I would hope not Maryjs....but have you ever tried this?

http://www.lifeaftercoffee.com/2005/09/16/the-straight-poop-on-kopi-luwak-coffee/

Mmmmm, that's some good shi*!

I think it totally depends on what your client likes. I worked as a chocolatier with high-end chocolate in a very competitive market - only the best, freshest spices, liquors and compounds go in and yes, our customers could tell, but with cakes I find that while I only want to make and eat scratch cakes most of the folks I bake for LOVE mix cakes - and yes, every time there are comments of "Wow! I can tell this is from scratch... etc" when it is just a doctored mix I think it must be because most people now grew up on the stuff.

Okay...in truth this is one of those "there is a butt for every seat" type discussions. I hate cake from a mix, and I can ALWAYS tell, not so much by taste, because you can doctor away that smell, but you can't get rid of that weird propylene glycol tongue coating texture.

You can make an entirely decent living selling cakes made from a mix because there are a lot of people who care more about the looks of the cake than the ingredients used. A very large portion of the American population is acclimated to box-mix cake, because the resurgence of scratch baking is a pretty recent phenomenon. Most people's cooking style is more " Sandra Lee" than Martha Stewart.

For me this only gets to be a "controversy" when someone says something like " using only the finest ingredients" when they are pumping out Betty Crocker. Now while I don't expect anyone to advertise " made with same crap you can get at Walmart", but to me if you are using a mix, you should be advertising your decorating skills, not you epicurean bonafides.

Know what I think is the difference? I think they grew up on stuff like Hostess and other mass produced stuff that tastes like cardboard. If a machine bakes it along with a thousand other exact replicas, it's a mix and if a person does it one cake at a time, it's scratch. You guys are forgetting that there's a third world of cake out there that you buy in plastic wrap. That's why even a doctored mix tastes better than what they expect. My scratch comes out nasty, maybe it's the humidity, maybe it's me. Doesn't matter. I sell something they are willing to pay to eat because it tastes so good and the customer is the final word on it. Those who love to bake from scratch are doing it for themselves because THEY love it, and luckily their customers must like it or they wouldn't buy it. Mine wouldn't buy my scratch baking. Quite frankly, I get tired of people trying to make me feel inferior because I have identified my weakness and I use a mix to compensate for it. My strength is decorating and the artwork, not the cake itself, but it has to be edible to get repeat business. If I haven't been able to do scratch well after 30 years of trying, I think it's my right to do what I want to be able to make my cake for my customer as long as we're all happy. AND, I do not advertise that I use only the finest ingredients. I tell them I offer a variety of delicious flavors and fillings.

Snarks, I think you said it very well.

And I agree with Spuddsy's Mom too people think if it's good it's________ fill in the blank--whichever one they like the best--not really which one it actually is.

And you hear it so often and they're so way wrong.

I use both. Most of my sheet cakes are the doctored mixes and WASC variations, because i find that most everybody likes them, they are reliable for me, because I don't have time to try lots of different recipes. If I get a request specifically for scratch, then i will bake that. In some cases I think people have said that, just to see if I can do it. One lady said she liked the doctored box as much as the scratch white cake i made for her in the same week. The scratch recipe was "A Better White Cake" which was good, but maybe I'm one of those folks used to box mix, because I still preferred the WASC.

i myself use the box mix only, then add my own stuff too. i looove my choc recipe using devils food box as a base. i agree, do what's comfy for you.

Vanilla is made from orchids.
Orchids go through a process to become the vanilla we use.
We steep the beans in alcohol to make vanilla.
It's a chemical process, several chemical processes probably.

Ok so talking about feces in cakes is responsible, is that what it is.
Thanks for the lesson in good debate.

I'm saying that avoiding chemicals and chemical processes is an inacurate argument. It's not a viable point. It's silly at best.

Vanilla is made from a chemical process.

I think you're doing pretty good talking about the nasty stuff.
You don't need my help.