Momofuku Crack Pie and other boxed cake mixes

Lo and behold, you can get Crack Pie mix at Target!

I remember my dad asking if I’d had Momofuku Milk Bar’s addictive (best-selling) salty-sweet pie when we were living in New York—apparently Anderson Cooper had talked about it on his show. We were all too familiar with it… and compost cookies… and funfetti cake balls… and cereal-milk soft serve… and all the other goodies Christina Tosi and David Chang would serve out of their East Village kitchen.

I couldn’t help but try it.

My first observation? 13 Tablespoons of butter is a lot. You better be sharing this.

My next? The oatmeal crust was better than I remembered. It’s essentially like putting pecan-pie filling on top of a giant, warm oatmeal cookie. No wonder it’s popular.

Was it as good as the original? Very close, but I actually found it a bit sweet this time around. It was best when paired with a generous serving of just-whipped, unsweetened cream. (But it was definitely better than the one we had from the Milk Bar in Vegas—which seemed like it had been frozen.)

It made me curious…

Do you have a favorite boxed cake mix brand? Sometimes you just need to go that route!

I might not mess with the Momofuku mixes, but in general, my favorite tips for improving upon a mix:

—Substitute dairy liquid for water. I’d go for buttermilk!

—Replace vegetable oil with melted butter.

—Cut more layers for a better frosting to cake ratio.

Other tips?

P.S. A gorgeous way to frost a cake. And homemade versus store-bought birthday cakes.

[Top photo via the Milk Bar Cookbook]

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