I used duncan hines cake mix with the durable doctored cake recipe, adding sour cream, pudding to the mix. This what I noticed. The cakes, 4 of them, sunk in the middle, pulled away from the sides of the pan terribly, seemed lighter in weight. I had more cakes to bake today, so I used betty crocker, totally different. The cakes rose nice, did not pull away from the pan, were heavier, and flat across the tops of the cakes.
Wondering if anyone else has noticed this. It drives me crazy when cakes pull away from the pan and sink in the middle, so these are going to trouble when I start stacking cakes, I'll have to trim away so much on the top and sides, because the cakes won't line up on the sides too. I never buy duncan hines, now I wish I hadn't.
The other difference was dh was butter recipe, bc was just a yellow cake with oil, could that have effected the cakes too.

I always use Duncan Hines and never have this problem.
I would imagine that the problem was the butter recipe NOT the Duncan Hines mix.

Heck, I'm pretty much a "straight from the box" mix baker and the butter-recipe mixes always turn out like crap for me!

I love DH mixes and only use that brand, but I absolutely hate the butter one. I could not get mine to ever bake like the other ones. I would stick with their yellow over the butter one.

I too have much better cakes with Betty Crocker mixes as opposed to Duncan Hines. I only use Betty Crocker now since none of the Duncan Hines cakes I did turned out well. I found the same thing, alot of shrinkage and the sinking in the middle and seemed to be more crumbly.

I had always used DH, but when I doctor a cake mix I use any other kind - even the store brand. DH always breaks for me.

i've had DH butter cakes sink in the center a couple times. i primarily use DH, but have learned to not use the butter ones. otherwise it's smooth sailing for me straight out of the box.

I mostly use DH, more batter, but no matter what brand mix I use, I do use the same recipe for a doctored mix, 1 mix, 1 sm pudding, 1 c.SC, 1/3 c. oil, 1 c. liquid. The only time it didn't turn out great was when I added wrong amounts...tired.

Somewhere on the DH website its mentioned the butter recipe mixes won't always work if altering the ingredients called for on the box.
I only use DH if making the extended cake but use the regular mixes not butter. I found the regular mixes baked up the best for me.
I use self-rising cake & pastry flour & superfine sugar, not AP flour & regular sugar when making the extended cakes though.
A tip I received from a fellow caker thats done me very well.

For over 30 yrs I have used Betty - especially for my original WASC recipe.
Yes, I have from time to time used DH and Pillsbury - say if a certain flavor wasn't available or the price was much better but I always end up going right back to good ole' Betty L)

Thanks everyone, I guess it was just the dh butter recipe mix, now I know, thanks again.

I bought the DH butter cake mix and then returned it. The directions say to mix it for 4 minutes. The only other time I beat the mix for 4 minutes on a doctored cake mix recipe I had a completely fallen cake. I got the recipe off a website, not from here. The minute I read 4 minutes, that little voice in my head starting saying no, no. But it was my first time making a doctored mix, so I followed the directions. And sure enough, the cake fell. I knew immediately it was not the fact that I doctored the mix, but that I mixed it too long.

I was going to try the DH butter cake mix and only mix it 2 minutes, but I was crunched for time and couldn't take the time to experiment. I just went and bought one of the non-butter cake mixes and used that instead.

I've always used betty crocker. Never had an issue, so why try the other brands?

I have been looking for lemon instant pudding? What brand is it Rae & where did you get it? Thanks.

It's the Jell-O brand instant lemon pudding mix.

I find it routinely at WalMart SuperCenters--sometimes at regular WalMarts, and less frequently at my local grocery store

This buy at Amazon isn't too bad--I pay about .89/box when it's not on sale. I don't know if the free shipping extends to Hawaii--------I hope so!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E1BLOO/?tag=cakecentral-20

Rae

Have to agree, has nothing to do with it being Duncan Hines. Butter recipes with a mix are crap any way you bake it

I don't have a recipe for a doctored mix is anyone willing to share??

Thank you LisaMarie86...can't wait to try it out

works wonders for me!

Thank you Rae.

Here's another version of the recipe that works well for me using Duncan Hines mixes. I use all flavors of cake mix and I vary extracts accordingly. It's pretty much the only recipe that I use. It halves beautifully:

Ingredients:
2 boxes DH cake mix--any flavor
2 boxes instant pudding mix--flavor to compliment cake flavor
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teas. salt
8 egg whites (for white cake only) or 6 eggs for other flavors
(I use large or exta large eggs)
2 2/3 cups water
4 Tbls. vegetable oil
2 cups (16oz carton) sour cream
4 teaspoons of the flavoring extract(s) of your choice
OR
For white almond cake:
2 teaspoons of clear vanilla flavor
2 teaspoons almond extract
Instructions
Mix all dry ingredients by hand using a whisk in a very large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees. For cakes 8" and up, place at least 1 flower nail in the center or use the Wilton heating core. For cakes larger than 12" round or square, I place several flower nails, evenly spaced in the batter.

***One recipe makes: one 14 round + one 6 round
or one 16 round
or one 12 round + one 10 round
or one 12~18 sheet cake
or one 12 round + one 8 round + one 6

Half a recipe makes: two 8 rounds
or two 6 rounds + 6 cupcakes

Here's the link to the CC recipe post:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/2322/white-almond-sour-cream-cake-wasc

Rae

I just tried the doctored recipe with a western family cake mix, turned out beautiful. Had extra cake so we ate it tonight. The texture and flavor were really good. I have noticed that each cake mix has a different look to it. I know the bc mix turned out good, haven't tasted it yet, they are in the freezer for an upcoming wedding cake. The western family looked and tasted really good. It had a softer crumb, lighter, my favorite looking cake so far, and its the cheapest mix of them all. The butter recipe dh, didn't turn out good at all, as I said it sunk in the middle, and the shrinking was annoying. So by far, my favorite mix with the doctored mix using a box of pudding, sourcream, is the western family. I wish I had used it from the start, i'm dreading putting the wedding cake together with the other cakes that had issues, will have to do alot of leveling, I hate wasting cake.

[quote="cathyscakes"] The butter recipe dh, didn't turn out good at all, as I said it sunk in the middle, and the shrinking was annoying. So by far, my favorite mix with the doctored mix using a box of pudding, sourcream, is the western family.


If you had used a "butter recipe" WF cake mix the results would have been the same as the "butter recipe" DH cake mix

For an accurate comparison you should compare the SAME type of mix. DH white cake mix to WF white cake mix. It's been said in this thread from the beginning, it's the "butter recipe" NOT the brand of mix that caused the problems that you had with your cake.
If you had made a DH white cake mix and compared it to WF "butter recipe" cake mix you'd be saying the "WF cake mix is the one that "didn't turn out good at all"