Crisis! Please Help, Cake Extender Didn't Help My Doll Cake
Decorating By christykarsten Updated 12 Sep 2006 , 6:54pm by Simplydelicious
Party is tomorrow! I've made two cakes, Wilton Doll cakes, one with two batches of store bought, and last night with Pillsbury white cake mix and extender with sour cream. It was horrible. It was heavy, gummy and gross tasting. What can I use to get a nice fluffy cake? Is the Wilton Doll cake mold just too big for a cake. My two year old has her heart set on this cake. I can make another today with enough time to cool to decorate tonight, but I don't want to serve a gross tasting cake. Did I mess up by not using the plain yogurt? Oh please help, Christy in So Cal. 
Yes, I used the heating cone, cooked it ~350 for 1 hour. The taste was really bad, Christy
the extender recipe does tend to make the cake more dense like a pound cake which is REALLY good for carved cakes and wedding cakes that will be stacked. If you're looking for a super soft moist fluffy cake your best bet is going to be to use more cake mixes......
I tried to doctor up a Pillsbury mix and it turned out nasty as well. Now I use only Duncan Hines. I would try that with a box of instant pudding{flavored to match} and an extra egg. I haven't had any problems with this combo. And as the above poster said be sure to use the heating core. Good luck, I'm sure it will turn out ok!! 
To the post above, do I use one box with the pudding egg mix or two boxes. Is it possible to get a fluffy light cake, or am I stuck with a dense, pound cake like cake? Christy 
One box of cake mix to one box of pudding[small box of pudding}and 1 extra egg. I don't think this cake is very dense.
I do think for the wondermold cakes you are better with a dense cake. That being said your flavor should not be changed with the extender. I have heard that the pillsbury cakes are more resistant to tinkering. If I use a mix I use BC because there is a store by me who sells it regular price for .78 and on sale for .49.
Using plain yougurt or sour cream should not have made that much of a difference. I have not used Pillsbury, only Dincan Hines and Betty Crocker. I am thinking maybe it was not cooked all the way if it was gummy. But the taste should not have been bad...even the batter tastes good with the extender recipe. I have never added box pudding to mine. Not to say it isn't good but I have not tried that yet. What extender recipe did you use? The one cup of sugar, flour, one egg, flavoring, salt, and sour cream/yougurt?
I always use DH, and doctor it.
PLEASE NO ONE GET OFFENDED, THE FOLLOWING IS ONLY MY OPINION....
I PERSONALLY feel that BC and Pilsbury are both nasty, regardless of what you do to them. Because they already have pudding in the mix they are harder to doctor, and I have not tasted one yet that tasted good. (I know about 200 people on this site could show me the light with one bite of their cakes!!) BUT, I have had the best luck with DH. It is consistently good, and I can add almost anything to it and have great results. One box of pudding, an extra egg, and for added measure, some extracts or flavorings, etc. to make it the best it can be. You will enjoy the versatility of it!
Call me cake naive, but I don't notice that much of a difference in DH, BC or Pilllsbury. Maybe I just haven't been doing this long enough (or tasted enough of the cakes I've made) to notice (???). I would be interested to know how everyone feels about these three brands.
I appreciate the questions and suggestions on the doll cake as I will be making a practice one soon and will be helping my daughter with one for her niece's birthday in December.
Thanks!
Suzanne
Hi Everyone: I use nothing but DH and they always comes out wonderful. I just started using the cake extender recipe and it was great. Just keep trying and maybe set your oven at 325 instead of the 350 on the box. Just My Opinion. Trial and error. What a hobby we're in but don't you just love it!!! Vicki0052
Should we start getting really ugly and start to compare mix to scratch?
Uh-oh ladies... we are in trouble. 
But there IS NO comparison!! You are SO RIGHT!! But, in those times that we just don't have the time, DH is the lesser of three evils. (We will not even discuss generic brands... that is just MHO!) There is just something about a good scratch cake... it defies words! But I won't be throwing out the old DH stock any time soon, they can be lifesavers at the last minute!
I taste every batch of raw batter before I put it in a pan. If your cake tastes bad when it is raw, it only gets worse as it bakes. So my suggestion to you is to always taste and turn the oven down to 335. I'd rather throw away a batch before it is baked rather than throw away a cake that you have spent time and expensive gas to cook.
I've made the doll cake and the 3D teddy bear cakes several times, with regular mixes, and have never had a problem. The only time I did was when I tried to doctor a teddy bear, and his head cracked and fell off! I use Betty Crocker's French Vanilla and it works great every time, and tastes good too! I always get compliments on the taste of my cakes. Now for one I did recently that involved a Mickey hat and a football helmet that I had to carve, I used Duncan Hines yellow butter receipe mix - I heard it was denser - and maybe it was, but it tasted so horrible (yes, even when it was still batter, it was just as bad - so you're right about that taste test!) that I'll never use it again. Oh, and that airplane cake and prince pillow cake I did that I had to carve - I also used regular, undoctored mixes and didn't have any problems. So just try using a regular mix (with pudding already in it, just to be safe) and see what happens. Good luck!
You're right - it's not all their mixes that are bad. I love their Classic White, especially. I used it for years. Not crazy about their French Vanilla though, I'm sorry to say! Isn't their Dark Chocolate pretty good too? I haven't made a chocolate cake in a while, so I can't remember!
I just did this cake today. I used a Pillsbury White cake. I put in 3 whole eggs, 1 1/4 cups whole milk, 1/3 cup oil and some flavoring (I have premixed vanilla, almond, and butter). I mixed this with my mixer longer than it stated. I mixed until it started looking fluffy. I cooked at 350 for 50 minutes. It was about and inch short of being to the top of the pan. This didn't bother me because I torted and filled. It was very yummy.
I always use Duncan Hines and have never had a problem with any of the flavors. I do doctor up all of my cakes with a mixture of about 7 flavoring that I mix together and call "CRACK", 'cause once you've had crack you'll always come back. I have had people that say they bake and even older women that I know bake tell me that it is one of the best cakes they have had. I don't let them know that it is box and they always say they can tell a box cake from a mile away. 
SimplyDelicious, I have to laugh at your crack comment! I have a few recipes that qualify for crack status. I also LOVE the fact that you don't let them know it's a mix. Some people crack me up how they say they can tell it's a mix... Honey, when I'm done with it, there is nothing mixish about it, except that it was that easy to prepare! I'm the same with cooking. My pasta sauce starts with Prego, but by the time it's done you would have never guessed it got it's humble start in a jar. You keep foolin' those ol' ladies!!
If you're a good cook you can make just about anything taste good.
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