I use the old fashion Duncan Hines pound cake recipe...1 box of yellow mix-4eggs-1 cup of water-1/3 cup of oil-1 (3.4oz) (1/2 cup) package vanilla instant pudding.  It has worked for years but now all of a sudden all the cakes are sinking in the middle.  The oven stays closed the whole time, its not a temperature issue but the chocolate (devils food) mix does not do it.  Is anyone else having this issue that used this recipe?  I feel like Duncan Hines mix has changed a lot over the past year or so.  Not to mention the box has gotten smaller but all the liquids have stayed the same.  Any feedback or remedy would be appreciated!  

 With the corporations having their cake mixes made in China there is no telling what kind of ingredients are in there now.  They have no quality control over there. My advice would be to make your cakes from scratch!!  It will only get worse with the corporations who keep putting cheaper ingredients into their cake mixes and downsizing the box so they can make more money. I would have rather them kept the original 18 ounce boxes and have charged more.  

It is terrible what these corporations are doing now!!! 

i'm calling them right now -- i'm on hold -- lenetia is checking if any cake mix is manufactured in china -- she said that if i had a box of mix -- she could tell me exactly where it was produced by the code printed after the sell by date -- she said that nine times out of ten the ingredients are also grown/produced in the us if the mix is made here -- she can say exactly where if we provide the code -- their number is 800-362-9834

so they were bought out by someone else in 2004 -- 

but i think if you add a tablespoon or two of flour you might get better results for the vanilla type formulas you mentioned -- the cocoa in the chocolate mixes i think adds a little more body than the vanilla mixes would have -- 

my idea is that they are putting in more leavening because it is almost the same yield huh -- weird -- gotta be more leavening -- or a stronger leavening --

Yeah I spoke with Pinnacle a few minutes ago and they recommended 2-4 Tbs of flour per mix.  We mix 15 mixes at a time so we go through a lot.  About 40 cases a week, but we have always been able to remedy the change, this time we cannot.  They have gone from a 18oz box down to 15 and some change.  The lady on the phone said many people are having issues with it as well.  Im just looking for ideas what others may have tried that worked.  We are going to try the flour tomorrow.    I appreciate everyones input! 

Yeah I spoke with Pinnacle a few minutes ago and they recommended 2-4 Tbs of flour per mix.  We mix 15 mixes at a time so we go through a lot.  About 40 cases a week, but we have always been able to remedy the change, this time we cannot.  They have gone from a 18oz box down to 15 and some change.  The lady on the phone said many people are having issues with it as well.  Im just looking for ideas what others may have tried that worked.  We are going to try the flour tomorrow.    I appreciate everyones input! 

I too would love a remedy to this one...

Today I tried baking with no pudding and just 3 eggs per box...the batter is very thin and seems to run over the edges of the pan and make a huge mess in the oven.  So I decided to add 1/4 cup of pudding back in with no extra eggs or liquid to tighten up the batter....nothing is working I am at the point i will have to switch

so did you overfill the pan or something?

 I was hoping you would find a fix for this issue. I used to love the white cake mixes because that is one of my favorite ones. I used to make chocolate frosting with the white cake mixes years ago.  It is a shame that the corporations have screwed up their cake mixes.

 Maybe you should think about making your cakes from scratch now. When I know I am gonna make a cake I always mix up the dry ingredients in a zip lock bag just to save me time and cut out parchment paper ahead of time also. I know boxes are the easy quick way to make cakes so I understand why many people use them. Anything to save us time is a big help!!! Have you tried any other cake mix brands out there on the market besides Duncan Hines and Pillsbury? Some grocery stores carry their own brand names which might work better since they changed their formulas. Good luck to you!!!

Years ago I had a recipe for mixing up alll the dry ingredients needed for white (or was it yellow?) and chocolate cakes  with the instructions of how to mix up a 'mix' cake.   I no longer have them and don't remember which cookbook I got it from.  Maybe someone on here has that info as I'm rather sure I posted it ..... as I said it was at least 20 yrs ago. 

No we don't over fill the pan, the batter is weighed out to a specific weight per the pan size. The batter now rises and blows a hole out of the side and is drips out like lava.  After 30 years of baking this recipe we never had an issue much like we are having now.  I am looking at going scratch, but 30 years of a product kept customers coming back...it makes me nervous to change that and wonder what those customers will think.  I am going to try the WASC recipe this weekend at home.  I hope it holds up sitting out for 5 days or so afterwords.  Remember I am doing this in a commercial environment and going through 40 cases a week.  But nothing beats the flavor of a doctored up DH mix *to me at least

I've been keeping tabs on this thread and soooo wish I could help with an answer for you.   Please let me/us know how the WASC recipe works for you.   I have kept it for maybe 5-7 days but that was personal.....not when I had my bakery.  Mostly if I knew I didn't need it for a couple of days I would freeze it- both iced and not.  Is fzing not something you folks want to do or no room for a fzr?  

wow that's crazy -- yeah they are using some kind of souped up leavening to get about the same yield with less product -- no es bueno -- wonder what that's doing to our insides --

i don't remember the last time i used a jiffy mix cake mix -- but i mean i'm with you i love a duncan hines doctored mix too -- best performance cake ever -- glad i'm retired -- but a thought for you is maybe try some commercial mixes -- not that you haven't already thought of that --

please update when you get a fix -- best to you

but yeah add some starch or flour -- that should work unless that leavening is nuclear 

@kakeladi The recipe you mentioned is it how to mix the ingredients of a box mix?  Is it an instructional type thing or what to do when encountering issues? Can you elaborate a little more?  Sounds like something worth searching for.

Thanks!

You cannot fix boxed mixes now....all the WASC and pound cake recipes are forever changed I'm afraid. I've written begged, everything I can think of and all they do is send me a coupon for cake mix!!!! I won't buy their garbage ever again. I'm usually an all scratch cake baker, but I did use the mixes for some things. I have no idea if professional mixes are better. Such a shame to destroy a good product.

MrsAB:  I'm not understanding your ? :(   I posted my *original* WASC recipe many years ago on this site.  It is a very popular recipe - a very long post with many many comments that contain a wealth of information.   I have added some comments regarding using it since the change in box mixes.  Personally I have not had problems using it as originally posted even with the new mixes but then I'm not making 40-50 mixes up at one time.    Here is a link to it:  https://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/7445/the-original-wasc-cake-recipe                                    When I had my bakery I used 50# bags of what I was told was the exact same thing as Pilsbury box mix.  I did have some problems but only had to change the meathod of how it was mixed up - didn't change or add anything to the recipe - just mixed it different.  It's been too long ago for me to remember what that change was. 

Yeah I stumped the pinnacle foods people the other day when she offered me a refund and I asked when she would like to go back too and she replied "1 month".  I said hold on....I have purchased 5,600.00 worth of Duncan Hines mixes in the past 30 days and she got very quite lol!  NO REFUND FOR ME!  I am trying out Pillsbury and Multifoods this week and using a different pudding instead of clabber girl brand to see if thats an issue as well.

If ANYONE can come up with solutions, I can't wait to hear them. They have to have had a drop in sales, if just one company would  go back to 18.25 oz boxes with the original formula, they would be a hero! Why didn't they just go up on the prices instead of changing the product. Even the smell when you open a box is nasty now. That butter recipe golden Duncan Hines used to sell was so good doctored up.

When I make the WASC cake mix cake I usually buy two of the sames cake mixes then I measure and weigh out the second mix so the one I'm baking is 18 ounces, Save the rest in a zip lock bag to use to mix the next cake. Those three ounces makes a big difference when baking your cakes