Help!!! Box Cake Or From Scatch??
Business By SweetChewyCakes Updated 2 Oct 2009 , 4:47am by littlecake
When you put your name out there and people ask you do you make it from scratch or box cake?? Do you tell them box cake?? but you doc it?? or you have to lie cause most see its just a box cake..they don't understand you Doc it and make it your own flavors..??
You might just want to do a "search" on here for this subject. I see you are new - and that is a debate that is usually a heated one! Do what you and your clients are happy with and leave it at that. And welcome to CC!
(and BTW - I have been decorating cakes for going on 4 years now, and NOT ONE TIME have I been asked if it was "scratch" or a box)
I agree with Jamie - definitely no lying. Why does it matter whether you use a box or scratch cake? Have you ever asked at a bakery whether or not they use a mix? I know I've seen on here that many bakeries get cake mix in bulk and that's what they use. I would never have thought that, but if it tastes good, it doesn't really matter! I've never had anyone ask me if mine were a mix or not!
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-653598-scratch.html+vs
Link above was running yesterday and gets into the debate...
edited for typo...
I agree with you gals! Im trying to start up my cake business, and so far that the question I get from people. I don't like to lie and I know my products will sell itself. It is just crazy how some people eat frozen cakes all their lives care if it's from scratch or box? I spoke to people at the supermarket and they said they don't bake at the store. They buy frozen cake frum bulk and cut it into sheet cake and frost it. I guess some people think the supermarket bakery is frshly baked! I was once there and I shouldn't be to upset with them for thinking that way. Thanks fo the advice!
On another note, if you doc your box cake.. isn't that partilly frum scatch?? lol..
I don't consider a doctored cake a scratch mix as there are preservatives and stuff added to a box that scratch bakers don't add... You could just say you use a cake mix as a base but add many more ingredients, you don't want to lie!! I'm a scratch baker myself, but I don't discriminate against doctored box bakers, it's whatever YOU like to do!! 
Me? I love the baking part just as much as the rest.
1. Don't lie
2. Do what makes you comfortable and what tastes yummy to your customers.
Completely agree. If you make good cakes that everyone likes, then be proud of it.
Don't. Lie. Ever.
I tell the 6 or 7 that have asked me, "If I baked from scratch, you couldn't afford me." 
What I get more often is "Do you freeze your cakes?", at which point I sometimes get the chance to test them: "You tell me .... 2 of these cakes were in my freezer for 3 weeks .... 1 was baked this morning. You tell me which is which." They always pick the wrong one. Twice.
Indydebi- you are too funny! That is my point. Im sure if you give them a a test on the diff b/t the two.. I would say 8 out 10 would guess it wrong. Im sure only professional can tell the different.
Thanks for all the helps!
On another note, if you doc your box cake.. isn't that partilly frum scatch?? lol..
I say if you use a mix, doctored or not, it's not a scratch cake. However, another person might think a doctored mix is scratch.
Tell the customer you doctor a mix and let the customer decide whether or not they think that's scratch.
Loucinda, amazing how some people have to know have lil thing about it ,but yet they have no clue how to turn on an oven..haha.. I'll make sure I'll let them know where I buy all my eggs and milk too. Since I don't have a farm in my backyard.
Loucinda, amazing how some people have to know have lil thing about it ,but yet they have no clue how to turn on an oven..haha.. I'll make sure I'll let them know where I buy all my eggs and milk too. Since I don't have a farm in my backyard.
It's not quite as hysterical as all that. I think that since a lot of decorators distinguish and pride themselves on being scratch bakers, and note that in their "About me" or "Why we're different" sections on their websites or what not, that naturally the question will be asked of a baker that doesn't specify. But again, to address the original question, it's a matter of preference.
Loucinda, amazing how some people have to know have lil thing about it ,but yet they have no clue how to turn on an oven..haha.. I'll make sure I'll let them know where I buy all my eggs and milk too. Since I don't have a farm in my backyard.
Ha ha! When friends ask if my cakes are scratch, I say yes, but I didn't mill the flour, nor raise the chickens. I guess that brings on a whole new meaning to what a "scratch" cake could be.
But let's not go there, again.
Ha ha! When friends ask if my cakes are scratch, I say yes, but I didn't mill the flour, nor raise the chickens.
I get the same on the catering side: Do you use fresh or frozen foods? I say, "Well, I dont' grow my own corn or kill my own chicken, so what are you looking for?" 
Had one bride sharing her "complaint" about a wedding she attended "....and the caterer used either canned or frozen corn!!" I said, "Well, none of us grow our own, so what were you expecting?" She stammered a bit about lack of seasoning, so I had to explain that since we are feeding sometimes hundreds of people, we have to be careful about how much sodium seasoning is added due to health issues. "Plus you don't know what the bride specifically ordered."
I mean, get logical!! She eats canned corn practically every day of her life but SUDDENLY she's all hoity toity about eating canned corn! (I pulled this info out of her by asking how long it took her to put up her garden corn? Oh? you don't grow corn? So you buy it frozen? No? You prefer the canned? From the grocery? Hmmmmm!)
I don't sell cakes, I'm a hobbyist who uses mixes and I was asked this question a couple of weeks ago when I took a cake to a PTO meeting. One person complimented me on the taste of the cake and asked me if it was homemade IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MEETING when it was her turn to speak. I answered "yes". Another person came up to me after the meeting and said "This cake is delicious. Is it from scratch or a box mix?" I replied it was from a mix and she said "this is really good. It doesn't taste like a box mix at all". (I didn't even doctor it). A third person commented on how good it was and mentioned something about it being from scratch so I assume she interpreted my answer to the "homemade" question as it being from scratch.
There is definitely a public perception that scratch cakes are better and I just don't understand it. You can't tell me that these people who automatically think box mixes are inferior don't eat any processed food. Do you eat Jif peanut butter, potato chips, etc, etc.? I want to say "is everything you eat fresh and unprocessed"? I doubt it. I will never understand what people have against box mixes.
I cannot for the life of me understand why people would ask such a question, but they do. I don't lie because I'm not ashamed that I bake cake from a box. If they look down on me when I tell them, so be it. I can't control that.
Puffcake, I think "homemade" and "made from scratch" are not necessarily the same thing either. When I was growing up, "homemade" meant mom made it herself ... she tore open that Duncan Hines box and baked the cake in her own oven. It didn't come from a grocery store or a bakery. It was never claimed to be "from scratch" but it WAS "homemade".
Of course, what makes me laugh are all of the commercials and ads that claim "Baked Fresh!" EVERYTHING is "baked fresh" .... unless someone can explain to me how you "bake stale"! 
Indy...u need to be a CAKE COMDEIAN!! hahah..
I loving the answers I'm getting from this topic. Another thing, I find it's funny that people think I should charge 10 bucks or less for a cake because i use box mix. They don't understand I put extra flours, eggs and flavors in it.. plus water.. water isn't free.. HAHAH..and the time.. Some bakery charge by the hours they spend on the cake.
Puffcake, I think "homemade" and "made from scratch" are not necessarily the same thing either. When I was growing up, "homemade" meant mom made it herself ... she tore open that Duncan Hines box and baked the cake in her own oven. It didn't come from a grocery store or a bakery. It was never claimed to be "from scratch" but it WAS "homemade".
Of course, what makes me laugh are all of the commercials and ads that claim "Baked Fresh!" EVERYTHING is "baked fresh" .... unless someone can explain to me how you "bake stale"!
Yeah, I know what you mean. I wasn't trying to get away with something. I really do consider my cakes "homemade". I baked, iced and decorated it myself. I don't know if her "homemade" question was asking if it was scratch or if maybe she thought I had it made by someone or maybe even picked it up at the grocery store on the way over?
i just tell em it's ho-made....made by a ho...they are usually cracked up or appauled ...then they forgot the original question.
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