Part of the problem might be the type flour being used. We use exclusively cake flour (as opposed to all-purpose flour) for our cakes that contain gluten...cake flour is milled from soft wheat and has a lower gluten content, which makes the cake more tender and moist. All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat, which leads to a denser product.
I use Gilt Edge Pastry Flour for my doctored cakes as well as scratch. My preference hands down, the extended recipe. Recipe I use is, adding 1 c pastry flour, 1 c bakers sugar (extra fine), dash of salt, 1 c melted butter, 3 whole eggs, 1 c sour cream, 1 1/3 c water, 2 tsp. vanilla or whatever flavoring desired. If I am making chocolate cake I add 1/3 cup cocoa and dash of salt. I mix all wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in another, add wet to dry mix 2 minutes. Best doctored cake recipe in my opinion.
Edited to add; the extended recipe is added to a box cake mix, my preference is Pillsbury.
I use Gilt Edge Pastry Flour for my doctored cakes as well as scratch.
Pastry flour is similar to cake flour, but it has a slightly higher protein (gluten) level. You can make pastry flour yourself by mixing 1 1/3 cups of AP flour with 2/3 cup cake flour.
We haven't used pastry flour but it would probably make a denser product than the same recipe made with cake flour.
I use Gilt Edge Pastry Flour for my doctored cakes as well as scratch.
Pastry flour is similar to cake flour, but it has a slightly higher protein (gluten) level. You can make pastry flour yourself by mixing 1 1/3 cups of AP flour with 2/3 cup cake flour.
We haven't used pastry flour but it would probably make a denser product than the same recipe made with cake flour.
White Lily is essentially pastry flour, or it is if the person I spoke to was right about the protein count when I called to ask. She said it was 8-9% protein, so if you're looking for that you could use White Lily. I use it for one recipe that I make.
Not sure, it could just be a difference in sugar content or something to do with gluten? I'm being tested for Celiac Disease. I always eat chocolate cake but the handful of times I've had white cake mix I get ill within an hour afterwards and stay ill for the next day or so.
My mother thought it was strange because she remembered my Great Uncle had the same reaction.
In our case, it's the hydrogenated oil that makes us sick. Particularly my oldest daughter. If she goes to a friend's birthday party that has gotten cake mix cake, she knows to only have a sliver, but she invariably still comes home with a sick stomach. Or anytime she ingests hydrogenated oil, like the time she had one - ONE - cup of hot cocoa at Bob Evans. She was sick all night.
I wish there was a decent organic (or even if not organic, nonhydrogenated) cake mix that actually made good cake and didn't taste like corn bread. I've tried every non-hydrogenated cake mix out there that I can find. THey all taste pathetic. So I do scratch, but I too have the issues with my white and yellow recipes. My chocolate does just fine.
I wish there was a decent organic (or even if not organic, nonhydrogenated) cake mix that actually made good cake and didn't taste like corn bread. I've tried every non-hydrogenated cake mix out there that I can find.
Cake mixes by their nature contain only non-hydrogenated ingredients, the hydrogenation comes in when adding other ingredients such as margarine. If you're looking for non-hydrogenated margarine, I recommend Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks. There is also a non-hydrogenated palm oil-based shortening by Spectrum that can be used to make frosting, both are available at Whole Foods. (Most pre-made frosting mixes do contain hydrogenated oil, so you're better off making them from scratch.)
Anything's possible, but I doubt the hydrogenation is the source of the food intolerance. It's more likely a reaction to gluten and/or dairy.
No, it really is a sensitivity to the motor oil by-product sludge known in the market as "hydrogenated oil". (Or partially hydrogenated.) It doesn't matter what kind of food the hydrogenated oil is in, if it's there and we don't catch it, she gets sick. Baked goods, dairy, candy, snacks, frozen meals, non-natural peanut butter, the list goes on and on. We are insufferable label readers now.
We do use Spectrum (A non-hydrogenated palm oil) though, for those rare occurances that I have to use shortening and not real butter. As for my cakes, I'm a scratch baker by force because I can't find a good tasting box cake mix without hydrogenated oil.
I can't find a good tasting box cake mix without hydrogenated oil.
I'm curious, which boxed cake mixes contain hydrogenated oil?
There is a market for artisan cakes. There are too many specialty bakeries for this not to be true. Look at Flour in Boston, Cake Love in New York, Tartine in SF, Baked in NY, Alice's Tea Cup in NY, and so many more. They are not secretly baking mixes in their kitchens. I would be out of business if I charged my prices for box mix cakes. If the high end market is where you want to be, then stick to what you love and get your marketing in line with your product.
Costumeczar, you are so right... they are coming to you for a scratch because you are obviously good at what you do and you market to that specific clientele.
I can't find a good tasting box cake mix without hydrogenated oil.
I'm curious, which boxed cake mixes contain hydrogenated oil?
DH Deluxe French Vanilla cake mix ingredients:
Sugar, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil Shortening (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oils, Propylene Glycol Mono- and Diesters Of Fats, Mono- and Diglycerides, Polyglycerol Esters Of Fatty Acids, Soy Lecithin), Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate). Contains 2% Or Less Of: Wheat Starch, Emulsifier (Propylene Glycol Monoand Diesters Of Fats and Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diglyceriedes, Soy Lecithin, Citric Acid To Protect Flavor), Salt, Dextrose, Cornstarch, Artificial Flavors, Butter Acids and Esters [Milk], Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum.
Contains: Wheat, Milk and Soy.
Manufactured On Equipment That Also Processes Tree Nuts.
http://www.duncanhines.com/products/cakes/moist-deluxe-french-vanilla-cake-mix
BC French Vanilla also contains vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated):
http://tinyurl.com/28trayk
(Have to scroll down to cake mix nutrition information.)
Pillsbury Classic White also contains vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated):
http://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=295&prodID=687
And if one mix contains it, then the other mixes in the line can also contain vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated).
HTH
There is a market for artisan cakes. There are too many specialty bakeries for this not to be true. Look at Flour in Boston, Cake Love in New York, Tartine in SF, Baked in NY, Alice's Tea Cup in NY, and so many more. They are not secretly baking mixes in their kitchens. I would be out of business if I charged my prices for box mix cakes. If the high end market is where you want to be, then stick to what you love and get your marketing in line with your product.
Costumeczar, you are so right... they are coming to you for a scratch because you are obviously good at what you do and you market to that specific clientele.
As some other posters pointed out... you have listed cake shops in Boston, New York, San Francisco, etc. In a large city, the math works. I'm sure those cities can even take on more artisan shops... but in smaller towns, I fear this is not the case. And I am in a smaller town.
I am in a small town. There is a market almost anywhere. Any town with big houses, nice lawns, expensive cars, private schools, professionals such as doctors and attorneys, etc., you get the idea. You just have to structure your business correctly. I do not share my specific business plan but my higher priced scratch cakes would sell anywhere except depressed areas. I just listed those bakeries because they are books on my shelf.
I am in a small town. There is a market almost anywhere. Any town with big houses, nice lawns, expensive cars, private schools, professionals such as doctors and attorneys, etc., you get the idea. You just have to structure your business correctly. I do not share my specific business plan but my higher priced scratch cakes would sell anywhere except depressed areas. I just listed those bakeries because they are books on my shelf.
No, it really is a sensitivity to the motor oil by-product sludge known in the market as "hydrogenated oil". (Or partially hydrogenated.) It doesn't matter what kind of food the hydrogenated oil is in, if it's there and we don't catch it, she gets sick. Baked goods, dairy, candy, snacks, frozen meals, non-natural peanut butter, the list goes on and on. We are insufferable label readers now.
.
Could it also be the propylene glycols that are in a lot of processed foods? I don't know if you've looked into that, but someone pointed out to me that they're related to the polyethylene glycols that they use to make Miralax, which my daughter had to use after her surgery. If your daughter is sensitive to that it could be what's upsetting her stomach. Poor kid, that's the worst kind of "ugh" to be sick with, if you ask me.
And if one mix contains it, then the other mixes in the line can also contain vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated).
Thanks for posting that...we haven't looked at box mixes in a long time (too many allergy issues) and I could have sworn they were non-hydrogenated.
Before we got into commercial baking we used Cherrybrook Kitchen mixes, in addition to being egg/dairy/nut-free they are also non-hydrogenated.
http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/products/yellowcake.php
Before we got into commercial baking we used Cherrybrook Kitchen mixes, in addition to being egg/dairy/nut-free they are also non-hydrogenated.
http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/products/yellowcake.php
Thanks. 
It's always good to have choices. 
Thanks for the links and response. I was going to answer the question with "all of them", but your response is much better documented. 
I didn't even see there was a response to the question since I've been off my computer all evening.
DH Deluxe French Vanilla cake mix ingredients:
http://www.duncanhines.com/products/cakes/moist-deluxe-french-vanilla-cake-mix
BC French Vanilla also contains vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated):
http://tinyurl.com/28trayk
(Have to scroll down to cake mix nutrition information.)
Pillsbury Classic White also contains vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated):
http://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=295&prodID=687
And if one mix contains it, then the other mixes in the line can also contain vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated).
HTH
I'm fairly certain I've tried Cherrybrook Farms. My poor family has been subjected to every organic/nonhydrogenated brand I can get my hands on in my quest to find an easy throw-together box cake I can use when I don't feel like getting out all the ingredients. (I market my business as all scratch, but when I just want a quicky cake just for ourselves, sometimes I don't feel up to going all out -- you all being cakers likely know what I mean.)
So far they just all seem to have the consistency of corn bread. I personally don't mind the difference so much, but my extended family is so blastedly stuck on the mouth feel/consistency of box cake that they now always ask before having one of my cakes, if it's MY cake, or another one of my box cake experiments. LOL!
Maybe I'll have to pick up the yellow cake Cherrybrook variety and give it another try. I may have tried the vanilla cake variety, if memory serves, and it wasn't impressive.
Could it also be the propylene glycols that are in a lot of processed foods? I don't know if you've looked into that, but someone pointed out to me that they're related to the polyethylene glycols that they use to make Miralax, which my daughter had to use after her surgery. If your daughter is sensitive to that it could be what's upsetting her stomach. Poor kid, that's the worst kind of "ugh" to be sick with, if you ask me.
It's possible, but so far the only consistency I've found is the hydrogenated oil. I know that even things like chewy sweetarts have hydrogenated oil. I'll have to keep an eye out for propylene glycols now to see if there's a thread there. Bah. Something else to look for on labels now. I already spend an hour at the grocery because I'm looking for hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, and aluminum in every packaged food. It's so much easier to shop at places like Whole Foods, but my budget doesn't allow that to be the regular weekly stock-up store. So I read labels. Junk in our food is SO pervasive. My husband came across a funny quote the other day: "Eat organic food. Or as your grandparents called it, food."
You need to remember the old saying, the customer is always right....and in this case, she is buying the cake so you should give her what she wants...........I hate liver and onions ,nut others love it.....
So far they just all seem to have the consistency of corn bread.
A corn bread consistency is usually the result of improper mixing.
Handy cake trouble shooting charts:
http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu
http://tinyurl.com/32goqe
http://tinyurl.com/6c745g
http://tinyurl.com/6lpjww
http://tinyurl.com/yay22w
Measuring is also important...
Did you aerate the flour before spooning it gently into your measuring cup and leveling with a knife drawn across the top of the cup... Or did you scoop and drag your measuring cup through the flour and shake to level?
An excellent site for learning how to bake:
www.joyofbaking.com
HTH
The customer may always be right, but she just walked into the wrong store. It is business suicide to try to be everything to everybody.
Agreed. If I can meet a customer's requirements without significantly deviating from my business's standard procedures, that's fine, but I've turned down many customer requests due to time and/or process constraints.
Here's the main thing. By going into business for yourself you have already decided to become a saleswoman 1st and a baker 2nd. You have to sell your product.
I'm in San Francisco, and have been doing strictly online/phone orders with no storefront and no print advertising. When I started this I decided to be totally from scratch with a focus on organic and seasonal. I was a little worried about this at first, since all the cupcake shops opening up around the City were charging $3 or more for a crappy week-old cupcake that I know was made from a box... and yet people gobble them up. But I committed to my vision because I love the stuff I bake, and I feel the bar is set pretty low. My hope is to raise it, promote it, believe in it, and believe people will come.
I stress the quality and freshness of ingredients and the value people are getting by going with my cake while I'm still new. But most importantly, I have confidence and passion about my product, and I'm not afraid to tell people why I believe I'm better (which is essential if you are going to sell anything). I am honest about the limitations or differences between my cake, but I've also learned the science of why my cake is different and am able to explain it.
Specifically about your white cake problem - Here's something from my sales pitch... I use C&H organic sugar in all cakes/ Swiss meringue buttercream. The texture of my cake is a little heavier because of it, and because my cakes have no preservatives, they have a much shorter shelf life. So guess what I bring to my cake tastings anticipating questions? A sample of processed sugar and a sample of organic sugar right along with my resume book, so people can feel, taste and see the difference... and they get it. Even better? We meet next to a Whole Foods, and I'll sometimes buy a cupcake from them just so people can taste that overpriced "wholesome" junk for comparison. Visual and tactile aids always help support your pitch.
So my point: It took a few tastings and lost sales, but I realized I can't compare or compete with Brand X Box Cake Shop if I've already decided to build a business model doing something totally different. I make organic apples, they make oranges. If a customer wants oranges, they can go to the orange shop, no harm no foul. But people come to me asking for organic apples: My competition is their perception, sometimes they just need to realize what that is... Brand G crappy-organic-dry-vegan-gluten-free-scary stuff people have been programed to think is terrible. My sales pitch starts there and seems to be working for me.
Feel free to steal as necessary, sorry for the long post, and I wish you the best of luck 
The customer may always be right, but she just walked into the wrong store. It is business suicide to try to be everything to everybody.
You've got that right. I don't go to the Ford dealer and get mad when they don't have any new Chevrolets, I don't see what the difference is. Don't go to Walmart and expect a custom cake, and vice-versa. If you present your product so that people know what you sell, the people who want to buy that type of product will come to you.
[ I already spend an hour at the grocery because I'm looking for hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, and aluminum in every packaged food.
I had a client who was allergic to dairy. eggs, soy and corn. It was the corn that killed me, I had a list obout 4 pages long of chemicals that they derive from corn to use in foods. It took me about ten minutes to read every label and compare it to the list to make sure I wasn't going to poison her! I don't know how she ever ate anything other than fruits and vegetables.
[ I already spend an hour at the grocery because I'm looking for hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, and aluminum in every packaged food.
I had a client who was allergic to dairy. eggs, soy and corn. It was the corn that killed me, I had a list obout 4 pages long of chemicals that they derive from corn to use in foods. It took me about ten minutes to read every label and compare it to the list to make sure I wasn't going to poison her! I don't know how she ever ate anything other than fruits and vegetables.
Absolutely. When gas went to $4/gallon, and then grocery prices went up with it, we all assumed it was because of delivery costs. Not true, according to my GFS and Sysco reps, who explained it was supply-and-demand .... corn was being pulled from the food supply to make bio-diesel fuel. Less supply ... same demand ... costs go up. And since corn affect every single item on our grocery shelf, that meant everything went up.
chickens, pigs and cows eat corn, so every product from those animals ... meat, cheese, milk, eggs, bacon, snack foods went up.
I had a big explanation of this on the front page of my website when this was going on so brides would understand pricing a little better.
It's true of course that all our products have to be marketed carefully/properly. However, changing someone's palate to enjoy a denser white cake because it is better for them or for any reason is quite a fait accompli especially in smaller markets where there's less mouths/brains to fill/change.
The other flavored varieties of cake, not as difficult for the masses to appreciate in the more wholesome state because the different textures are more concealed in all the other goodness in there, apple, carrot, chocolate etc.
Some people prefer denser cakes.
American white cake is most often described and appreciated as light and fluffy and clearly this is due to the highly processed ingredients. And I believe this to be a nation wide expectation not easily undone. A person in a small market area needs to be very sure that their heart beats for education and change over sales before they embark on a palate changing crusade.
I think it would be wise to add it to the repertoire but also be able to deliver the usual expectation to make the sale and keep the doors open.
...I use C&H organic sugar in all cakes/ Swiss meringue buttercream. The texture of my cake is a little heavier because of it, and because my cakes have no preservatives, they have a much shorter shelf life. So guess what I bring to my cake tastings anticipating questions? A sample of processed sugar and a sample of organic sugar right along with my resume book, so people can feel, taste and see the difference... and they get it. Even better? We meet next to a Whole Foods, and I'll sometimes buy a cupcake from them just so people can taste that overpriced "wholesome" junk for comparison. Visual and tactile aids always help support your pitch....
What if you whirled your sugar in a food processor and sifted out the stubborn ones to whirl again another day? That might lighten your cakes a bit.
I really like Whole Foods German chocolate cupcake, they are awesome.
So far they just all seem to have the consistency of corn bread.
A corn bread consistency is usually the result of improper mixing.
Measuring is also important...
Did you aerate the flour before spooning it gently into your measuring cup and leveling with a knife drawn across the top of the cup... Or did you scoop and drag your measuring cup through the flour and shake to level?
An excellent site for learning how to bake:
www.joyofbaking.com
HTH
I think you misunderstand. I know how to bake. I've built my business on selling only from scratch cakes made with nothing in them more unnatural than eggs, milk, sugar, real butter and natural vanilla. I even make sure my baking soda is the non-aluminum variety because the thought of ingesting aluminum in my cakes makes my stomach quesy. (Box cakes, in addition to being hydrogenated, also all have regular baking soda tainted with aluminum. Read the label, you'll see it.)
My scratch baked cakes are just fine. Most people love them (except those whose palates have only ever known typical American box cake). What I said had the consistancy of corn bread are the organic box cakes. What's amazing to me is that I have a British transplant friend, and the last time I made an experimental organic box cake, no one else could eat it, but she gobbled it up and asked to take the leftovers home.
It's just a taste and consistency that Americans are not accustomed to. Here in our world of highly processed, grocery store convienience food life.
I do so appreciate ths thread, BTW. The issue of taking a stand in my busness for non-boxed cake in a culture that has forgotten what non-boxed cake tastes like is something that has been on my mind for awhile, so I was happy to see it talked about other than the same tired "box versus scratch -which is better" line. If you are happy and have a good customer base using doctored box mix, that's fine in my mind -- there's a place for all of us in this industry, especially with the explosion in cake interest. If I could find a good tasting cake mix that didn't use hydrogenated oil or aluminum, I'd likely gravitate toward the doctored cake mix crowd myself, at least for the yellow and white cakes. But health issues in our family convinced us personally to not put certain chemicals in our body, so until I find a healthier box alternative, I stay strictly non-box. And meanwhile continue to frustrate my family by throwing yet another organic box cake experiment at them.
But maybe crushing the sugar crystals might get you a more uniform crystal- because some will get too powdery in the food processor and you need those crystaline to hold up the cake. You just need a smaller uniform crystal.
I'm gonna try this next time I feel like doing some experimenting. Maybe crush like you would tenderize a piece of meat maybe. Just smash it a little.
But to me the hugest problem are the full bodied flours.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%