15 Quick and Easy Treats That Start With Cake Mix

Ice Cream Pizza
Photo: Allrecipes

Did you know? You can use boxed cake mix as a shortcut to make a whole lot more than cake. (Although you can make amazing cakes that start with cake mix.) What's on the list? Cookies, apple crisps, ice cream, and even cinnamon rolls — all made a little quicker and easier by using cake mix as a starting point. Here are 15 of our favorite treats you can make with cake mix, besides cakes.

01 of 16

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls
Shearone

How good are these really? Well, reviewer CASSLS has been making cinnamon rolls for years and always comes back to this recipe. Other reviewers use all different cake mixes to change up the flavors: spice cake, yellow cake, and French vanilla, to name three. And think of what you can do with flavored glazes.

02 of 16

Caramel Brownies III

Caramel Brownies III
abapplez

Start with chocolate cake mix, add caramels and chocolate chips, and get ready to dish up an ultra-rich dessert that satisfies all your cravings. Barb says, "Of all the caramel brownies recipes, this one is the BEST by far."

  • 21 Fantastic Fruit Brownie Recipes
03 of 16

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes
lutzflcat

Okay, so cupcakes are miniature cakes, and I said these hacks weren't about making cakes. But check it out, people — these are filled with jelly! To form the little hollow where the filling goes, you can use a melon scoop. This recipe can go to all kinds of delicious places just by switching up cake flavors and fillings.

04 of 16

Peanut Mallow Bars

Peanut Mallow Bars
sanzoe

Gooey marshmallows are sandwiched between a bottom layer of yellow cake and a top layer of peanuts, rice cereal, and melted peanut chips. Are you hungry yet?

05 of 16

Cake Batter Ice Cream

Cake Batter Ice Cream
House of Aqua

Yes, really. You can make ice cream out of cake mix. House of Aqua offers these tips: "I added 1 cup of yellow cake mix, which is just a little more than the recipe calls for. I realized after I began making this that the recipe required a ice cream maker, but have no fear, you can make this without one with success! Let your mixture cool in the freezer for 20 minutes and then pour into a large casserole dish or a cake pan. Freeze for 20-30 minute increments and take out in between and beat the ice cream with a hand mixer. I only had to freeze and beat the ice cream 4 times until it was done."

06 of 16

Quick Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Quick Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
jesselulu

"This is an easy, deliciously moist bread that my kids love and can make themselves," recipe creator Marian Collins says.

07 of 16

Gooey Butter Cookies

Gooey Butter Cookies
Sheri Louie

"These cookies are the best! You can substitute a chocolate cake mix for a delicious chocolate version. My dad doesn't like sweets, but he couldn't stop eating these." — MULLIN22

08 of 16

Quick Banana Nut Bread

Quick Banana Nut Bread
CoOkInGnUt

"I loved that this recipe is so quick and easy. Just dump everything in the same bowl and mix it up," says Tina Nielsen Yeagley, who added an extra banana to emphasize the banana flavor. You can also use banana pudding in place of vanilla pudding to the same effect.

09 of 16

Cranberry Bars

Cranberry Bars
Sarah Koethe

Yellow cake mix gets together with cranberries and brown sugar and oats and spices to make these tasty bars. If fresh cranberries aren't available, you can substitute canned whole cranberry sauce. That's what KZJNK did, and she said it worked just fine. Wow, is your kitchen going to smell amazing or what?

10 of 16

Easy Lemon Cookies

close up of Easy Lemon Cookies cooling on a grid
gotmac

Using lemon cake mix means you need only five ingredients to make these tender cookies. To make the cookies extra lemony, some reviewers bumped up the lemon extract or added lemon zest.

11 of 16

Easy Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp serving in a bowl with vanilla ice cream
Jennie Pelletier

Reviewers loved this recipe, and in typical Allrecipes fashion, they added their own twists to make it their own. Some added apple cider instead of water to the apple mix, some adjusted the amount of sugar depending on how sweet their apples were, and some added oatmeal to the cake mix topping.

12 of 16

Extra Easy Pumpkin Cookies

Spice cake and pumpkin puree go into the mix for these soft, cake-like cookies. The recipe uses applesauce instead of butter or oil.

13 of 16

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
bikerfamily

"Oh, man, these are good! I used lemon cake mix, and instead of adding water to the jam, I used lemon juice. The lemon-raspberry combo is simply wonderful. These came together so easily; they'll be a regular around here!" —Brandy Lee

14 of 16

Funfetti Cake Batter Rice Krispies Treats

Funfetti® Cake Batter Rice Krispies® Treats
Sandra

"These were ridiculously good. I think the bourbon is the secret ingredient to making these awesome. Everyone gobbled these up at work when I made them for a friend's birthday" —Morgan Lerdal

15 of 16

Ice Cream Pizza

Ice Cream Pizza
Allrecipes

"Devil's food cake mix is transformed into a cookie crust and topped with ice cream and your favorite toppings in this ice cream pizza, perfect for parties." —Julie Hubert

16 of 16

More Cake Mix Inspiration:

Too Much Chocolate Cake
Amber Dehn-Koenig
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