What Kind Of Cake Mix Would You Recommend For A First Timer?
Decorating By meyers14 Updated 25 Jan 2006 , 5:36pm by dodibug
Hi, I posted earlier about making a cake for my son's birthday with the Wilton Spiderman cake pan. I was just wondering, if I decide to do the regular cake instead of a jello cake, what kind of cake mix would you recommend? Do you just use a regular yellow cake mix, or would you use a pound cake mix? And yes, it will be a mix, I barely bake at all, much less from scratch! lol!
I had seen different threads talking about pound cake mixes being good for molded pans, is this correct? What exactly would the difference be...is it a difference in taste, or mainly just consistency?
Thank you all very much! 
If you are using the flat Spiderman pan, you can use either a regular mix or a pound cake, which ever you prefer. I would however use the extender or you can do the following (easiest) to give your cake a little more density for icing.
Duncan Hines cake mix (flavor of your choice)
1- box 4-serving size pudding (in same flavor as cake mix)
1 cup water or milk
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
Put all of above in bowl and mix for 2 minutes as per package directions. You want to fill your pan no more than 3/4 full. (Read pan instructions and you can measure out the amount of batter it recommends for the pan). Don't forget to grease and flour the pan really well. I would bake at 350F and add some extra baking time. It will keep the cake from rising too much. If you get a big hump, cut it off before you take the cake out of the pan so the cake won't break apart when you take it out of the pan.
Hope this is helpful.
Cindy
Hi and Welcome to CC! Glad to have you here!
I use a slightly different recipe and it has worked well for character pans and it's not as dense a pound cake more like what a kid might want for birthday cake!
I love Pillsbury mix-it's all I'll use after trying several of the others. For me it has the right balance of moistness and flavor. Everyone has their favorite though!
Using this recipe it will yield about 4-4.5 cups of batter. THis is the basic reicpe but you can alter it with different pudding mixes and extracts
1 box Pillsbury white cake mix
1 small box instant white chocolate pudding mix
1 1/4c. water/milk mixture
3 egg whites
1 whole egg
1/2 c oil
1 tsp vanilla or almond or other extract of choice
Bake at 350 until cake springs back when lightly touched in center
Hope this helps! 
I favor Duncan Hines in taste and texture.... I am a scratch cake baker 100% of the time but on occasion I use the cake mix and I LOVE Duncan Hines. I have tried others like Betty Croker and Pillsbury but found Duncan Hines better.
Then again, it is all matter of taste and preference. Give it a try and see which one suits you best!
Good luck!
I think any DH mix is great. I also use the extender recipe so that i get a little more height out of the character cakes and this way you could torte it as well.
I would bake at 350F and add some extra baking time
I would not bake it at 350 - I would turn it down to 325 - less of a "hump" on the cake that way....and it will take a little longer to bake. Check with a toothpick when just a few tiny crumbs stick, you are done!
Also - sometimes new bakers don't realize that the "extender" recipes are IN PLACE OF what is written on the box - not in addition to. 
I prefer Duncan Hines, but also like Pillsbury too. You won't go wrong with either one. Have fun and let us know how it goes!
I actually prefer Betty Crocker to anything else. That is all I use. I found there is more of a variety of flavors and it is very moist and easy to work with. I have tried Duncan Hines and I had trouble with them.
Heather
I would use DH cake mix and follow the directions on the Dream Whip box for Dream Cake.
I would also bake at 325 degrees.
I am also a DH lover! (remember, don't use any cake mixes that have pudding in the mix when adding pudding! I didn't know that when I tried the recipe (didn't even notice on the box it said Pudding in the Mix) and I had a mushy mess!
has anyone found DH in bulk? The best price I have seen in my area is 79 cents a box at Target...
remember, don't use any cake mixes that have pudding in the mix when adding pudding! I didn't know that when I tried the recipe (didn't even notice on the box it said Pudding in the Mix) and I had a mushy mess!
I use Pillsbury with pudding in the mix and add the box of pudding mix and have never had a problem. It could be that DH is more moist, maybe that's why it was a mess. It's actually too moist for me so that's why I like the Pillsbury.
I like the DH. My wal mart went from .78 cents to 98 cents. big price hike. i'm wondering if its all wal marts or just this one.
every so often you can find some coupons in the sunday paper for the different cake mixes. I have bought name brands for as little as .50 by doing this. My favorite is DH, but I think all the name brands are pretty god if they are doctored. Also I have added pudding to the DH mix with pudding in it and didn't have a problem.
Ok, thank you all very much! I won't be baking until this weekend, probably Saturday, but I will definitely let you all know how it turns out. By the way, the pan is the one that is shaped like Spiderman, I dont' know exactly what is meant by "flat", but the bottom of the pan doesn't set flush, it is molded, like the arms and face are raised up for a 3D effect. I'm not sure exactly how to set it in the oven so that the cake mix will be perfectly flat, but I will figure something out.
Thanks again, all!
Hello everyone. I did my Spiderman cake. I think it turned out....well, okay I guess. My little guy was thrilled. I didn't do it for his party, which was Sunday, I waited until today, actually yesterday now, since it's after midnight. Anyway, First and foremost, I forgot to cover the cake board. Yeah, it looks AWFUL. There are little icing flecks all over, AND a huge grease ring around the edge of the cake from the icing. BUT, if you can black that part out, the actual cake itself is...alright. I mean, you can tell it's Spiderman.
Let me just warn you, I am totally embarassed to post this on here because I have not seen a single one yet that looks as bad as this, but I did promise everyone I would post my first cake ever, and since everyone wrote in and gave me advice on different things, I felt that I owed it to you all! I put it in my photo album also. Just go easy on me if you comment...this was my VERY first cake that was decorated. I have baked a few regular plain cake with just plain frosting, but not decorated. I have never TOUCHED a icing bag or tips or ANYTHING. I totally winged this whole thing.
My main problems were, the icing seemed so...greasy! See how shiny it looks? I'm not sure why. And I couldn't pat down the black around the eyes because the corn flour was turning it white. So I just left it. I couldn't get the icing to stay put without stringing up, it was so sticky. But i made the best of it. It was hard to get the smooth light blue very smooth, also. It kept sticking to my spreader, didn't want to lay down. I did have to store my icing in the refrigerator for a couple of days, maybe that had something to do with it?
Well, anyways, here it is! Next time, I will remember to cover the cake board! haha!
Thanks for all your help, guys!
Shelley
P.S......OK, I'm editing this, I can't post the picture on here, because it is bigger than 800x800 pixels, and I don't know how to fix it. But it is in my gallery, I hope you can all see it there. Thank you! Sorry about that!
I do not like Pillsbury - DH is probably my favorite outside the cake mixes from Aldi (a discound store) - they have the best cake mixes and mix up very dense and moist with the inclusion of a pudding mix and a couple tablespoons of meringue powder - - what we mean by the bottom of the cake is the bottom when the cake is turned over - - be sure to band out the bubbles and even out the mix in the pan before putting it in the oven - Good Luck!!!!!
I think the best cake mix is the one that's on sale! I have tried all and can't really say I like one better than the other. My instructor wouldn't use anything but Duncan Hines. My daughter and I find it so funny that everyone asks what recipe we have used when either of us does a cake. Their expressions are priceless when we tell them we use a mix. I think it's the fact that they are fresh baked compared to out of the freezer and decorated like Walmart or wherever they have purchased already decorated cakes. Also the frosting makes a big difference. I noticed also that Walmart had raised the price of their cake mixes. I buy locally when they are on sale. Don't think I have ever paid regular price for one. With the rising costs of all other groceries, I guess we can expect cake mixes to go up also. The more they talk sugar shortage the higher they'll get!
Thanks Quadcrew! 
Usually my biggest problem is that I usually speak before I do! 
Lots of times I have opened my mouth only to change feet! 
I have lovingly referred to it as "Hoof in mouth disease."
I think you are being way, way too hard on yourself! For a first try I think you did a great job! You learned alot and know the areas for improvement. And the good thing is the little ones never see what we see-they are just so happy to have Spiderman at their party!!!
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