What's The Diff Between These Cakes?
Decorating By letsgetcaking Updated 29 May 2010 , 3:27pm by cheatize
I am in a humid area (midwest), but I have found these hard bits in every box mix I've ever sifted...summer, winter...humid, freezing...doesn't matter. Other CC members have said they find the same bits, but don't know what they are. They definitely don't smoosh. And...they're spread throughout the mix. Even the first amount I pour into the sifter has them in it. It's a mystery! 
Next time I use a box mix, I'll sift it and take a picture.
JohnnyCakes1966, here is a thread on sifting cake mixes. - http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=606899&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0
No answers on what the bits are, but you aren't going nuts. Back then I didn't sift, now I do.
Wow! After reading all the posts on sifting cake mixes, you better believe I will be doing that from now on! Thanks everyone! 
Thanks 7yyrt. I definitely always sift my dry ingredients. I just didn't know if I should be discarding those hard bits or not. From reading here, some people toss them out and some toss them in. Doesn't seem to matter either way, but something tells me they're supposed to be there. They definitely aren't cardboard or anything like that. Hmmm....Maybe I'll take them to a lab for testing! 
I Sift
I Smush Down the hump (seldom much of once because I wrap pans with damp baking strips)
I flip the cakes out of the pans immediatly and wrap in plastic and let them cool wrapped..
And..
I toss out those little hard chunks!
People rave about the texture, moistness and flavor of my cakes. We had a party for my son's graduation and I had comments about how there wern't any crumbs from the cake. I credit that to wrapping as soon as it comes out--forces all that moisture to stay in the cake instead of steaming out into the air.
Wow! Thank you everyone for the wonderful responses! I will do my best to incorporate all of your advice. Thank you for sharing your recipe, Cardicard. I can't wait to try the push-down method and the sifting. Baking is so much fun!
Now I just have to do my best to switch out my broken oven coil on my own. DH is out of town, and I'm ready to bake!
Hopefully, it didn't go out on you while baking like mine did! Imagine my surprise to find out it's attached behind a panel behind the oven! I thought it was an unplug the old and plug in the new one in dealio, but that would be too easy, I guess. Good luck with it!
Nope, luckily it just went out when I was preheating the oven to make dinner. We've had stove top and crockpot meals for the last week. Yikes! I didn't know it could attach from the back. I am hoping it is just a "pop out the old, pop in the new" deal.
Yep. I thought it would be just like replacing the top burner element, but it's not. There are a couple of screws or something on the back that hold it in. It took less than hour for hubby to replace it, including cleaning behind the stove, but it's still more involved than I would have guessed.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%