It happened to me again today. I made a plain, no frills French vanilla DH cake and received "this is the best cake I've ever had" rave reviews. Yes, it's true that we eat with our eyes first and it was a pretty cake, but I feel so guilty when I get all of this praise for doing nothing more than following the directions on the box! I'm very slowly adding some flavors that are "doctored" and therefore "mine". When a larger cake is called for I use the WASC, although it seems borderline heavy to me. Every recipe that I've tried that calls for pudding mix was definitely too heavy. Here is a link to that "best cake ever".
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1307267
As you can see, it's nice but nothing extraordinary.

Well, if it works for you, it works for you. But some of my favs from the Cake Mix Dr (if you're looking for layered)

1) Red Velvet
2) Butter Cake
3) Strawberry (both of them)
4) Carrot
5) Banana

Thanks Dandy. I own the cookbook and have scanned through it considerably, but have to admit I've never actually used it!

Try them, you'll like them (wasn't that the Life cereal jingle?). But I don't mix as long as the recipes say b/c my mixer is faster than a walmart mixer. Let me know if you try them & how they turn out. I also like the darn good chocolate cake, with or without the chips & the batter is thick!

Would the dg choc. be good for carving?

And try the Snickerdoodle w/ cinnamon buttercream icing--very yummy!
(I've tried several of the recipes, and even got a copy of the book for my sister. So far, all of the recipes I've tried have been popular.)

My absolute favorite extended recipe is the carrot cake from the cake mix doctor. It has become a favorite among every one who has tried it. I've even taken out the nuts for people who are allergic to them and they loved it as well. I NEVER DO RAISINS! To each his/her own!

Toni

Love your cake. What did you cover your cake board with? I love the purple. is it gift wrap paper?

The chocolate syrup frosting!! It's so good!!

your cake is soo pretty!! ;D no wonder it tasted soo good!

The recipes that are my top sellers are FROM the Cake Mix Dr book! I love the Buttermilk Devils Food and the Chocolate Chip cake. I actually call that one Chocolate Chip Cookie cake (with only 3/4 cup oil instead of a full cup) cuz...well, that's what it tastes like! These one's are firm enough to decorate on but light and moist enough to taste good.

Pardon my ignorance, but what does WASC mean? And, is there a book called "Cake mix dr." where it gives you ways to doctor up a box mix to make it better? (sounds great) Where do you get it?

Thanks! Sounds like fun!

I LOVE the Darn Good Chocolate Cake...and the Snickerdoodle is great too!

funny that this question is asked today. i have had the book for some time, but never used it. i took it out yesterday and made the "Fiddler on the Roof" recipe. i just made a bunt cake to see if it's good/tasty enough to make for a future decorated cake.
I was not impressed. it tasted like a regular pound cake to me. Nothing to wow about. maybe it's something that i did wrong?
later , i blotted it with a rasberry soaking syrup to give it a kick. It is still on the dry side. My kids didn't really like it.
I want to try another recipe and see if maybe i messed up somewhere.

Ayanami--the board is covered with florist's foil that I purchased from CK Products. This worked fine, but their red bled into the icing! I now test all foil with a smear of BC before putting a cake on it.
I have to say this cake was a confidence builder. I officially "went into 'biz" in Oct., but have only done a few cakes. More often than not something has gone wrong, it's been a struggle, and I've not been happy with the end product. This cake was pretty much effortless start to finish. It took me three hours, which is a long time, but everything went smoothly and it helped me think that maybe I can present myself as a professional.
As for the Cake Mix Doctor, once upon a time someone here on CC made it her mission to try all of its recipes and report back to us. Sure wish that thread was still available! Meanwhile, even a few really good ones will be nice. I've thought I'd like to be a scratch baker just so I could say I am, but really why bother? Sort of "if it ain't broke don't fix it". I'm thinking by embellishing I get the best of both worlds.

I made the ice cream cake....not impressed at all. I think it was due to using the bundt pan....too much "crust" around a bundt cake. I want to try it again in 2-8" rounds or something that won't create such a "shell".

My favorite and most popular cake I do is the Italian Cream cake doctored recipe from this site. It is so good, you cant even tell that it comes from a box. I think it is the toasted pecans and coconut shavings that makes it better.

Toasted pecans and coconut, oh my!! I'm going to print that one right now!

I wasn't impressed w/ the ice cream cake either. I may try it w/ rounds, but doubt it. Didn't like the Fiddler on the Roof either. But the snickerdoodle is yummy!

My tip for carving----pop that baby in the freezer for about 30 min & then carve. i've done this w/ the Red Velvet too & not had a problem & it's a pretty "fluffy" cake.

I would like to try more of the chocolate ones, but I already have about 20 cake flavors. If you like a pound cake texture the Lemon is really good. You'll eat the whole thing while it's warm & I could just put that glaze in a bowl & dip the cake in it. Man, I'm getting some cravings & it's midnight. I better get off here!

Darn good chocolate is my favorite. Iced in chocolate ganache and everyone raves. Last week I made a banana cake from a yellow butter cake mix with a poured caramel icing and it was soooo goood. It wasn't the Cake Mix Dr. (which is great). If you can find Creme Brulee liquid coffee creamer try adding it to the dh french vanilla mix and to the bc. Very rich taste. Sometimes I like to open the lid to the creamer and just take a big sniff, relaxes me.

The ice cream cake didn't turn out for me at all. I get absolute raves for the carrot cake recipe, and I really love the snickerdoodle. I've never made the cinnamon icing though, I just use my regular vanilla bc.

Mmmmm.... snickerdoodles. Must clean my kitchen so I can bake!

I tried another recipe this weekend. I think it's called the "chocolate covered cherry cake" It came out fantastic!!!
Everyone loved it. It was very easy to make and came out very moist.
3 thumbs up for that one.

I'm glad this post came up, just this weekend I tried the Amazing chocolate WASC cake by cakepro. I have to give cakepro a big compliment, it definately was amazing! I paired it with the Chocolate Syrup frosting recipe by mohara. Talk about a decadent dessert!

just a side note...Congrats Steelers on your 6th SuperBowl title!!! Steelers Rule!!!

I love the darn good chocolate cake recipe. It's really gooooood!

Carrot and Black Russian are the most requested.

I did tinker with the recipes until they were a hit.

MaryAnn

malishka, i've been wondering about that one! Is it a dense cake, crumbly, light, etc? I'm wondering on the texture & do you think it would work as a layer cake?

dandelion56602 I think it is. I make my "test" cakes in a bunt pan. And it was dense enough for a layered cake. It was eaten in about 15 minutes. I think I had most of it. lol
Last night I made a snickerdoodle cake. It came out too crumby. inside and out. My kids didn't like it at all. i think it was a bit too crumby because I had used soy milk instead of whole milk like the recipe calls for. Anyone have an idea what I can use to replace the whole milk with a non dairy milk product? Soy milk just doesn't cut it.

HowCoolGomo1 can you please share the recipe with me for the black russian cake. Being russian myself, it sounds decadent.

Try www.foodsubs.com . I go to that site for Everything when I need to sub ingredients. I've never had problems w/ the Snickerdoodle cake. It was light, but not crumbly, so it may be the soy milk. I too would like the Black Russian recipe.