Most of us have occasions where we need a quick cake for company, but don't have the time, or sometimes the skill, to make one that would be good enough for company, and packaged mixes by themselves just don't make the grade. Here's the tried and true solution for that.

To your favorite packaged cake mix, add 1/2 cup of sour cream, it's truly a miracle worker. If you also substitute fruit juice for the water and add things like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or coconut, you have a cake that no one can tell started in a box.
For instance, starting with a white or yellow cake mix, if you add the sour cream, a cup of coconut, and use pineapple juice instead of water, it now becomes 'home made.' No one will guess it started as a mix. I have also added grated carrots or zucchini in the spice cake mixes, with great results. You can get as creative as you like with a variety of additions, but the secret is the sour cream.
I am a professional cook and have made many of them with great success.

If you are time pressured to use an 'instant icing,' do the same thing and add chopped nuts, coconut, etc.

Nikki Richards