I have found that if I add some pudding mix to my scratch recipes, it makes for a moist cake, not dry like my scratch cakes usually turn out. Would you still consider this a scratch cake?

Why wouldn't it?

I don't know, I guess because pudding mix surely has preservatives, articial flavorings, etc.

I would still say scratch

It sure is scratch with additives.

It honestly depends on your personal definition of scratch. (I am going to be flamed to death for this I can already hear it.)

Webster defines 'scratch baking' as "without using a prepared mixture of ingredients <bake a cake from scratch>>" Taken from the Webster Dictionary online.

If you consider a pudding mix to be a prepared mixture of ingredients, then technically no your cake wouldnt be from scratch. I personally dont think my customers like scratch cakes to be quite honest, to me they are usually drier and more dense, like a pound cake not fluffy and light. I dont really know why (cringes and waits for the flaming) scratch cakes are so coveted. I have made several scratch cakes, and they always end up telling me that the ones that I make with doctored mixes are so much better.

I know I will get in trouble saying this but, IN MY OPINION a doctored cake mix isnt a cake mix anymore. I am not following the directions on the back of the package, I am adding several 'different' ingredients, syrups, liquors, etc. I am basically just using the dry ingredients pre-measured and packaged. Which I see as a convienance more than anything else.

I guess what it all boils down to is that if it tastes good, whether it is from scratch or a cake mix or even a doctored mix who cares? All that matters is the taste and if your customer is happy.

PS I would call it a scratch mix even if you did add a pudding mix to it.

I have added a 1 & 1/2 TBSP of Corn Starch and 1TBSP of powdered sugar to my recipies with the same outcome as the pudding and none of the artificial flavorings! Dare I say it is moist, velvety textured and light...don't ask me why but it works. Shhh it's a secret!

mmmm.. by reading the back of the silly little boxes.. says food starch, sugar and flavors... so I thought corn starch and a little ps Viola!

Edit -
I must add to this... I always over pour my oil by 1TBSP too... who says the measurments have to be exact? oil=moisture (the starch and sugar just hold it in place.)

I know this is a sensitive subject and all but I just don't care what you call it or what people think. There is more to baking then throwing a bag of ingredients in a bowl. If people are going to look down on you because you use certain ingredients, so be it. I think it's silly.

I have made many "scratch" chocolate cakes - excellent recipes all of them. However, my Dr'd mix with sour cream, pudding, etc. is still the hands down winner with my family. Same with the french vanilla cake. I cannot find a "scratch" version that comes close.

And I am not going to feel like a cheater using a cake mix or pudding or chocolate syrup or dry van or whatever I can do to tweak my recipe enough to make people swoon! Cripes, what about adding the flavoring oils to enhance the taste? Is that now a cheat, lol?

I have a fellow baking friend who loves to snub my cakes because they are Dr'd. I used to be bothered but now I am just quietly baking away. Turns out her "famous" scratch chocolate cake is dry and flavorless and her husband told me (upon threat of bodily harm if I told her) that he loved my cake and wished she would change hers. She is proud as a peacock that her cake is all scratch......meanwhile people are spitting it out. How is that better than making a cake using other ingredients that is universally liked?

Don't get me wrong, I am not arrogant about the recipe, give me a break, I got it off AllRecipes. But I have learned that tweaking recipes by adding a couple tablespoons of either vanilla or chocolate pudding to everything from cakes to cookies helps with moisture, taste and shelf life. I took a 100 year old pound cake recipe from my Grandma (family favorite) and added the vanilla pudding and it is even better!

If you are running an organic business and touting all natural or vegan, then it's a different story. However, if you are just looking for an excellent, tasty product, tweak away baby! Tweak away!

btw, if you have an excellent, tried and true scratch recipe that people love, more power to you! I am not dismissing those. I am just saying that when I have my friends and family taste-test chocolate cake recipes, my standard Dr'd recipe always wins. But we are rather simple folk and do not have sophisticated palattes(?).

Most "foodies" and chefs will totally dismiss anything made with any kind of pre-packaged ingredient. Darn good thing they aren't my customers!!

I have no problem with people using cake mixes/pudding mixes as long as there is truth in advertising. I personally would be quite mad if I contracted with someone for a "scratch" cake and was given a cake with pudding mix in it. I know that many prefer box mixes and many prefer scratch. Regardless of your taste preference, for most there is a noticeable taste difference.
As someone who was raised on all scratch baking, all scratch puddings, etc..........I really notice the chemically taste in box mixes, whether they are pudding or cake or whatever. There are artificial flavorings and preservatives in anything you buy in a box. If I can taste the chemicals in it, it's not "scratch". However, if it wasn't advertised as "scratch" then no harm, no foul.
And just to clarify......it's not a matter of "looking down" on anyone. It's a matter of wanting what I agree to pay for. If I agree to pay a certain price for a scratch cake, I want a scratch cake. If I don't specify, or agree to a "boxed" cake, than that is fine too.
Heather

I sift it is with the dry stuff.

It really is a matter of taste and what people are used to. Sometimes someone is convinved what they are used to is the greatest thing on earth till they have them side by side.
I don't prefer one cake to another ..I like both as long as it is moist. Icing is another story... I only like home made.