Sell Cakes From A Mix Or Bake From Scratch?
Business By Mamas Updated 4 Dec 2006 , 7:54am by lilikoigirl
I make all my cakes from scratch....but then again...even when I cook, I make them all from scratch.
I'm always all for making things from scratch....less preservatives too.
I think a true baker and cake decorator should make their cakes from scratch.
I'm also surprised to know a lot of cake decorators use boxed cakes!
Wow! If I were the customer, I would feel cheated.
Then again, as a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Culinary school...this is just my opinion.
I used to only bake from scratch but because I have a back problem I started to use box mixes a few weeks ago and I prefer them for the texture and moistness......I did'nt realise you could "Doctor" them 
I just assumed it would alter the ratio and ruin the cake....but now after reading all the remarks on this I'm dying to know about what I could put in and how much!!
The mix I use is from a local cake decorating store, they sell it by the kilo,and I have to admit the taste of it on its own without any frosting is'nt that spectacular...so would love to know what some of you put in to flavour them up a bit 
I'm with you, learnee. I have never used a mix for anything. I have built my business on my reputation...only top-quality ingredients like Droste dutch cocoa, Callebaut Belgian chocolate, BUTTER!, eggs from my own flock of free-range chickens....people WILL pay if they truly appreciate great food!
I have a 70th birthday cake order for this weekend...a 9" round chocolate fudge cake, chocolate buttercream, whipped chocolate ganache & organic cherry filling...24 karat gold script and accents...$70. The woman didn't blink an eye because she knows what I put into my cakes and she told me that she hadn't even considered anyone else to make the cake because she had heard so much about mine! Now that's the type of compliment that makes my effort worthwhile
I think a true baker and cake decorator should make their cakes from scratch.
I'm also surprised to know a lot of cake decorators use boxed cakes!
Wow! If I were the customer, I would feel cheated.
I have to respectfully disagree. I have great admiration for your education but to say that those of us that have developed and use recipes based on a mix are less or substandard bakers and decorators is unfair and untrue.
I am learning to be a scratch baker because I love cooking and baking, creating something on my own, have an appreciation for using quality ingredients and am always looking to expand my reptoire but I have worked very hard to develop flavors and recipes based on mixes that I know will give me the end result I am looking for. The average homebaker couldn't make a cake taste or look like mine or some of the other fine bakers on here if we both started with the same mix.
I have never had anyone who has eaten a cake I made feel cheated. To the contrary-they are extremely pleased. I think people are most happy when they have a cake that tastes great. And if they are happy with the cake, by whatever means it came to be, then we as bakers have accomplished what we set out to do.
So now I'm off to bake a cake for my son's second birthday that will make him smile....from a mix!
To say that any baker that chooses to use a mix is somehow cheating the customer is beyond conprehension.
Ultimately it is all about if the customer is happy. If the customer is happy with a cake from a mix then that is all that matters and for you to imply that people who bake from a mix are somehow not as good as you is a demonstration of your pompus attitude.
Excuse us if we did not graduate from Le Cordon Bleu and pardon me if I do not have the luxury of gathering eggs from my personal Free Range Chickens.
Wow...you two are the epitome of condesention and should be embarrased....although I am sure you aren't. You are way to good for that.
I certainly hope there aren't any newbies reading this post feeling discouraged right now. I have made a very good business for myself--doctoring boxed mixes. I am honest with people that the Pillsbury doughboy is my right hand man in the kitchen! 
People are amazed that I can get a boxed mix to taste that good. My customers don't feel cheated at all. Now, I am not saying I am some expert baker or anything, but I have a client base that is very satisfied with the product this uneducated cook has put on the market. My point is, if the customer is happy, then you have done your job properly.
PS--I do in fact use eggs from my own chicken--the one my 2nd grader brought home as a science experiment from school!!!!!!! 
I use box mixes all the time. I always let them know which brand it is also. I find that they really don't care if the cake mix is from a box, all they care about is the decorating. Most will tell me that their box cakes don't taste the same (I don't add anything extra). They love my buttercream frosing (which is Wiltons) and my decorating.
I only use BC and I don't add anything other than what the instructions call for. During the summer I sold a cake to a home ec teacher for her husband (he works with mine) I was honest that I use mix. A few weeks ago I did a cake for a company party and she told me she doesn't know what I do to mixes to make them turn out so good. So not everyone can make a mix turn out right.
When I was in high school I worked summers in a bakery that sold mostly bread and donuts and sold sheet cakes with flowers and basic stuff on them. The baker made all the bread and stuff from scratch, even his own custard, but the cake was from a mix because he said that he couldn't do any better than the mix. This was a guy with a huge ego so he must have meant it.
I won't use canned frosting on a cake, to me you can tell it's out of a can right away.
I tried reading this.....really I did....but all I got was "meowing and hissing"....and then a couple of tails went up in the air!! 
.....oh how the warning for this was wayyyyyyyyy at the beginning! 
and then we are all 
Too funny...I have absolutely no reason to be ashamed, so no, I'm not. I've worked very hard to learn to bake like I do and I'm quite proud of the fact that I have the the customer base to prove it. I'm completely self-taught, too. So I don't really care if some posters here think that's condescending! Take it for what you will!
First of all twinsy...you are cracking me up!!!!! MEOW!!!!!!!!!
Second of all, why do you guys care what everyone else thinks....seriously, what do i care if someone thinks i'm cheating...I'll hang my head in shame as I'm counting out my money! Maybe its because we are more laid back where I live but as far as mix vs scratch
NOBODY CARES
So lets get on with our baking and cool it!
well i just got done watching the ever popular alton brown..."good eats"...
and he said he would be hard pressed to come up with a scratch cake recipe that was as good as a boxed mix....and he held up a box of duncan hines.
then he said you should still make the icing home made.
he made one ya gotta boil on the stove....not too practical for me...i go thru 90 qts of icing a weekend...i need a witches caulren to cook that in. 
Gosh, I do get tired of this whole debate!!! Why does it matter if we use box mixes or bake from scratch?!?!?! If the people we bake for love our cakes and keep coming back, then that's all that matters, isn't it?!?! WHO CARES?!?!?! 
I was a box cake maker for 12 years. About five years ago I started reading about trans fats in box cake mixes. Then I read about the hormones in the eggs and what it does to our body.That was a defanante shock, that I could kill someone slowly eating my cake. That's when I went scratch. I've never been happier with my change and I feel better about my end results. Someone said scratch wans'nt very good but man my cakes are awesome and they melt in your mouth. I book about 92% of all cake tastings. It's a lot longer process to learn scratch but it really can be good!
I think it's you personal choice either way. I'm a wedding cake maker exclusively and I feel you should have something special on your wedding day. I have alot of heath concience brides seeking me out. Whatever you decision be you just have to be content with your choice.
We all are wonderful in our own way and lets stop the pissing competion!
Andrea
I have made both. For years we would do box cakes for a dinner dessert. Baking now though I am doing scratch. It is my scratch cakes that people rave over. Of course a good box cake people will say oh that is a good cake but when I make one from scratch those are the ones that I am made to swear I will make for the holiday dinners.
Everyone has their own preference and I have had some really bad scratch cakes before, but personally we can taste the additives in box mixes. My husband can normally spot them a mile away by the taste.
I think whatever a baker is happiest with and their customer love is what is important though.
Hey I am not going to argue with anybody, I do both, scratch and mix. Depends on how much time I have what ingredients are in the pantry. As far as being healthier, my body is so used to all the yummy bad stuff it would go into shock if it didn't get it's fix. I just checked out a book (Duncan Hines Complete Cake Mix Magic) from local library and the recipes in there sound absolutly delicious can't wait to try them. Chocolate Praline w/caramel filling is the first one I am going to try. MEOW
like there is any chocolate, peanut butter, chips or coke left in the house by this point! If I keep eating like this I'll have to hold up a mini mart to get a fix!
omg...hahahha...how true though...same goes over here
Gosh, I do get tired of this whole debate!!! Why does it matter if we use box mixes or bake from scratch?!?!?! If the people we bake for love our cakes and keep coming back, then that's all that matters, isn't it?!?! WHO CARES?!?!?!
I couldn't agree more. Use what works for you and don't obsess over what someone else does if it's different and works for them.
I don't think there are any "Holier Than Thou's" so far as cake mixes are concerned and so far as being health conscious NO CAKE is healthy, scratch or box, any thing using ENRICHED FLOUR,SUGAR,SHORTENING and BUTTER is totally unhealthy PERIOD, the icings alone are artery clogging..and considering the fact we don't eat cake everyday, one slice of cake scratch or box want make that big a difference so far as a persons health goes. It really DONT matter if its box or scratch, I think its mostly an ego trip for the decorators as some here are becoming so defensive over it...I personally don't care for scratch cakes,never have, but if a customer wants one I'll make it, and so far as Free Range eggs go you can buy them in a store like any other eggs,the fat content and calories are the same, and if the customer wants them I'd charge extra, but I've never had a customer care either way. What I've learned threw the years is the customer wants a cake that tastes good but, mostly they want it to be pretty..the taste can come from box or scratch, its the exterior that we are hired for most the time.
I do what the customer requests..box or scratch...most the time I'd say 99% of the time that's not even an issue with them,(of course they want it to taste good) but they are mostly after the design of the cake and your reputation of making beautiful cakes is why they seek you out, if you make a scratch cake and it looks like crap on the outside, they aint gonna hire you either way, bottom line!
I am pretty new to cake decorating so this has been a big question with me. When I make the box cake and add a little something to it - everyone raves. My scratch cakes are pretty good but everyone just says they are good - not as much compliments. So I think I just haven't found the RIGHT scratch recipe.
Can anyone share their favorites or point me to one on CC that is a great scratch cake. I have just gotten a request for my first wedding cake and I want it to be great tasting. Andrea7 (or anyone) do you have any tips for taste tastings for the client?
Gosh, I do get tired of this whole debate!!! Why does it matter if we use box mixes or bake from scratch?!?!?! If the people we bake for love our cakes and keep coming back, then that's all that matters, isn't it?!?! WHO CARES?!?!?!
I couldn't agree more. Use what works for you and don't obsess over what someone else does if it's different and works for them.
As long as you have new members joining the debate will continue to come up. Stay away from the thread or only participate to inform the newbies about previous threads. I am untrained and was wondering what the "professionals" thought about the question. I am not overly obsessed with nor do I allow other people's opinions to dictate what I do. Just wondering what the standard was and I was prepared to make my own decision based on it.
I am not a snob about it. I come from a long line of mix doctors. My mom used to make a mean corn bread from doctored Jiffy mix but because I am untrained and don't have much in the way of guidance, out of ignorance, I have already made few mistakes in trying to start up my business. I worry about what someone else does cause on more than one occaision I found that what I was doing was illegal. It doesn't hurt to ask and compare notes from time to time.
With that said . . . I bowed out of this one for a little bit because it seemed like it was about to get a little bloody.
Honestly I lean toward scratch cakes just for the bragging rights but I have opted to use a mix for my yellow cake cause I just can't find a recipe from scratch that out performs or even matches the mixes. Not to mention cost and/availability. What if my signature cake is no longer available?
Thank you all for your comments and opinions. I find myself somewhere close to the middle- not completely opposed to mixes but drawn to the scratch only side for various reasons but I definatly draw the line at raising my own chickens .
I do bothe, and prefer homemade myself. But no matter which one I'm baking I ALWAYS soak with cake syrup. Use a little bit of lemon in the syrup, it works wonders.
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