Let me apologize in advance if this topic has been covered lately. I haven't been on CC in over a year and with a baby at home I can't spend hours on CC anymore. Oh, the good ole days...

If you don't mind sharing....Do you just use a straight up box mix? Or do you doctor it up? What kind of feedback do you hear from your customers? I've never been asked what I use, have you? What have you said?

I've been doing a box mix plus those ingredients, cake mix extender recipe (1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, extra egg, 8 oz of full fat sour cream, a little salt and vanilla) and a pkg of pudding mix. This makes a dense and very moist cake.

I'm at a point were I'd like to simplify and cut costs. I'm beginning to think that this version is not neccessarily better than a less doctored mix or possibly even a straight mix. I wanted it to be and thought surely that it MUST be because I add all that stuff, but I'm not so sure anymore.

I know some people add an extra egg. What does that do? I've added just black coffee in place of the water for dark chocolate cake and I really like it. I'd like to maybe just add a little something extra, maybe an extract, so it's not exactly the same as what someone has had before. But it's also quite possible that with a good homemade frosting and filling, it'll taste different and better to them anyway.

I torte and fill all my cakes. I would probably need to use 1 and a half mixes to get the height I need to do that.

I'd love to hear what other bakers are doing. Thanks for sharing.

I add an extra egg which helps to make it more dense and a little more oil and that helps to make it a bit more moist. Occassionally I've used the pudding but not as a rule.

Cat

I always buy Betty Crocker SuperMoist mixes, they're great. I add an extra egg. a TAD (not too much or it will be too moist) more oil, and a box of pudding. To my white cake I add a hint (about a half a cap full) of almond, which gives it a fresh flavor. I also bake a certain way. For instance, for a 13x9, I bake for 18 minutes on the top rack, 7 minutes on the bottom, and then bring it back up for 5-7 minutes. This works for some reason and my cakes are usually really moist, BUT I don't have a convection oven, so this might not be necessary for that. Hope this helps!
If people ask if I use a mix, I usually say "Yes, but it's doctored." =) As long as it's good, I don't think they'll mind. =)

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-255491-.html

I don't know if that link will work, but I asked the same questions a while ago and that is a thread with lots of super answers.

HTH

I use the WASC recipe here on CC. It sounds like what you were doing as well, with the additional cup of flour, additional sugar, eggs, sour cream, etc. I used to use a regular boxed mix, but I tried the WASC recipe and it was like night and day. I will never go back to a regular boxed mix. The WASC is so moist and dense, easy to work with and carve

I use Betty Crocker butter yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, 3/4 C oil,
1 tsp vanilla, 1 C sour cream plus 1 C sugar. I always hand mix my cakes and always add one ingredient at a time. I never have a fail or non moist cake...oh and I always bake at 330. This recipe can be used with really any Betty Crocker cake mix. My fav being Red Velvet but so far my customers love the butter yellow the best. They can't tell it's from a box!!

I'm at that point now too. Just give me a sturdy mix, I like western family, and then I don't have to worry about the cake sinking in the middle, pulling away from the pan, hard crust on the cake, I've had all those using a doctored mix. Don't even get me started on scratch baking, its all over the place. I can make great chocolate, carrot, but white cake is always a headache for me from scratch. A doctored recipe, I can't really tell much difference in the taste. I'd rather put my money in really good fillings, and do without the aggravation.

So do I understand correctly that an extra egg (which I would have thought added moisture) would make a sturdier more dense/carvable cake??!?!?!?!! And what is with the sour cream? am I reading correctly that the above "recipes" would involve a cake mix, all the usual items it calls for PLUS the extra egg, flour, pudding etc?

I was using boxed and my boyfriend told me "that doesnt count" so I started scratch but would love some common ground so long as the cake was sturdy!!!!

I use the WASC recipe from this website as well with the BC cake mix. I don't add pudding. I like the WASC because it yeilds more batter. For the chocolate cake, I use coffee instead of water just like you do to bring out the chocolate flavor more.

As far as what people say...most everyone that has my cake assumes its from scratch. There used to be a lawyer in my office who was rather snooty...had money, finer things in life, etc. and one day he was eating a piece of my cake and said "oh..you can just TELL when a cake is made from SCRATCH." And I did not correct him [/list]

Joybeth - Am I reading right that you do not add additional flour?

I am loving the WASC method I've started making everything this way except cappuccino cake. (I get rave reviews - if it aint broke don't fix it.) I'm especially pleased with the tall layers that result from the added ingredients

My mom (often critical) has remarked more than once that my cakes are moist, but too heavy in texture. This past weekend I had to throw something together quick for a church brunch so I made a coffee cake from a yellow cake mix then dropped a brown sugar and cinnamon topping on it. I got distracted by my 3-year old and left out the oil by mistake. Since I was in a hurry I baked at 350 instead of 325 and that cake came out so light it was falling apart. I don't understand the science behind it, but it makes me think twice about WASC if you're wanting light and airy results.

I don't really want light cake most of the time, I want something durable that's going to hold up to the decorations.

I use DH mixes and add the following to all my cakes:

- Up the eggs to 4
- Up the oil to 1/2 cup
- 1 small box of instant pudding (use a flavor that compliments your cake flavor)

I get rave reviews about the cakes. They are denser, but not like pound cake dense. They have richer flavor and very moist.


For my vanilla cake, I do not use DH's French Vanilla.

I use white cake mix and add the following using vanilla pudding and a tsp of pure vanilla extract. It is one of my most requested flavors.

I didn't even know BC had a red velvet. Do you do whole eggs or egg white, Joybeth?[/quote]

Actually they don't...and I have to use DH for the Red Velvet...sorry...
I use whole eggs. And just to clarify....I do not follow the back of the box. I add nothing but my own ingredients. Does that make sense?

And no I do not add flour.

I try to use pillsbury on most of my cakes. In my experience they crumble less than other brands. I also add 1 egg, a small box of instant pudding or jello in whatever flavor suits the cake, and 8 oz sour cream. It makes a sturdy, moist and beautiful presentation when cut. I have to add that as soon as I pull the cakes out of the oven I patt them down and cover them right away. When cool I take them out of the pan and wrap as fast as possible. Don't want any moisture escaping. In the past I have put them in the freezer to create more moisture with the condensation chemistry and it has worked as designed, but with my last cake I did not put it in the freezer and found it to be more pleasing. Just the right amount of moisture. Others have been a bit more. I tried it on a test cake of the same flavors first. Much more favorable comments on texture and cutability. That is one of the things I just don't understand about the cake shows. Their cakes sit out for hours and sometimes they look like tasteless bricks. I don't get it. How can that taste good?

Thanks for all the great ideas and links!

For yellow cake do you prefer butter yellow or regular yellow?

What is your most requested flavor?

Thanks again!

I do not like DH's butter yellow at all. I could never get it to bake right. I just use the regular yellow.

I use cake mix right out of the box and I do not add anything to it, just what it says on the box. I have only heard good things about my cakes, everyone thinks they are homemade, I laugh and say they are homemade, I made them at my home lol everyone loves my cakes. Theres no need to add unless that is what you want to do. Just my opinion.

I like BC butter yellow..but if I can't get it..I just add a little butter flavoring to their regular yellow mix. Works..for me!

I use the WASC recipe that's here on the website. With mine I use Pillsbury becasue I like how it comes out, not to mention it's cheaper than the other brands by up to $.50 per box in certain places.
I use 3 eggs, one cup of: sour cream, flour, granulated sugar, wated and one tablespoon of flavoring for a basic cake.
Sometimes I use coffee flavorings in place of the water or chocolate milk if I'm making a chocolate cake.

I have used a lot of other recipes - from straight from the box to scratch and this is the most reliable recipe I use. It's great for carving and stacking, not to mention it's yummy! To eliminate the cake crusting when baking I make my own pan coating and bake at 325 degrees, instead of 350.

I always use a doctored cake mix, I do a variation of wasc. I add 1 cup prepared pudding (flavor that goes well with cake mix flavor) 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg (for a total of 4) and I keep the rest of the ingredients the same. So far I have gotten nothing but compliments.

To me Betty Crocker is the worst cake mix on the planet! You can taste all the preservatives in it, and the volume is much less than the other two big brands. My go to mix always has been and always will be Duncan Hines. It is a better tasting, more moist, better rising (more bang for your buck) mix. I use Fr. Van and Dk. Choc as is, and use those two base flavors to create all my other flavored cakes, with the exception of a few cakes that I feel must be done from scratch (ie: my grandmother's chocolate soda cake). My customers LOVE my cakes. But that is also due to my baking/after baking process that makes them super moist and DIVINE!

I am by no means a baker. I know nothing of the science of baking in particular and so I find this post REALLY helpful. Alot of assumptions I have made (what adding/removing an ingredient would do) have been dead wrong it seems. Can someone give some tips on what adding X will do?

ie: If you want a denser cake for stacking or carving add...I think an egg from reading this...

If you want higher cakes add 1pkg of dream whip.

If you want ____________ add i pkg of pudding.

If you want ____________ replace _________ with _________

etc. This would be SUPER helpful!!!