I invited 20 customers and each was allowed to bring 1 guest with them. I had a total of 40 tasters. I had them each taste 3 chocolate, 3 white, 3 yellow cakes as well as IMBC and Traditional Buttercream. They were aged from 19 - 65 and a mix of males and females. They tasted cakes and filled out cards which didn"t have their names or anything on them

Chocolate Cake
Double Chocolate scratch cake - 28
Hershey Cocoa Box Recipe Cake - 10
Doctored chocolate cake mix - 2

Yellow Cake
Ultimate Butter Cake - 23
Scratch Fluffy Yellow Cake - 12
Doctored Yellow Cake - 5

White Cake
WBH white - 19
King Arthur White - 19
WASC - 2

IMBC-17
Traditional BC-23

IDK if that helps any1 but I thought I'd share. It was pretty fun to do, and I will do it again next month with different flavors! I got lots of cake orders from it too!!

Sounds like fun... I just gotta know your winning chocolate cake recipe. Would you share?

Thanks for the heads up.

BTW, if you need any additional tasters, I'm available.

Oh I love this idea! I may have to do this someday.

Yes, I agree, will you please share the chocolate receipe?

What a great result for scratch cakes, Hurrah! I am a great believer in scratch baking so I am pleased to see that your taste panel voted those through. Was the fluffy yellow cake from Baking 911 by the way?

Great idea to do a side by side comparison

Hi all!

The fluffy yellow cake was not from baking 911 but I went over there to check it out to make sure and it is the recipe the have listed as scratch cake with box like qualities except that mine is doubled....so wherever it was I found this one had the same recipe only doubled...at least now I know it will work as a half recipe!

The chocolate cake recipe is from Epicurious.com it is a double chocolate layer cake...when u look for it its the one that calls for 3 oz of chocolate and coffee. It is SO moist and delicious and makes a lot of runny batter. I love it!!

I was glad to see that scratch came out on top as well. I thought it would be closer in votes with the doctored mixes but it wasnt. It was nice to do because then I can see which recipes to stick to and which to switch to!!!

We should get together and do a CC taste test. That would be fun and FATTENING!!

CupOfButter, thanks for the info. That is very helpful for me too, you saved me some work here! I was the person who posted the original question on Baking911 about a scratch cake with box qualities, and have been using that recipe for fluffy yellow cake ever since. Before that I would use the UBC recipe, but I kept having a problem with it being a bit gummy in to middle, especially if I added any other flavourings. So to me it is interesting to see that the UBC came up on top. Did anybody comment verbally on why they preferred the UBC over the fluffy yellow?

I was surprised to see that so many people preferred the regular bc over IMBC. I honestly thought it would be the other way around, but I am obviously very biased there. I much prefer IMBC myself so would have thought everybody else would too.

And the WASC cake that everyone goes on and on about here did not do well at all, that is a surprise. At least I don't have to worry about trying it out now.

You must have been baking like mad! Did you bake and freeze over a few weeks or did you make everything fresh for this?

Thanks again for sharing your results!

Hi!!

I baked everything the day before and served them in the afternoon the next day. The UBC maybe because my customers are used to that and may of just voted on familiarity. I personally like the fluffy yellow one better. I was excited about the WASC because all the raves but surprisingly it didn't do well. I didn't like it like I thought I would....still tasted like a cake mix to me.

I also prefer IMBC but I have found that here I have lots of customers who only order that and about the same who only order traditional. I think I have 1 customer who goes back and forth between both.

I am gonna try carrot cakes, italian cream cakes, and red velvet next so if anyone wants to suggest a recipe that would be great. I will try my recipes, doctored ones again, and 1 other recipe.

Sorry, I have never made Red Velvet so have no idea about that. I know Sarah from Baking911 has a recipe in her book but have not tried it. I recently tried Martha Stewart's Carrot and Ginger cake which is not bad, although her frosting was a total disaster, way too runny. Please post results from your next tasting, very interested to hear how it turns out.

PS. I am impressed you baked all that in one day, that is amazing! Your kitchen must have been red hot. Do you have a professional kitchen/oven?

Thanks again. I haven't tried that recipe.

thanks for sharing the results! i make the double chocolate cake all the time as my customers love it. can i ask what kind of cocoa you used and also, do you weigh your sugar? i always add 600 grams (3 cups) but i've seen some charts that say 225 is equal to one cup of sugar. reason i'm asking is because i always notice a bit of a "bite" after i eat the cake and i think its because i should inrease the sugar amount. thanks!

Hi!

What is IMBC? Does that stand for imitation b/c?

Thanks!

Camille

PS: CupofButter: I once found a recipe for Tirimisu cake. I don't have my hand on it now but if you were interested in making it for your next cake tasting party, I'm happy to locate that recipe for you.

Forgive me, but I'm new to this. What is WBH white and Ultimate butter cake? Where can I find these recipes?

IMBC is Italian Meringue Buttercream. It is a European style buttercream which is less sweet than American buttercream. It has a very smooth and silky texture.

WBH white cake I am assuming is a recipe from the Whimsical Bakehouse book, correct me if I am wrong CupOfButter. The recipe for Ultimate Butter Cake is available on www.baking911.com

WBH is Whimsical Bakehouse! I love that book!!

I do have my own shop with a pretty big oven but not huge. I have 2 KAs and lots of pans so i just start mixing and baking and it gets done rather quickly.

On the chocolate cake I just use 3 cups of sugar and don't weigh it. Instead of regular baking chocolate I use the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bars and I use a Vanilla flavored coffee. I love that cake! I use Guittard brand cocoa. I buy it in 50 lbs bags at the bakery supply for about $85.

I would love the tiramisu cake recipe...that sounds yummy! I've never had that kind of cake before!! THANKS!

Hi CupofButter,

In response to the Tiramisu cake: I pulled out my recipe and discovered it had come from epicurious.com so I figured you could get the recipe directly from there and print or download it rather than me copying it all here. When you go to epicurious.com I did a search under Tiramisu Wedding Cake and there it was! It looks delicious but caution, there seem to be a lot of steps to it. Hope this helps and if you try it, let me know how it turns out! It looks and sounds wonderful!

Camille

Thanks Camille!!! I'll let you know how it tastes!

Thanks for the information. I may have to do that here and see the results here. Love the tests results that you gave.

Great idea, I'm glad your scratch cakes were on top. I bake all cakes from scratch. I like IMBC but my customers don't seem to like it much. Thanks for sharing, can't wait till the next taste test.

I will be having guests over soon for a tasting. Neighbors have been smelling cake and asking questions so I will have them and others that are curious come and taste.

This is so helpful - thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to the results of your next tast test!

Cant wait to try the DOUBLE CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE, thanks for the link

And what a great idea!

That's a great way to know what people prefer as well as gaining some new business by having them bring a friend. Great idea!

I can hardly wait to see next month's results. Here's a link to a scratch Carrot Cake recipe that is the BEST I've ever had. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-Cake-III/Detail.aspx
I made some alterations to it because I was short on ingredients and was making a double batch. Here are the changes I made: 1/2 sugar & 1/2 brown sugar; 3 c. fresh grated carrots & a 4 oz. jar carrot baby food; 1 individual size applesauce.

Here's a doctored Red Velvet recipe: 1 Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix, all ingredients listed on the box, 1 jar red food coloring, 1 sm. box instant chocolate pudding. I mix all ingredient in my KA except the food coloring. I slowly add it at the end.

Oh cool! I love reading the taste test threads because they are so informational.

I too love to see the scratch cakes come out on top. I bake from scratch too and prefer a scratch cake to a mix (even if doctored). It's good to see that others feel the same way and cooler when it's a blind taste test.

If anyone would be willing to share the recipe for the WBH white cake recipe with me.. I'd be so happy. I don't have the book, but I would LOVE to try this recipe. I am going to have to save up to get this book since everyoen RAVES about the recipes.

What a GREAT idea...the tastings, I mean. I think I'm going to do that too...a fun party idea! Anyway, I get a lot of recipies from epicurious.com. There's another chocolate cake recipie there, that has become my all-time most requested flavor. It's the chocolate-stout recipie, and it's fantastic. It makes a large cake ( I double or tripple for wedding cakes) and is so moist and not too sweet.

Here it is...http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/107105

Oh, that is so cool and LOVE that scratch cakes win out. I have tried doctoring mixes and well, they just don't compare to from scratch cakes. I too was curious about the WASC cake, but now my gut is telling me right that it can't be as good as a scratch cake.

I need a new yellow cake... mine is too blah for my taste, maybe I'll try your winner!

Mleissa

thanks for sharing!! can't wait to try the chocolate recipe. i have to do a cake tonight to decorate for tomorrow.

Good info to know! What a great idea you had!

rikke_denmark & jkalman - Well now that I know what WBH means, I can give you the recipe. I will post it tomorrow, as I am at work and my book is at home.