so I am making an emergency cake for a friend she needs it Tuesday afternoon. normally not a very big deal but she wants me to make a cake with a ball on top and she requested that I use a certain box cake mix:( is there a way to add to the mix to make it more sturdy and not so soft? thanks for all the help!

I don't understand all this...... do EVERYTHING that people ask for - no matter what - no matter that it's something you haven't done before, no matter that it might fail.

For goodness sake - you can say NO -  if for no other reason than...... "its not something I have tested and I would prefer to work with something I have confidence with"

You don't get the option to go to the doctor and say ...... oh I want that appendix operation but hey..... I'd prefer you make the incision in my big toe because I think it will work better

argggghhhhhh - sorry - Saturday night here, and guess I have my cranky pants on
 

Agreed - just because something exists, and a customer asks for it, doesn't mean you have to do it.  Put your big girl panties on and say "no".  And there are no last minute cake emergencies. :)

Liz
 

AIt is hard to say "no" sometimes, especially to a friend. This is when we need to get creative in our response! Sometimes people think they are being helpful when they ask for something like a box mix thinking it will be easier for you. If you do choose to make this cake you simply need to explain that box mix cakes are very different than cakes from scratch and won't perform the way you need for what she is asking. People who don't work with cake have no idea about stuff like this. Just explain the problem and suggest an alternative. She is probably feeling stressed about other aspects of the party she is throwing and will be happy to know the cake is in competent hands. :)

Hi, I'm pretty new to the cake decorating world myself and a couple of months ago, someone asked me to make a cake  and asked for a box mix also. I just couldn't do it even though I'm not officially in business and need all the practice (orders) lol. It was for a friends daughter-in-law so saying 'no' was difficult. It then dawned on me that I cannot be catering to everyone's needs or wants. The end result should be what they requested but I should not be told the ' HOW ' ...just the ' what' . Her excuse was that she never liked scratch cake. I made her a promise that if she didn't like the cake, I will not even charge for the ingredients. After all, its a name you want to make for yourself and that's not the way I wanted to start out. 

Moral of the story, she LOVED LOVED the cake and the weight of the world was lifted of my shoulders.

Trust in yourself and your cakes!!!

:)

AI have a box :Drecipe I've used numerous times with great results I got off this site. If you would still like it you can PM me. If you look at my cakes you'll see my results with it.

One extra egg per box. Add boxed, powdered pudding mix to your batter.