Hi I've been considering some cake mixes - most of my cakes are scratch but I recently tried out a red velvet as a trial for cupcakes and loved it. Its a huge bag and I'm sure i'll use it again.

I was wondering for those of you who use box mixes what you tell your customers if they ask if you make your own? What kind of reaction do you normally get from customers/people if you use a mix?

I mentioned the other day to a friend about using a box mix and the reaction I got was "oh my god that's cheating!" I was quite taken aback as i'm professional with the cakes I make and decorate whether scratch baked or not.

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts or experiences

you might want to search this, its been beaten to a pulp!


most people say do what best serves you, if you are confident in your product, so will customers.

I know that I do both scratch and doctored mix and people LOVE the doctored mix. However those same people would probably be pretty horrified to know they just raved over a doctored box mix. So....I try to avoid it if I can. I'd probably try to focus on the recipes I do from scratch and skim over the box ones if I can. The last time I admitted to someone I used a doctored mix (she chose a mix chocolate over scratch in a tasting!) I never heard back from her!!!! So its going to have to just be my secret.

I guess you could say that everything is "homemade" because it is....

"Thank you for your interest but we never discuss our recipes." If they persist "Some start with a commercial base, some don't." Period. End of discussion.

Thank you everyone - the reply suggestions are brilliant i will definitely remember them. Great answers!

I have often wondered that to. Some Cakes that are large and have Tons of detailing it's hard because it's allot of work. . We all know how much goes into a cake! I'm not sure if allot of people realize how much of an art it is. U think Pay by the hour, and really profit time wise..... isn't always on the cakers side. But there are sometimes on those cake project that really good sales come on. U can get box mix's for under $1 each ... I don't know If I can make that from Scratch for a buck! if u know what I mean.

Have your friend ask some of the bakeries in your area the same thing, and you'll find out that many bakeries use cake mixes.

I have been asked this 2 times in the 18 months since I have started doing this. I do both scratch and doctored cake mixes. My basic flavors are doctored mixes. The first customer went ahead with the order, she loved it. Her 14 year old, who is a team mate of my son, came to me as I was waiting for football practice to end and told me that I make the best cakes ever. The other customer asked me because his daughter has reactions to certain chemicals, so I made my scratch carrot cake for him and he loved it. So I have not lost a customer and have had many reviews. If a person asks me, I tell them the truth.

My cousin (a food broker) told me to not tell people you don't bake from scratch if you use a doctored mix because in a sense you are baking from scratch when you add all the other ingredients (i suppose it depends on the recipe). I'm not sure I completely agree but I think that if anyone ever asks me about my recipes I'll just say "If i tell you I'll have to kill you " or "its an old secret family recipe."

lol good idea, I have to say its true I spoke to a local baker who has asked if I will do some icing of his cakes and he does some scratch as it works out cheaper for him as he can buy ingredients in huge bulk yet a lot of his savoury goods are mixes or bought wholesale and then just baked in the oven by him. Everyone who has had a cake from me so far has said how great they are and I think if people wanted something really really cheap they would go to a supermarket anyway and all their cakes are production line ready mixes

Can I ask what make the Red Velvet was you bought? I'm in the UK too and would just like to try it. Thanks

I always thought it was cheating too until my Wilton instructor pointed something out to me:

A cake mix is mostly just flour and sugar and stuff that you would have put in the cake anyway.

Hi,
I just do cakes for a hobby but people seem to love the WASC. I just tell them it is semi-scratch. I have never had anyone fuss over whether or not its scratch.

You can always say "I mixed it from fresh ingredients in my kitchen and baked it just for your order"

I just LOVE all the rationalizations, weaving, and dodging in this thread. While I am passionate about scratch baking, I don't consider box mixes cheating. Even doctored mixes can get bungled judging by some of the threads we see here. It's a different kind of baking, but let's leave it at that mmkay? And please, cake mix is more than just sugar and flour. Rolling my eyes all the way back on that one. 

Why can't folks just call it as it is? If a person bakes from a mix, then own it. No need to tweak the truth and play on words. 

And before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I don't mean for my tone to be disrespectful, but it gets my panties in a wad  when folks want to rationalize and bend words. If box-mix baking is so embarrassing then for crying out loud do it the way you find not-embarrassing. I'm losing circulation to my legs now. Need to go untangle my  lace.

What ???? this thread is 2 yrs. old.

Don't get me wrong, I use box mixes too!

AHello, am new here, don't know how this site works tried accessing my personal page to update don't know if that exist here, need direction please.