So, I figured this weekend would be great to put in some good hours of practice since we are being iced in. Well, luckily I have dummy cakes because I went to the store to buy some mix...nothing special....and do you know what i got???!!! BETTY freakin Crocker! It didnt' occur to me until I was doing the crumb coat. I mean I noticed the cakes came out differently but when I went to do the crumb coat the whole cake just came apart!!! RRRRRGGGG!!! I just threw them away and iced up my dummy cake! Bad Bad Betty Crocker!!!

Sounds like something I do!!! Maybe you could do some cake balls with 'em or even bake 'em all up and give 'em to the neighbors.

Sorry you had a bad experience with BC. But that is all I use and haven't had any problems. What flavor did you use?? How thick was your crumb coat?? I use it very very thin like soup consistancy to crumb coat. It hope your practice went well though.

What kind of mix do you normally use? I was a diehard DH fan until my cakes started coming out flat and lumpy on the sides. I read something in the forum about them changing their formula or something.. ?..

On a sidenote, I can't imagine what it's like to be iced in. I've lived in Florida for years now, and it was 80 degrees today, in the middle of January! I always freeze to death when I go back to Tennessee to visit my family. Brrrr lol.

I don't like B C either, I prefer DH. NO matter what kind you use everyone has problem days....I know I do.!

Ok, Kat, if you insist you can be Stupid for now as long as I get my turn again later

I am a diehart DH all the way. Even if BC is on sale I will still buy the DH. I usually buy the DH by the case when it's on sale. A case of several flavors.

Oh and I am sorry about your ICE storm. Where are you at?? We went through that over New Years Several days without power and internet even longer I couldn't really do any practice. We had to stay with my nephews for 4 days. So I hope you keep your power. I have heard several have lost it again with this last storm. I wish you luck. Keep warm and safe.

I can't resist, I have to rub it in

I'm in MI and it has been a beautiful winter, I've only wore my winter coat twice. Even today I only wore a light jacket.

Now watch with my big mouth we will get hit.

I too only use BC and never had any problems!!

Hope your day got better!

Lu

I use both BC and DH but always add pudding and an extra egg. If I don't, the cake is way too soft. Good luck...should I mention that it's going to be 73 here today in SC?

Keep warm!

I've always used DH - and the extra egg, cup of water and packet of Dream Whip. The flavor that I don't use anymore is the Butter one (brain fart) - must be the heat. It's upper 60's at 9 am

Hey we are going through an ice storm as well. We're in Kansas. I've been iced in since Friday morning, and we're still not done. We've got snow coming tomorrow. As for the BC mix, I use whatever's on sale. I haven't had a problem with BC before. Well at least you had the dummys to practice on. You shouldn't have thrown it out though. You could have made some cake balls out of it. MMMMM cake balls. I might have to make me some of those.

hiya sweetness,
it's snowin here hun in northeast colorado and it's flippen cold too. It's not windy, so thanks for that, sheesh, could be worse still have over a foot of snow on the ground from that one that hit the 22.
It's a whole whoppin 8*F here right now and sposed to get to at least -6*F

i'm in kansas city, it's icing and i have to deliver a wedding at 5pm! geeze, can't these people schedule their weddings to be convenient for me?

I've had great success with DH. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
I'm dreaming it's 90 degrees here but in reality it's cold and rainy .

mjs4492 ~ I've never heard of using Dream Whip in a cake mix. I'll have to try it. Has anyone else ever tried it?

I love my doctored up DH, and also can't stand BC. I think it's because they already have pudding in the mix which messes up my doctoring job. They just fall apart and are too fluffy. I have about a dozen boxes that I accidentally bought last summer. I should probably jsut donate them to the food shelter...

I too use Dream Whip in my cake mix along with an extra egg and Cook N Serve pudding. I love it as does my friends and family.

Don't donate those cake mixes....make them up and make them into cake truffles (balls)....sounds more elegant than balls...lol

I made some from scraps I had from my sons wedding in august and took them to a small party last night. WELL....they raved over them! I used Ghiradelli (sp) chocolate on them. The drk choc was really rich but I forgot to try them. I tried the one with white choc and they were ok in my book but not fantastic. I love it when people rave about something I think is mediocre.....

Steady2Hands:
I use any flavor of DH, 1 cup of water, 4 eggs and 1 packet of Dream Whip. Make sure to mix it on medium for at least 5 minutes. This is an "old" recipe from the community I live in. Turns out, it was used by an old-time cake decorator around here.
So far, no complaints and always compliments on how moist the cakes are.

I actually only use the store brand and people rave about them. I used a DH marble cake yesterday (store brand doesnt make a marble) and it turned out flat as a pancake. I had to remake it and did a white storebrand and flavored 1 cup of the mix with cocoa powder.

Put me in the Betty Crocker Only column. I find BC to be more "firm and solid" than DH and when I'm flipping a 16" cake over, I want firm and solid! BC is about $0.09 to $0.12 more per box than DH where I'm at, but I pay it. I had the same effect with DH that you describe with your BC ...... it's too fluffy and just falls apart on me.

This is one of those topics that you will find so many different opinions on ..... and like I always say, that's why I like this site. Lots of experiences and stories to draw from until you find the solution that works best for you!

I normally use just DH, well I made a white BC cake a couple weeks ago and the thing just FELL apart when i was trying to crumb coat it. I was HORRIFIED! I have never had problems with the DH, but the BC... NEVER again!!!!
Here in IL, we got a touch of rain/snow, but we've got severe weather announcements, supposed to get 3-5" of snow by tomorrow. ( Im the biggest chicken driving in this and I have a 45 min. commute to work. I guess we cant really complain because here it is mid Jan and we've had MILD.... (doesnt make me like this crap any better tho LOL)

Thanks for the comments on Dream Whip. In my area we have a lady who retired from cake decorating before I got into it. People still talk about her cakes and how delicious they were. Another decorator in my area bought her recipe for a lot of money. Makes me wonder if it might be similar to this one or even the Cake Extender recipe.

i actually prefer pillsbury, am i the only one?

Isn't it amazing all the flavors available. And they are so moist and yummy. I'm sorry I think the box beats the scratch every time.

No offense meant to those who perfer scratch. I give you credit for the extra work involved.

I have only used the doughboy myself. I have tried the other brands, but I dont get the same results. What is the dreamwhip for, I have never heard of that. Oh and it's icy here as well. And today, mother nature threw a little snow on top of that for good measure. Dont worry spring is around the corner.

Ya know, I'm not real sure what the Dream Whip does? I've always used it. I believe it makes the cake more moist, not sure. Kinda like when people used to add a packet of pudding mix (to box mixes).