I'm not looking to spark the scratch/box debate, but I just got off the phone with my mom and thought I'd ramble a bit. Mom was at a party tonight where I had made the cake so she called to tell me that "everyone loved it and it tasted really good and wasn't dry or anything!" gee, thanks Mom!

Now my mother is not a baker - her idea of birthday cakes was Carvel, which I always hated. Each year I secretly prayed for Pepperidge Farm. Probably poetic justice that I have become a cake decorator.

Anyway, since the cake decorating bug bit a few years back, I experimented with different scratch recipes and found some I really liked. (Unfortunately, I found plenty we didn't like at all!) DS & DH were the official cake tasters. But I was quite proud that I had mastered a few recipes and made the switch. It got back to me from two different people (not Mom) that they thought my cakes were dry. I was heartbroken - they weren't dry, they were just ...well... scratch - different!

So, I decided that people just want what they're used to... why not just give it to them? And so I switched back to dr'd mixes. Apparently it was the right decision. I had no idea mom felt this way. On another note, DH & DS now prefer scratch cakes. Go figure.

I went through the same thing. I kept trying different scratch recipes and doing taste tests on everyone I know. Comparing the scratch and doctored box mixes. Everyone always picked the box mixes. I was really disappointed, but I suppose if that's what everyone likes and rave over that is what they will get. Makes it easier to bake.

The only scratch ones I use are the carrot, which is a big hit and red velvet which is my grandmother's recipe. The rest are doctored.

I just made a three tiered cake, all from scratch. My chocolate and carrot were made with oil, my white with butter. Everyone liked all three cakes but the white was their least favorite. I think it's just how it goes with butter cakes. They're a different texture and are never truly moist (well at least the ones I tried).

You just can't have a red velvet cake from a box! I have a from scratch recipe that's my aunt's. It's been in the family for ages and everyone loves it. I can't imagine one from a box My other cakes, though. Yeah, doctored mixes. I'd rather spend my time on the decorating And they taste good, so hey! Works for me!

Sad, but true. I always grew up on scratch cakes (still have the old recipe book!) and other baked goods, so it's no surprise that I far prefer scratch baking. I'm also a bit of a culinary snob, and really like using premium ingredients in my baking.

But yeah...just the last couple months I have two friends RAVING about cakes I did - and both were when I was cutting corners because time was tight and used a box mix. GRRRRRR. At least both the frostings were scratch.

I guess you have to "know your audience". If they're going to be happier with a doctored cake mix, don't waste the money on the expensive scratch ingredients.

Since I primarily bake for *me* and what I get out of it - it's very therapeautic for me - then they'll just have to deal with getting scratch goodies.

Like it or not LOL

I absolutely understand you. I was going to ask the same question in a thread if other scratch bakers get this respond. I use Toba's yellow cake recipe which is an extremely nice and moist cake. I made it for a bride and her mother (who hates cakes, didn't even try the wedding cake) said some people said it was dry. I was shocked too. (Not to mention they tasted the cake at the consultation, never had a problem with it.) I got other feedback from the same wedding cake from my friend who was there, saying the cake was absolutely delicious.
I know it couldn't have been dry, we ate cakescraps for a couple of days after the wedding and it still was moist. I'm from Europe originally, to me box cakes taste awfully artificial. Now I'm putting simple syrup on my cakes and tort them too.

I know my grandma swears by scratch cakes, but I can never tell the difference between my drd mix and hers so I still use mixes!

Just like my Grandma (and others) used to say, "If it ain't broke, don't FIX it!". I struggled trying to get a non-dr'd chocolate recipe because my friend used to give me such a ration of cr*p for using a freakin' boxed cake mix.....kept telling me "her scratch cake was loved by everyone and it was totally from scratch, blah, blah, blah".....you get the picture. Problem was, it was dry and very bland - not moist or chocolatey, for that matter.

So I searched....I finally found one that is totally scratch, moist and rich too, but sometimes we all crave the dr'd one. Which brings me to this.......what is the big deal? If everyone loved it, why fuss and try to change it? My french vanilla is a doctored cake mix and I have yet to meet someone who tastes it and doesn't love it.

I still have to put up with the cr*p my friend gives me but I don't care! If it tastes good, why change it just so it's 'from scratch', which is a totally debatable expression anyway. I would rather make a great cake that everyone likes then bragging about it being from scratch and then having people think it's dry........

I'm a scratch only baker, almost gave up a few times though, there are a lot of bad recipes out there!! I recently made a cake for a doctor's office and they made such a huge deal out of it! One of the doctor's called to thank me and to tell me it was like a bakery cake! I've had several people tell me my cake was the best they ever tasted, never a complaint about it being dry! I guess it comes down to finding the right scratch recipe, that is if you REALLY are wanting to do only scratch

Same thing here. I have been trying to find good scratch cake recipes with no luck. I guess I grew up on box mixes and like the taste. Scratch cakes just seem dry and bland. And everyone raves over my doctored cakes. I do feel guilty, I would love to be a true scratch cake maker, but I'm afraid people would not like them as much.

I do make a few cakes from scratch, like pound, spice, red velvet, but I'm never as confident making them as I am making the dr'd cakes.

Oh yeah - you do have to try LOTS of different recipes to find the scratch ones you like.

Then when you find a good vanilla and a good chocolate one - stick to them!

I have a good recipe for each, and each takes being altered a little bit for flavor VERY well. So my vanilla cake is also my amaretto cake is also my lemon cake is also my Gran Marnier cake.

Weird thing was, I had lots of people who raved over the scratch cakes too. But no one had ever said the mix cakes were dry, before or after. That's when I realized it was them & not me! They were confusing the texture with dry.

if you find your scratch cakes are dry, why don't you just brush them with a little Simple syrup.

I keep a spray bottle filled with simple syrup hooked to my wire shelves and always give my cakes a nice spraying, especially the edges and corners.

HerBoudoir-I agree, my vanilla cake is the 'base' for a lot of variations! I love seeing what combinations I can come up with by adding a different flavoring or extra tidbit like chocolate chip

I grew up on boxed mixes and use them all the time. I did try a scratch chocolate cake recipe and I loved it but DH said it was really heavy, but moist...I thought that was a good thing. So I decided since the majority likes the boxed I'll stick with it.

For those of you with those great scratch recipes that aren't dry, willing to share your recipes??

I think the denser texture really throws people off sometimes. Whereas for me - straight cake mix has an "off" texture and taste for me, although the doctored ones are a definate improvement.

The vanilla one that I use all the time is already on here,
http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-5173-5-Simple-Yellow-Cake.html
except I cream together the shortening and sugar for a good 4 minutes (as per Alton Brown), I think that makes it a little more moist. It sometimes take longer than 45 mins, depends on what pan I'm baking it in.
I'm all about easy scratch recipes too so my chocolate cake is the one on the back of the Hershey box, never had that one turn out dry and it's very chocolaty! I like to brush the top of that with some Godiva chocolate liquor when it's cooled and WOW-pardon me, having a moment to myself remembering that cake

Mwahahaha love that Godiva liquor....I don't drink it but I always seem to be running out. It's my "secret ingredient" in more than one or two things.

that's funny! Liquor and cakes sometimes just go together, whether they're going on the cakes, or maybe spills a little, um, somewhere else!

These things do happen!

See, that's what was missing out of my gingerbread mango cupcakes - monkey butt! Now I know for next time.

But you are right - if I'm baking for a crowd, I tend to go with simpler flavors, because "not everyone" likes adventurous combinations like Chai Tea or Chili Pepper Chocolate or some of the other combos I like.

I read somewhere that Toba charges up to 15.00 a slice for her cakes. The cake on the cover of her book "The well decorated cake" was sold for ten thousand dollars. She talked about it on Emeril's show. Also in her book she says she uses her moist yellow cake recipe 90% of the time. My point is, There is a technique to making a good scatch cake. Do you think all these great cake designers, Collette Peters,Slyvia Weinstock and Toba would be that successful if they made dry cakes? I bake from scatch and yes it took a lot of trial and error to finally get it right. It's a matter of taste. Some people are just more used to the taste of Box mixes and some people are more used to scatch. It doesn't mean that one is better. It's all in how it's made.

60.00 a slice! WOW. I bet it wasn't dry either. She knows her work and I bet it was worth every penny.

Most people also like Wonder bread. They don't really know what a good bread is. This is the American society. We have palates of cement LOLOL. As a whole we love the gummy texture of bread, and cake mixes.

Mike

I make scratch cakes for carrot, hummingbird, italian cream...cakes like that... but.. I have had people say.. " Your white cake is the best I have ever had" ... yep BOX .. with just a couple of additions..

I for one.. doesn't matter what recipe it seems to be do NOT like scratch white.. I always can taste the flour taste in them.

But that is just me.

Plus when you have to make a huge cake and know that your scratch cake tastes different when you have to double and quadruple the recipe that always makes it harder.