Thanks for the break down of the water/oil additions!

I followed this, but my last (ok, my first!) batch came out as though I added waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much water, and it fell as soon as I took it out-even after an extra ten minutes of baking.

I am no professional baker, but I can follow directions very well!

Ideas??

I'm not sure what may have happened as I made many cakes from the 50 pound bag and all turned out fine.  Not doubting that you follow directions well and all I can say is did you weigh your ingredients?  I even weigh my water when I use the large mix.  The cups are not standardized in the US and it is better to weigh it also.  Try again and I hope all works out for you. 

Maybe that is what I did wrong-I measured, instead of weighed the ingredients.  I will pick up a food scale this weekend and try weighing.

Thanks Dear!!!

Ok everyone!

I did purchase a food scale, and did the actual weighing of the ingredients instead of mathematical calculations (3lbs=48 oz=6cups) and 3 pounds of powder mix was equivalent to EIGHT cups.

For anyone that wants to use the 50# Pillsbury bakers plus Devils Food mix for small amounts of cake (this made 28 cupcakes)

1. 4 cups of powdered mix (should weigh one and a half pounds);

  add 6oz. water;  mix on low one minute, scrape.

2. Then add 5 more ounces of water over one minute, then mix on medium for 2 minutes; scrape.

3. Add another five ounces of water, along with three ounces of oil, mix on low two minutes; scrape.

The above made 28 cupcakes.  

I also measured the water on my scale, but it came out to the same as 5 ounces on my measuring cup....so if you have a  crisp line on yours, you should be fine measuring instead of weighing.

I hope this helps others!!!!

Shell

Just because you weighed something does not mean that a cup actually weighs 8 ounces due to the density of items.  If you would like to cut everything down then figure out what half would be as far as weight and ounces of water.  Don't forget the oil too, not sure how much it weighs.  If you go to King Arthur Flour's site there is a weight chart that shows how much things weigh, like a cup of shortening only weighs 6.5 ounces ( think that it what it is). A very helpful tool to figure out how much each cake costs.  Good luck!

Ano eggs?

No eggs, just as I wrote originally and be sure to weigh everything.

AWhat a great chart, thank you! I do as much as possible by weight and recipes that use volume annoy me.

Note that water is special: "a pint's a pound the world round". A fluid ounce of water weighs an ounce.

(there's actually a minute difference but unless you're working with massive quantities I can't imagine it would matter.)