Ok I need to just let some steam out about this.
I really like making 3D cakes and things I can carve etc. It is much easier IMO to do this with a dense from scratch cake recipe. Boxed mixes are just usually so light that they can't stand up to these kinds of things (this personally, is what I have found). But my family is not full of bakers and if they do anything it is from a boxed mix - and even then, it's way too dry and etc. Hey, some ppl can't bake - so whatever! I can bake pretty well, and I like using scratch cakes - b/c the quality is better and ingredients controlled. They have no taste for anything but boxed cakes and complain about 'you're making it with betty crocker right? The other way is too rich, not so rich make it light" etc. That drives me up a wall. People who cannot bake are telling me how to bake and - one of them is like 90 lbs and never eats as it is! So I'm basing my whole recipe on someone who will take one bite if that much, and who never eats anyway??
Do any of you have this problem? I don't get it - ppl will turn down a good cake and opt for a 97 cent boxed mix????????? What the heck??????
I've been there! I married into a family that doesn't eat sweets. What? And, there is the diet where we can't eat my cake or desert, but opt for the fried chicken. You can't please these people, so make it easy on yourself and make them the generic boxed cake. If you have a great from scratch recipe, make that for everyone else or when there are other people coming to the event that you want to impress.
I've given up with mine, but have dealt with the idea of making it light also. I've found they don't know and don't eat any more if it is light and no one else notices the difference either. I enjoy whip cream instead of coolwhip! I opt for French Silk instead of chocolate pudding.
Ignore those people because more people appreciate a good cake than you think!
Thanks - I feel better. It really gets me upset, and maybe I'm too sensitive. In some ways I worry about a business in cakes b/c I am the typical 'artist who sees it in her head a certain way and no one else appreciates it is the *right* way' lol! I know I have alot of patience to aqcuire... but I also wish everyone had good taste (my taste hahahahaha) in cake. I know that sounds bad - I just have a hard time accepting sub-par. Especially when I'm making it and it represents me! I want the best - not an under 1 dollar mix!
You will find your niche... If people want a cake box mix taste, they'll go to the grocery store for that flavor... but I'm finding that people like the density and flavor of the scratch cakes and they will come ot me for that as much as the ability to customize their cake decorations.
I refuse to make mixes as even when they are doctored, they are NOT as good, in my not so humble opinion!
Mleissa
Too bad for them. I would bake it the way you want. If they want cake bad enough, they'll eat it. If not, then like I said...Too bad for them. Might sound kind of bitchy, but oh well. Why should you change the way you like making cakes for people who criticize it anyway. IMOA.
Maybe try torting/filling your cake with a thin layer of mousse instead of bc. That makes the cake taste lighter, I think. I made a 3d cake for my inlaws (who like everything low-fat!!!) it was a sour cream pound cake, white choc mousse and strawberry drizzled over each slice. They not only loved it, some of them took seconds!! 
---Nothing low fat about my all flavor cakes!!
parismom:
keep doing it "your way"!!!!! I know you want everyone to like your cakes but I've found that sometimes you just have to go with your likes/preferences on some things.
I baked a cake for someone who said it had no taste - but couldn't be specific enough for me to try something to fix it. She asked me to do this and that to the batter (also a non-baker!). I made her another cake IDENTICAL to the "no taste" one, and she absolutely loved it........
So go figure 
Gosh, I so know what you mean! I'm also a caterer, so I'm not only checking out the desserts, but the whole meal at family get togethers! And I'm looking at the "little" things .... the presentation. The crackers that are upside down on the plate, the celery filling that was put on with a knife instead of a pastry bag, the veggies that aren't cut in uniform sizes, (I actually drew a 3" line in black Magic Marker on my cutting board so my veggie trays would all be pretty and uniform! Me? Anal Retentive? Now WHY would you think that?) 
And cookies at Christmas! Oh. My. God. How can you have the NERVE to bring a platter of cookies with burnt edges to the Christmas get-together?
We CC'ers just have some pretty high standards and everyone else just doesn't get it!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%