I'm very new at cake decorating and I'm crazy in love with this art. I've been going nuts trying to do everything from scratch. Also finding the perfect buttercream/cake mix recipes. In all honesty, how many of you actually make you cake mix from scratch?

Your title will prevent many scratch bakers from posting. I think the scratch/cake mix may be nearly 50/50. I use scratch for everything but white cake. I have yet to find a satisfactory white cake recipe.

Just choose a good book, like the Cake Bible, and start trying recipes until you have a few 'go to' recipes for the basic flavors.

Ooooops. I some how posted this topic in the wrong forum. Sorry if I offended anyone with this topic. What I meant is, it gets pretty expensive baking from scratch, and I just wanted to know what has worked best for you experienced cakist (sp). I know I wouldn't want advice from someone like me a who doesn't have any experience. Sorry again

Ooooops. I some how posted this topic in the wrong forum. Sorry if I offended anyone with this topic. What I meant is, it gets pretty expensive baking from scratch, and I just wanted to know what has worked best for you experienced cakist (sp). I know I wouldn't want advice from someone like me a who doesn't have any experience. Sorry again

Well, I am far from an expert....but I have baked a LOT of cakes! I use the WASC for a base. As you can find with the variations you can create almost anything using it that way.

I'm no expert either, but I have made Sylvia Weinstock's yellow cake recipe many times now and just love it. Great flavor and moist. I think it's definitely worth the cost of ingredients to try it at least once.

I"m no "expert" either, but here's my two cents anyway. Some of my cakes are scratch while others are box. Family and friends, aka my 'taste testers' can't tell the difference. I on the other hand like the taste of scratch butter cake recipe over a box butter cake recipe. I do scratch when I have the time and a tried and true box when I don't. For scratch recipes I use The Cake Bible, so much in fact pages are actually separating from the seam/binding. It's worth every penny.

B2B

it stands for White Almond Sour Cream you can change it up to chocolate, lemon, vanilla, and many more. Hope that helps. You can check the forums and people will give out a link for the different variations. I've recently tried the WASC recipe and I love it. I didnt use the almond flavor though I just added double vanilla. I want to try lemon or chocolate next. good luck.

I am defenitly not an expert either, but I have done many cakes in the year and a half that I have been baking, and I have to tell you I use only box mixes. I get nothing but compliments on my cakes. I have a full time job and only do cakes on the weekends, so I have no time to do scratch cakes. I have tried the extended cake recipie on this site once and got my first and only bad comment on a cake ( so far ). The costomer said it was really dry and not like my cakes in the past. I was dissapointed, but laughing inside because I use box mixes all the time and the one time I try something different, I get a bad comment. Just my opinion, and in my experience so far, I think box cake mixes are just great.

If you are learning to decorate, I would make your cakes from a mix, and concentrate on the decorating. I personally find cake mixes hard to sculpt, even the doctored ones, but I do like using them for just plan old round cakes (the WASC recipe is AMAZING.) for like birthday cakes and such. Scratch cakes are getting more and more expensive, that is fer sure!! I think it just depends on what you are doing as far as what you use...(the general public IS used to cake mix, btw, and they don't even know it! hahaha)

i do 90% of mine from scratch...but white cake... just like someone said... and angel food cake... i use mix for those bc eggs are too expensive to be wasting 13 or 14 egg yolks for an angel food recipie...
but i used to use cake mix until i found scratch replacements...

I do some scratch baking but my main party cakes are several of my own variations on cake mix. I find people are so used to the fluffy cake mix type flavor that once I add my own touch to them, people love them. My doctored cake mixes, some of them (especially the vanilla) taste better than some of the scratch made cakes I've tasted at reputable bakeries. Stuff like chocolate, and carrot, pumpkin, pound, etc are better scratch, but most of my customers just love plain old doctored yellow vanilla cake with homemade sweet buttercream.

I'm a scratch cake maker, mostly from necessity since I'm outside the US and cake mixes are a premium cost when found at import stores! I have found a buttercream frosting mix that I'm getting great reviews with, and I just love it too! I haven't tried flowers yet with it...I think it's too soft for that, but I can fall back on the scratch buttercream recipes for flowers.

I like what loriesmom said, about practicing decorating while using box mixes, then build your skills to scratch baking, if you'd like to do so. You may find satisfactory results with box and don't feel you need to change that.

It's all good!!!

PS: I got curious about the Sylvia Weinstock's Yellow Cake Recipe, looks like I'll need to try it out!! http://homecooking.about.com/od/cakerecipes/r/blc13.htm

Well, I admire all of you bakers. I have a deeper sense of appreciaton for you guys. I'm still working on making my cakes look neat when frosting them. I really don't know how you guys do it to make them look flawless. Most of the time I think they're fondant and really, they're buttercream.

I have to agree that most people have grown up on box mixes, and that is what they like. They are light and fluffy. Scratch is more flavorful, but you have to grow to enjoy the denseness (is that a word) of it. I think it's for this reason the doctored cake mix became so popular. Kind of the best of both worlds.