Why Do You All Seem To Use Boxed Cake Mixes
Decorating By LeeAnn Updated 13 Apr 2006 , 8:20pm by PurplePetunia
i use to always bake my cakes from scratch because that was how my mom did. then i begin to notice that people that are not use to scratch cakes (my children calls them the cake mix generation) thinks that the cake is dry compared to the cake mix. so i started using cake mix. if someone ask me if i use cake mix i'll tell them. otherwise, i don't volunteer the information. think of it the way my daughter does ( i scratched the box as i was taking out the mix- therefore, it's a scratch cake).
I like your thinking! hehehe! ~Josie
I have only, and will only ever bake from scratch for 2 reasons:
1) My grandmother taught me to bake (hence my business being called 'Queenie's Cakes' because that was her name), and would turn in her grave at the thought of ever doing anything else than baking from scratch. It's how I learnt and what I know!
2) If I can lay my hands on a DH or BC cake mix here, there is a very limited choice and they cost a fourtune (about $6 PER MIX!). Besides, I feel people should get what they pay for, and that's a scratch cake made from the very best ingredients with time and care added!
JMO!
I only make my cakes from scratch. Before I started cake decorating in December I never made a cake from scratch. I always used a box mix and store bought icing to make a cake for just me and my hubby. However, since I have started decorating and getting further and further in to cake decorating, I have not used a cake mix. Wait...I take that back. I tried a doctored cake mix once and totally messed that all up. So I never tried that again!! LOL
I think that either one is fine. Just depends on what each indiviual person wants to make 
Lazy_Susan
i have never made a cake from the box... It's true we don't have that much cake mixes here but even what is available I don't like that much - tried it at friends,... I make everything from scratch.
I bought a book cake mix doctor the other day because everybody here was so pleased with it but I toook it back the next day since it's all about cake mixes - I thought it was about how you mix your own cake - from scratch
The key to a nice moist scratch cake is in the mixing...too many peeps over mix, once the flour is added.
I barely mix, once I start adding the flour..all you want to do is to get it incorporated into your batter.
Always have the mixer on low and add your flour alternately with your wet ingredient. Once all the flour is in I stop the mixer and stir a bit with a spatula..then turn the mixer on and beat the batter for about 15 seconds or less. That is it.
If you overbeat, the gluten will make your finished cake dry or tough or both.
For the most part I use box mixes...at least more so now, because as others have said they stay fresher longer, and I do feel, along with most people I make cakes for, prefer the taste. My scratch cakes, always seem to taste dry, or no taste or like something is missing, even when I use some of the recipes from here and other sites, I cannot get it to taste as good... but there are a few cakes I always make from scratch now, and after altering them to my taste, like few I posted on CC, they do taste best, and are preferred when I make the box mix version, but for the most part 97% of mine are box and only about 2 to 3 % of those are doctored up....at least anymore. BUT I will also add that everytime I seem to make a box cake or cupcakes, they always seem to taste different and I have never gotten anyone that didn't say how much they loved the taste.... I have even heard from people I don't know or that I havent made a cake for etc, come up to me lately and say, I hear you make the most divine tasting cupcakes and cakes, or I had some of your cupcakes the other day and oh my goodness they are the best tasting ones I have ever tasted...what recipes do you use and things like that.... I have even told a few that I use Duncan Hines mix with my buttercream frosting.... then they come up to me later and say they made the kind of cake that I said I did and it didnt taste the same (you all have heard that) it's funny really.
But you have to go with your instincts and go from there..
Euphoriabakery,
When substituting butter for oil, do you melt it or let it get room temp. soft?
Elaine
Euphoriabakery,
When substituting butter for oil, do you melt it or let it get room temp. soft?
Elaine
I soften it in the microwave. But you can let it get to room temp, I just always seem to forget to take it out. But I don't melt it.
BTW-
I have tried many recipes and have come to like some scratch and some doctored box recipes the best. I look at the box recipes as a base. They have already mixed your dry ingredients for you. If you buy a cake a t a bakery they typically use a base mix as well. In fact most use a just add water mix, so when you doctor a box mix you are basically making your own cake recipe. I have no probalem telling people that I use a base dry mix in my cakes, I don't think the customer is not getting what they pay for. They are getting a homemade cake, homemade fillings, and homemade frostings ( my personal recipes) In my opinion these are no different than a scratch cake. Actually I have had people say theya re the best cakes they have ever had.
Now I use recipes, not boxed mixes. If a recipe that happen to love hasd a box mix in it, than so be it. After all what is the definition of a scratch cake? Do you have to make every ingredient? Are you guys grinding your own wheat for you flour and making your own cocoa from cocoa beans? Don't you think there are preservatives in the ingredients you are using? I don't think it's fair to say thatscratch or doctore mix cakes are superior. Each cake and each recipe are different. There is a chocolate cake recipe on this site that is to die for! I believe Lazy_Susan turned me on to it ( thank you) But my white cake is a doctored creation I made up myself and it is the best tasting white cake I have ever tasted. I think we all need to step back and look at recipes as a whole, not doctored recipes vs scratch recipes. They both take the same amount of time and effort and in my opinion are both a scratch recipe, one just already has your dry ingredients mixed for you.
I agree with IHATEFONDANT. Not only do I hate fondant. I mean it looks great, but it tastes like crap. And afterall a cake should be good tasting. IF you want to eat something that's just art, that's what the Mona Lisa is for.
I'm an old-fashioned buttercream girl too, hardly ever get orders for fondant and when I do I just say sorry...and they always go for the buttercream. Whenever I see a fondant cake at an event I walk around and look at the plates and see that most everyone has eaten around the fondant
. My cake plates are always cleeeean .When I bite into a piece of cake I don't want a chewey gooey sticky sensation between my teeth I want creaminess
I guess I'm odd, but I love fondant! Not the yucky Wilton stuff, but MMF or good fondant. The best part is the chewy texture, I think it tastes wonderful on cake and almost everyone I have served it too has ate every bite!
I myself find buttercream to be too sickly sweet. I guess it's just personal preference again.
I have to agree... I lllloooooooveeeee mmf fondant 
(haven't tried anything else yet) I love bc as well, but lets face it, unless you have alot of time (which I don't ) the mmf cuts down on time, energy, & supplies therefore, creates a bigger amount per hour for me . I have nothing but rave reviews from my boxed cake mixes. I love doctoring them up and creating a wild cake. I've literally had people begging for cakes, especially when I've told them NO numerous times... I guess it's a matter of preference.. I'm sure the scratch cakes are delicious, but just not for me.. Somebody is more than welcome to make me one... 
have a good day everyone
Mrs Fish here are my (not originally mine) recipes, I think you'll love them:
Pink Champagne Cake: someone had asked for it when I posted my pics for the wedding cake tasting. It is SUPER MOIST and SUPER yummy and so romantic looking too when you cut into it.
1 box of French or white cake mix
2 envelopes Dream Whip (I tried it once using white chocolate pudding as a replacement but the DW makes it MUCH MUCH more moist...trust me!)
4 egg whites
1 whole egg
1/4 cup veggie oil
1 1/4 flat pink champagne (I used asti spumante)
Beat all ingredients together in mixer for 3 minutes. Add a couple of drops of light pink food color (keep it light or it looks too phony). Bake according to directions and til toothpick comes out clean.
When preparing the buttercream I used salted butter and replaced the milk with flat pink champagne...soooo yummy!!
Lemon Buttermilk Cake
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup low-fat lemon yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs (use whites if you want a paler cake)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
Place the cake mix, pudding mix, yogurt, oil, buttermilk, eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed for 1 minute. The batter should look thick.
Bake until toothpick comes out clean.
Woowee...this cake is unbelievably moist and so so delicious.
Hope you'll try and get back to me with your opinion...
DiscoLady, Thank you for posting a beautiful recipe, I would like to make that tonight for an order. My question is, would black rasberry mousse taste good w/that recipe... tia b
I would say no. The champagne flavor is oh so mild and the raspberry would definitely blot it out completely. I tried a strabwberry filling with the first one and you could only taste the strawberry. This is why I did the bc with champagne filling instead. You're gonna die when you taste how moist this cake is with the Dream Whip added.
I agree with Euphoriabakery, there are preservitives in everything nowdays. I would love some awesome scratch recipes, but the ones I have made have been really wierd and spongy, and not good tasting. But I am very new, so I guess I just need to practice. Even some of my doctored cake mixes have popped up wierd every now and then.
Euphoriabaker... would you like to share your white cake recipe? If it comes out wierd then I'll know I am really doing something wrong!
I'm from a family of scratch bakers so although I've tried a couple just to see, mixes were never really an option around our house. I notice that a lot of people say that they use them because they're less expensive, but I would think that the major benefit would be the ease of throwing ingredients together, mixing for three or four minutes and you're done.
With scratch cakes, you have to contend with proper ingredient temperature (mix cold eggs into room temp butter and sugar and 1. you won't get the proper aeration or 2. the mixture could curdle on you), making sure the recipe has the correct proportions and making sure you haven't under mixed or over mixed the batter.
I really like the taste of real vanilla and other natural flavors, even though there are some prepackaged products out there that are full of yummy chemicals (Oreos and Pop Tarts come to mind 
). What I think is hilarious is that friends of mine have been trying for years to fake me out with a cake mix - as was mentioned earlier, there are certain additives that are in mixes that you can just taste and smell, and it doesn't make you a bad person if you like that taste .
I bake many cakes and the hands down winner for compliments is always the cake mixes. The funny thing is, people always assume it's from scratch (and I usually don't tell them otherwise). I've heard from many sources that Americans especially are accustomed to that squishy, spongy very moist cake mix texture and flavor. No matter how careful I am with mixing and baking my scratch cakes, the texture is never as tender and moist as my cake mix cakes. This realization used to frustrate me because I was being snobbish and would turn my nose up at cake mixes. But after years of baking I realize it all comes down to flavor and texture and what the person eating it prefers. It does not matter how you came to achieve that flavor and texture - it matters what your mouth thinks. I still bake from scratch because I enjoy it so much but I just accept the fact that the texture will vary slightly. And let's fact it - cake mixes are sooooo quick and handy.
I make all scratch cakes, but would like to try a doctored mix.
I tried it once using the pudding, but found it was very heavy and spongy.
Was it because the mix was an "extra moist" mix to begin with??
Some of the mixes even say on the box that they have "pudding in the mix".
So what kind of mix should I be using in order to add an extra box of pudding??
Just bumping my question.
Anyone?
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