with oil.
Milk changes bread recipes by producing a softer loaf, due to the milk fat content, which also gives bread a richer flavor. Bread made with milk browns more easily than bread made with water, as lactose or milk sugar will caramelize as it bakes.
Milk is more hydrating than water
For example, milk was found to be even more hydrating than plain water because it contains the sugar lactose, some protein and some fat, all of which help to slow the emptying of fluid from the stomach and keep hydration happening over a longer period.
You can try any of the following: adding a 1 oz. package of pudding (any flavor that complements the cake's flavor profile), adding 1-2 egg yolks (along with the eggs called for on the box), or substituting milk for the water called for on the box.
Vegetable oil contributes moistness far more reliably, a result of the fact that oil remains liquid at room temperature while butter solidifies. Liquid contributes to the sensation of moistness, and therefore cakes made with oil often present as moister than their butter-based counterparts.
Water. You can use water in most baking recipes that call for milk. Use 1 cup of water and 1-1/2 teaspoons of butter for every 1 cup of milk called for in the recipe.