Does anybody hate it when you are asked if this was a scratch cake, knowing that it came from a box. I'm not proud that I am a box baker but I can't seem to find scratch recipes that mimic box cake taste. I reluctantly say it is a cake mix and they are amazed it tasted so good.
Do people really care that it is a box cake mix? Nobody ever asks ahead of time, only after they eat it and loved it so much they want the recipe (yes, that actually happened to me) Anybody who uses cake mixes have any clever wording when telling someone that the cake came from a box? Thanks.
Iuse box mixes as well but I almost always "tweak" them a little. Like using the cake extender recipe. I think that people just can't believe that it would be a box because it tastes so much better than the stuff they would do. Like "Why do my boxes never taste like that???" But when you add a few extras and then homemade icing, whichever kind, of course it's going to taste different. Just try to take it as a compliment...even if it isn't necessarily meant that way. There's obviously a reason they want the recipe right!!!!!! LOL
I have had a similar situation happen to me. I have just explained to people that I do whatever the situation calls for. If it is an order that a box mix can be used, I use it. If I have to make scratch, I do. And, I have often doctored a cake mix to call it my own. I'm not affraid to use boxes, after all they are very moist and delicious and save lots of time and often when I make a cake from scratch it doesn't turn out as good!
I say "use your box mix and be proud!" 
I just tell them, "If it was from scratch, then you couldn't afford me!" 
I also add "My supplier sells me the same mixes that he sells to the other caterers, bakeries and restaurants in town."
I get the same type of question re: catering. I've had clients ask "You dont' use canned or frozen (vegetables) do you?" I swear, I look 'em straight in the eye and say, "NONE of us grow our own, ya know!" 
Everyone knows my cakes are from a mix. It's just like when they go gah-gah over my oatmeal cookies and ask for the recipe ...... I shrug and tell them "It's on the box."
They COULD make it themselves .... but it wouldn't taste the same because (a) they don't have my secret icing recipe and (b) they don't have "the touch" and (c) they don't have the love and the passion that I put into each and every cake and cookie.
Sounds cheesy .... but it's true.
I never apologize for my cakes being from a mix. It's THOSE cakes that have gotten me to this point and 25+ years later, I see no reason to switch. I don't mess with success.
I usually start when I take an order by asking the customer if they grew up eating cake mix cakes, store-bought cakes, or scratch cakes. Then if they grew up with scratch, then I make scratch. If it's either of the other two then I tell them that I'll use a doctored up cake mix and they'll love it. They ALWAYS tell me, "do whatever. your cakes are always awesome."
So....I think that as long as you put your heart into it, then it's fine.
Well I've never had anyone yet tell me that they didnt just love my cakes so when they ask I tell the truth that it's a box mix because personally I have never liked scratch cakes they are just too dry and a box mix stays moist like forever lol and they just say wow this is fantastic but everyone who knows me knows that of course i've tweaked it a bit and that I love what I do and that its a hobby that I have a passion for. It's so much fun when you're invited to someone's house and they say can you bring so and so kind of cake plssssssss and I know everyone's favourits now so its a no brainer lol
I've got a bone to pick about this, but first let me say - I like making scratch cakes. However, as indydebi said, if I made scratch cakes for the people who want to buy from me, they wouldn't be able to afford it. So aside from my chocolate cake and the white wedding cake recipes, I use mostly boxes for customer cakes & I'm fine with that. One day, maybe I can do all scratch, but for now - it's just the way it is.
Let's talk about our boxed cakes though. Are they really "boxed". I mean, yes we're using a mix that was premade but most of us doctor it up, adding many custom things. Changing the egg mixture, adding spirits, increasing the sugar/flour ratio, adding sour cream, pudding, etc. If it were a recipe from a book that we used and doctored it that much, it wouldn't be their recipe, it would be our own and I believe that you could put it in a recipe book at that moment. So it is really a "boxed cake" after all we do to it? I tend to think it isn't.
One of the benefits of using cake mixes is simply that DH, BC, etc have access to those querky flours that are specially formulated to hold more moisture, deliver a specific texture, etc. Even those here who have full service bakeries can't get ahold of some of these things. So, the cake mixes make SENSE for us to use.
Rachel
True story -- my brother in law was spending the night Friday night while I was working on a cake and he asked me, "Do you ever, like not make your own cakes?" I was kind of confused, thinking maybe he meant I bought slabs from the grocery store bakery or something? So I said, "what do you mean, not make my own?" and he said, "Well, do you ever use a mix?" 
Yeah, so to him, and a lot of other people, it's not even making my own cake if I use a mix. I told him that I use a doctored mix for my white cake with my own flour, sugar, butter and sour cream. He nodded, but it was more like "aha, I knew it". I said that I make other cakes from scratch, but he didn't seem to care. Grrrr. I'm going to start answering "no, I always make my own cake."
Other than preservatives, what ingredients are in a cake mix?
Flour, sugar, oil, leavening, flavoring, cocoa in chocolate cakes, water and sometimes powdered milk. We add fresh eggs.
What goes into a from scratch cake
Flour, Sugar, butter or oil, leavening, flavoring, fresh eggs and water or milk.
There are certain "from scratch" cakes I do make and love them, but on cake mix cakes I add extra ingredients, brush them with flavored soaking syrup, fill them with delicious fillings and ice them with freshly made Italian meringue buttercream. I have always had people say they love my cakes because they are moist, light, flavorful and just taste they way they want them to taste. I am not ashamed to say I use cake mixes, I figure General Mills and Pillsbury, Duncan Hines have done all the research and worked out the kinks for me. If someone asks if I make my own cakes or use cake mixes I am honest with them, and since most are repeat customers they know that and continue to order. If they are a new bride I do a cake sampling and they know beforehand what my cakes look like and how they taste. I have only had one bride in all these years who didn't book and that was because of her budget.
I worked for Safeway for 30 years, meat dept, not bakery, but I spent many a coffee break talking to the bakers, Safeway advertizes "fresh from scratch" cakes. Well, they may be mixed fresh at the bakery, but they are made from huge bags of cake mix that come from our warehouse. Our particular bakery made really good tasting cakes. The difference in the decorating is they are on a production line schedule and can't make money spending the hours I spend on my gumpaste flowers, chocolate wraps and ruffles etc. And to tell the truth their buttercream comes in 20 gallon pails and tastes greasy and yucky.
"I use premeasured dry ingredients that give me consistant results, but the recipe is my own."
Don't really get that many more questions after that response. 
I also say, "It's my own special recipe." It does taste different than the box mix alone, and if you doctor it, call it your own. We can't all be great scratch bakers. I bought the cake bible and tried 3 recipes, none of which were nearly as tasty as the cake mix etenders. So, I went back to the cake mixes.
I simply say, "I start with a dry base (or commercial) mix and add my own high-quality fresh ingredients."
Which is completely true. 
I just never say the word "boxed."
I've made a buttload of scratch cakes, but with the exception of my Kentucky Buttermilk Puddin' Cake, I prefer boxed mixes over scratch cakes. I always start with a white cake mix and make it whatever flavor I need with my own ingredients.
I doctor my mixes and nobody so far has asked me. They just say, "Ohh this cake is so good & moist." I know eventually "someone who cares" will ask if it's scratch or box though.
I saw the mud cake recipe a few weeks ago and was going to try that but then I started reading how scratch cakes are drier or dry out quicker so I changed my mind. I guess I'll just keep doctoring mixes and when eventually asked I'll tell them the truth "a doctored up mix".
Like others on this thread have indicated, I TOO have made cakes from scratch, but, the only one I really like is my homemade applesauce cake. I've TRIED making scratch white and chocolate and I'm just sorry (NO! that's a LIE! I'm really NOT SORRY) but I don't have a "knack" for it. I use doctored cake mixes and everyone loves them.
Here's my story. I bake a White Chocolate Macadamia cake (used a white cake mix and WCM Creamer) for a bereavement meal for my family. The cake didn't come out even SO, I took the cake; cubed it; layered it with White Chocolate Pudding; white choc. chips; crushed macadamia nuts and whipped topping mixed with leftover white choc. mac. icing. I named it "White Choc. Macadamia Trifle". My young cousin asked me to give his wife the recipe and my "catering" cousin said "You can't give her the recipe because it's your "leftover-made up" dessert" ! LOLL
Beth in KY
.....Yeah, so to him, and a lot of other people, it's not even making my own cake if I use a mix.....
Along these lines, I had a lady "intern" with me this past weekend on a catering, and she was shocked to discover that to feed 100 people, we didn't actually peel and cook 50 lbs of potatoes (commercial instant, like most other restaurants and caterers); that we didn't knead out the biscuit dough by hand (from freezer to oven, like most other restaurants and caterers); that we didnt' kill the pig and make our own sausages (ok .... I'm kinda exaggerating on that one, but you get the drift).
If I had no life and wanted to spend the time wondering, I'd wonder where these people, who are not in the food / cake industry, get their ideas of how it's SUPPOSE to work as oppose to how it really works!
Just last night I had this come up at a family party. Everyone was raving about the White Almond Sour Cream cake. My mom asked if I made it from scratch, so I just told her that I used a mix for one of the ingredients, but that it was a complex recipe. As long as it tastes good, I don't think anyone cares.
Q: "Do you use a box mix or bake from scratch"
A: "I use a mix for part of my dry ingredients, then continue with my recipe"
I don't know if this confuses people or it is enough information or they were just trying to creat small talk because about 95% of the people asking stop right there. There are a few who ask what I add to it, but I usually just tell them "a few extras than what is called for on the box"
I figure even if they did know they probably don't have the right pan to bake it in (i did see someone try to bake one in a class pan once and asked why it didn't turn out like mine...) or know how to bake it properly to get the same effect I get
I had one lady at church rave about how good my cake was. She kept asking me for the recipe and finally i told her that it was from a box and the next thing she said is that I have homemade recipe that taste better. I like what someone else here said about this matter. If you want a scratch cake, I will scratch my butt while I am making the cake.
JasonL: Don't mess with KY Church Ladies! LOLL I know what you mean. I made a White Almond Sour Cream cake for something at church. One of the ladies said "What's in it?" So I told her and she said "I can taste the sour cream and I don't like sour cream"! YEAH RIGHT!!! However, this same lady was RAVING about "The Cake From He--" and it was Pillsbury White WITHOUT any tweaks!! LOLL
Ya gotta love 'em!
Beth in KY
I don't begrudge anyone their use of box mixes, but I prefer scratch. I can taste "box" from a mile away no matter how much it's been doctored and while yes, it does stay moist forever (thanks to emulsifiers and preservatives) that makes me feel a little unsettled...cake shouldn't last forever- that's what Twinkies are for!
As far as scratch cakes being dry, that is another myth...they're only dry if the recipe is bad or the baker doesn't do it properly! Baking a good scratch cake does takes some skill- not everyone can do it- but just because you've never made a moist scratch cake or never eaten one doesn't mean they don't exist, it just means you don't know any great scratch bakers! I have NEVER let a dry, flavorless cake leave my kitchen- never.
Please don't take this as an attack on box bakers, I am just standing up for those of us who insist on scratch.
That's why Amber is going to help me with my scratch cakes! (Right Amber?) 
Of course! You teach me how to make a rose that doesn't look like a pile of #*@! and I'll share some of my scratch baking know-how with you!
Of course! You teach me how to make a rose that doesn't look like a pile of #*@! and I'll share some of my scratch baking know-how with you!
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