Cake Mix Blondies

At a glance

What stands out: These deliciously sweet blondies are made with a doctored-up cake mix and loaded with sprinkles. They are a straightforward treat to make and reliable for a party or a special lunchbox goodie!

How long it takes: 5 minutes to prep, 25 to 30 minutes to bake
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl, 9 x 9 inch baking pan
Servings: 9

Blondies made So straightforward

We are blondie fans at our house so we knew these cake mix blondies would be a hit the first time we made them. How can you go wrong? Festive sweet blondies with lots of rainbow sprinkles will bring a smile to anyone’s face. You don’t have to be a unicorn fan to love these treats.

What makes them special:

• Seriously straightforward to mix! Blondies are straightforward to mix from scratch but these cake mix blondies are SUPER straightforward. You can whip them up in five minutes. Since a cake mix is the base of the recipe, you just need to add a few things to the bowl, stir everything up and pop them into the oven.
• Convenient when you’re short on time. While we generally prefer making our baked goods from scratch, sometimes using a shortcut like a boxed cake mix is a life-saver.

About Cake Mixes

There are so many types of cake mixes available. It can be a bit overwhelming. Choose the cake mix brand that you like.

For this recipe, we found that a regular yellow cake mix works best. A white cake mix does not yield the same results.

What goes in

• Yellow Cake Mix: Select a 15 ounce box of cake mix, not one of the smaller-sized boxes like Jiffy. We tested several cake mixes, like Funfetti cake and white cake, and found that plain yellow cake mix worked best.
• Vegetable Oil, Milk, Egg: Normal cake mix stuff, but you’ll use much less for these bars than you would use to make cake.
• Pure Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds lots of flavor to these blondies.
• Rainbow/Confetti Sprinkles: Sprinkles (or jimmies) add lots of fun and color and are straightforward to customize to match the occasion. If you love these festive cookie bars, be sure to try birthday cake pancakes which are adorned with lots of sprinkles.

How it comes together

Preheat the oven. Get your oven preheating and your pan ready. Get a medium-sized bowl out. You won’t need a mixer.

Combine ingredients. Open the cake mix and empty it into the bowl. Add the oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Mix everything up with a spoon. The mixture will be pretty stiff and not as runny as cake batter.

Fold in sprinkles. Use a light touch when you add the sprinkles. The more you stir them, the more the color will bleed.

Spread the mixture in the pan. It will be quite thick. Smooth the top out. If you want, sprinkle more rainbow sprinkles on top of the batter (as pictured). You won’t be able to add extra sprinkles once the bars are baked because they won’t stick.

Bake. Bake the bars, remove them from the oven, and cool completely (if you can wait that long). They’re easier to cut into squares if they’re cool. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk or a cup of steaming coffee.

Brownie or Blondie?

If you’re wondering what the difference is between a brownie and a blondie, it’s a matter of chocolate. They are both bars but brownies are made with chocolate. Blondies are vanilla flavored.
Blondie recipes: Try this straightforward blondie recipe (from scratch). Blondies are reliable for add-ins like these raspberry white chocolate blondies, or chocolate chip blondies.
Brownie recipes: Try mocha brownies, Kahlua brownies, or cream cheese filled brownies.

Ways to change it

• Select any color of sprinkle. If you want to celebrate an occasion, use a matching color of sprinkles. Try red and green for Christmas, pastel for Easter, bright green for St. Patrick’s Day, pink or red for Valentine’s Day, school colors for game day, and you get the idea.
• Add chocolate. Substitute ½ cup mini chocolate chips for the sprinkles.
• Add nuts. Instead of sprinkles, fold in a ½ cup of chopped toasted pecans.
• Frost the blondies. Try the frosting recipe in this cookie bar recipe. It works evenly for cake mix blondies too. Fold extra sprinkles into the frosting or decorate the top with sprinkles.
• Make cookies instead. Try our funfetti cookies, a straightforward-to-make sugar cookie decorated with lots of sprinkles.

Make Ahead/Freeze

For straightforward lunchbox treats, make a batch of these cake mix blondies, freeze in individual resealable bags, and put the bags into a freezer-safe container. They’ll be all set to pop into lunches. Blondies thaw quickly so they’ll be ready to eat by lunchtime. They’ll stay fresh in the freezer for three months.

Keeping leftovers

These festive bars keep well. After they’ve completely cooled, cut them into squares and arrange them in an airtight container, with waxed paper or parchment between layers. They’ll keep on the counter up to three days or in the refrigerator for a week.

Straightforward Bar Recipes

• Yield: 9
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 30 minutes
• Total: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 box (15 ounces) yellow cake mix
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup rainbow sprinkles, plus more to top if desired (see note)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 9-inch baking pan or line it with parchment paper; set aside.
2. Mix together cake mix, vegetable oil, milk, egg, and vanilla extract. The batter should be well mixed but it will be stiff. Fold in sprinkles.
3. Transfer batter to the prepared baking pan and spread evenly with a rubber scraper. If desired, spread more sprinkles on top of batter.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don't overbake the blondies. Cool completely before cutting blondies into 9 squares.

Notes

Cake mix: For best results, use a 15 ounces box of yellow cake mix. When we tested this recipe, we found that using funfetti or white cake mixes resulted in drier blondies.

Smaller pan: If using an 8 x 8 -inch pan, bake blondies 30 to 35 minutes.

Variations: Feel free to substitute different sprinkle colors, depending on the occasion. Mini chocolate chips (½ cup) can be substituted or toasted pecans.

Storage: Bars will keep on the counter in a tightly covered container for 3 days, a week in the refrigerator, or 3 months in the freezer.