Hi all,

Just wondering what y'all are thinking about the new Duncan Hines cake mix for decorators with the Wilton name more prominent  on the packaging.  It is 18 ounces almost the same size they changed a couple of years ago but with a hefty price of $2.99.  I personally think that was an unfair tactic only to increase the price.  I know many had to totally revamp their recipes that contained cake mix in order to make it work with the lesser size mix.  When I spoke to personnel in customer service at DH she told me they had asked whether they should increase the price of the mix or change the amount and the answer they got was change the amount in the mix.  She also tried to convince me that the lesser amount made the same size cake.  Not!!!!   It was very clever of them to not change the size of the boxes so many didn't even notice the difference.   I told her that in my location we lost in both ways---they reduced the size of the mix and the stores went up on the price.  I called Pillsbury and Betty Crocker also and they tried to convince me that I was doing something wrong.   On this call to DH I was really calling to address the mixes being so "lumpy" that I am having to sift before I mix which is very time consuming.  I'm thinking that if I'm having to sift a mix, I might as well put my own ingredients together into a zip loc and not have all of those ingredients that I can hardly pronounce in my cakes.

I just wonder if enough of us would politely address this issue with them and Wilton if it would make a difference.  This new pricing is more than $1.50 per mix in my area--the 16.5 oz. mix was $1.37 last time I purchased it. 

Sorry about the rant but they keep doing this stuff to us.  I realize stuff goes up in price but leave the size the same, just increase the price fairly.

I no longer buy cake mixes, I would rather buy all the ingredients to make everything from scratch. I know it cost more than $2.99 to get all the ingredients, but in the long run you can reuse the ingredients and with a box mix you can only get one use out of it. I'm not against people using cake mixes from the box, but my choice to do everything from scratch. I think doing everything from scratch ends up being cheaper in the long run.

Yes I posted a rant about this topic a while back. I use a doctored recipe starting with the French Vanilla mix and the smaller cake mixes was causing my cakes to sink after they came out of the oven. When I contacted them they acted like I was doing something different to create the problem. They never mentioned that they changed their product. When I compared boxes and realized the amount of mix was less I was so mad. I got the same party line that less mix bakes the same but it doesn't! When I added that missing amount back in the batter my cakes started coming out right again. I let them know the way they handled it seemed very underhanded. Not happy at all!

If you're just buying for home, not monster bulk purchases, just buy 6 boxes at a time.

one box divide into 5 little ziplock baggies.  15 oz. divided by 5 equals  3 oz.

add one 3 oz. zippie to each of the other 5 boxes.  and you'll have your 18 oz. amount for your doctored recipe.

if your 6th box is white cake mix, you can add that tiny amount to any flavor without throwing it off.

I have an extra box in a canister and scoop out what I need for each batch. It just aggravates me that I have to!

But you don't have to:  consider going over to the dark side and 'scratch' bake.  You'll have more control and you won't get messed about by any commercial company.  What have you got to lose?