So are there other people in here that cater to the higher end of the spectrum, like say fancy restaurants cater to people are looking for fine food? Meaning imported chocolate and involved gourmet recipes? I'm not trying to be rude, maybe I've just been in my "area" of the business for so long, I don't see it any other way, and it is odd to see so many comments about box mixes being all they use and people preferring them. Someone said something about memo regarding this as being a hot button? Is there a notice somewhere about threads like this? Please direct me to it if so.

I'm in Australia and use the Bakels Mississippi Mud Cake cake mix. It's only available at cake and speciality stores so it's not like the customers can just go to the supermarket and make one of their own. I used to make them from scratch but I have a full-time job and just didn't have the time. I add a few extras to the mix and have never had any complaints - often actually get asked for the recipe! I would love the time to bake from scratch but given the limited amount of time I have for cakes, I just can't justify the time (or the mess I make!)

Apart from the fact that I personally think that scratch baking is a craft that should be honed and treasured (just like sewing, weaving, woodwork etc.) I am mostly opposed to box mixes because of the ingredients. The argument that box mixes are just pre-measured ingredients is insofar invalid that scratch recipies ususally do not include chemicals like Calcium Chloride, Modified Soy Protein, Cellulose Gum, Artificial Flavour or Sodium Loryl Sulphate (taken directly from the ingredients list of Betty Crocker's White Angel Food Cake , found on their website). Now, I do not want to eat all that stuff, nor do I want to feed it to family, friends or customers.

I too bake with fine ingredients, searching the internet and specialty shops. I put fine chocolate in my brownies, cakes, and frostings.... but, since I have been on CC, I have tried a few of the enhanced recipes out of curiosity. They are a completely different style of baking, and it was fun! I made the WASC and didn't like it, but I froze one layer as an experiment. We ate it plain because it was really good. I don't like chocolate, but the Amazing Chocolate Cake had a really nice flavor. There are others I did not like, but I look at it like adding a skill... there was something in baking that I didn't know anything about. I tend to bake toward the dense, moist side and some people don't like that. The enhanced recipes taste more like mainstream desserts and probably appeal to more people. I see a place for both scratch and box in commercial and personal baking. So I agree with both... there is a market for artisan cakes and scratch recipes, but there is a market for many other styles too... from enhanced to straight box. Too many bakers on CC are making plenty of money with mixes, thus proving that the public does love the taste.

KarmaCakes10, I don't think there is *actually* a memo about this type of thread. I think that was sort of like when you say. "Memo to self..."

As for the argument about a mix being something the customer could just make themselves...nope. Not the way I do it when I use a mix. I have never heard of anyone thinking of my cake as anything less than phenomenal, even when I use a mix. Other professional bakers from local cities try to get my recipes from my dad!! (Like he has the first clue!) But another reason it's not something they can just do themselves is that they don't know how to make the icing, they don't have all the ingredients, they don't have the pans, they don't have the skills, etc. etc. I don't mix up a cake mix per box instructions and pour it into a disposable 13 by 9 foil pan, then scoop out a can of frosting on it.

Another issue, at least for someone like me... I use many premium ingredients, and when I bake for my family (when cost is not the issue) I use the highest end stuff I can get my hands on. But when I am only able to sell a cake for $1 a serving tops for a sheet cake, or maybe $2 a serving for tiered, I am NOT going to PAY THEM to take it off my hands. I'm not going to use the cake flour that costs ten times what the AP flour does. I'm not going to use my expensive imported chocolate. I use cost effective ingredients so that I am not just barely breaking even, or even ending up in the hole. And, as mentioned by others, since everyone who has tasted it thinks it's amazing, I won't mess with the formula.

Edited for typo... I meant IMPORTED chocolate, not important chocolate. hehe.

Important chocolate, that's the best typo I've ever seen! So funny! God it's nice to have a break from cakes at times. I injured my hand dissasembling our sheeter the other day and it's not going to get better soon. Not like I can help much, right hand, can't lift cake, can't paint, can't even crack a stinking egg. Guess I'll have fun on the internet for a couple of weeks.

I was (yes was) a baker that was strickly scratch. I became a member on here and heard all the arguements about box vs scratch and at the time I couldnt understand how anyone could use a box mix. Ive since come to a conclusion that depending on the cake/recipe, you can use a box mix, enhance it and have an awesome result. There are ways to enhance box mixes without buying chocolate that costs more than you charge for a cake! My customers have never, repeat NEVER came back to me and said that my cakes were dry, overly sweet, or tasted less than amazing. I can tell you that I have had people tell me that its the best tasting cake they have ever eaten or a common word is AMAZING. Im not tooting my own horn here, Im just saying that you cant be narrow minded here. You can have all the best, top of the line ingredients in the world but if you dont know how to put them together right your not going to get anything better tasting than a can of premade frosting.

weirkd - Boy, you said a mouthful right there! Like when you see a celebrity with a super tacky home... money can't buy taste. Then again, if they like it, who's business is it if it seems 'ugly' to me or someone else, right?

Karen421 - I'm afraid that I just can't understand what you said there about peanut butter and chocolate. Is that some sort of horrible joke you like to play at Halloween? That's really cruel! Just kidding!! But seriously, I adore that combo, but would never look down on someone for not liking it. That's what makes us fun...we're not cookie cutter copies of each other.

Box mix + 1 can pumpkin = cake people like.
Box mix (dry) over pie filling and covered with melted butter = cake people like.
Box mix + 2 eggs + nuts, chocolate chips, and dried fruit = cake people like.
etc.

Easy, inexpensive, and requested each month.

A plaque I saw at a craft show -
"Of course you can, but will you?"

At least I can type! I type with my first two fingers and thumb only on my right hand, and the brunt of the injury is to the pinky and fourth finger, and the side of my hand. Painkillers help some, but it's going to hurt no matter if I'm sitting still, so what's the point. Thanks for the encouragement!

Yep, to each is own! Personally, if I had the money some of these celebs have, I would of found better decorators!! Some of the MTV Cribs I see I wonder to myself what they are thinking!! They need to fire their decorators (or hire one for that matter!!) lol. I remember seeing what Christine Agulara's (probably spelled that wrong)home looked like. All I could think of was Betty Boop!! Poop,poopy doo!!

Yah, its like a train wreck. You cant look away! I love watching that stuff too. The worst dressed you look at them and think how can they look THAT bad with all that money!!

LOL That is so true!

I googled "dump cake" ............lots of recipes come up.

Rae

Thanks Rae - I should have thought of that!!! I'm not thinking lately!

Thank you Debbie! I am going to try this - this weekend!!

Yep, indydebi, that's the recipe.
You can change it up with almost anything and people love it.

That sounds like something my hubby would like.....can you use apple pie filling alone like in layers? Instead of pineapple etc ?

She prefers the texture of them. My grandma made instant mashed potatoes and I loved everything she did but I never ate her potatoes. My mom grew up on them so when we had meshed potatoes at home they were always real she hated the fake ones. I don't blame my grandma though she had to feed an army. She had 17 kids and then adopted one so she probably didnt have a pot big enough to boil all those potatoes.

Instant mashed potatoes may not be ideal, but nothing is worse than real mashed potatoes done badly!

After all that peeling and boiling and you get pureed potatoe soup. A real travesty.