It all depends on who you ask, the scratch bakers think they have the best cakes, doctored up mix bakers think they have the best etc... All I can say from personal experience is that I have a fabulous scratch chocolate cake that I love to make, however, I cannot get the dang thing out of the pan to decorate, just falls apart....so I dont use it for any of my decorated cakes...so as of right now, I use doctored up mixes for the decorated cakes...but I dont sell them...this is just for my own family and friends...just for fun. Right now they love my cakes, but I think its as much about the yummy fillings as anything. Someday I would like to experiment with some more scratch cakes...but right now I just dont have the energy!
I spent all this time making a chocolate cake from scratch for my husband's office and nobody seemed to notice the difference from when I sent the box typed. Maybe it was just the receipe I used though. My friend and I did do a taste test of all the chocolate box mixes. By far we felt the Pilsbury one was the most moist and the best. Hope this helps.
I have to say I use docotored up cake mixes. When I do a scratch cake they seem dryer. Although some of the specialty cakes I sell are made from scratch. Look at the cake mix doctor cookbook it is worth the money!!
In the past there has been so many arguments on this topic, and the thread always ends up locked or deleted.. but that's ok, you can
post whatever topic you wish as long as it's related to cakes...
I always say, I do both. I'm not a picky person.. and I also eat both, whatever is on the table..
I'm not a health freak or an environmental activist who only eats
organic, nor am I in a crusade to wipe out chemicals or preservatives on this planet.. To me regardless, I will die, sooner or later. I'm not afraid of cancer either. Even the healthiest people can get cancer. I accept whatever this planet has to offer. Preservative free or not, it's there for me to enjoy. Therefore I eat and bake box cake AND scratch cakes. I love cakes. BTW the way, I am not 500 lbs. 
Only you can decide which is right for you. Try some scratch recipes and see how they turn out for you. Then try some of the Dr.'d mix recipes. There is a HUGE difference in them IMO.
There are only a few cakes that I actually will make from scratch (carrot, granny, and Red cake are the ones that come to mind) The rest I use a mix as the base, and it works out perfectly every time. As the old saying goes.....if it ain't broke, don't fix it! 
Oh no not another thread about this topic!!!! 
There are SOOOO many threads on this topic and people w/ surprisingly very passionate responses on both sides...... I never did get an answer to one question though - a lot of scratch bakers seem to be scratch bakers b/c they don't like preservatives, etc. in the cake mixes - HOWEVER there are organic, nut free, perservative free, gluten free, egg free, non-dairy, etc. cake mixes out there..... so then is there a problem using THOSE mixes??? Do they have the same issues regarding cake mixes if they DO NOT have preservatives, etc. in them?
I have had trouble w/ scratch cakes - I'm hoping to get a scale for Christmas b/c I think that will really help w/ measuring ingredients - it seems baking from scratch is VERY precise! I think that's why a lot of times the cakes come out "dryer" - it's just that we aren't measuring quite correctly w/ our cups and tablespoons, etc. Although some are supposed to be used w/ a simple syrup to moisten the cake..... so there's that issue too. I do like the Hershey's choc. cake recipe "dark chocolate cake recipe" on this site - it came out SOOO moist and yummy! Although I don't think it would be good for carving or anything like that - but I did use it as the bottom tier of a two tier cake and it held up just fine.
The best thing to do is try out a bunch of recipes - I think I would prefer to bake from scratch just b/c I like the whole idea of it - BUT if I'm making a cake for someone -or just for practice, I usually use box cake mixes and add to them - simply b/c the cakes seem to bake more consistently. I am somewhat of a health nut - I make compromises, but I try to eat healthy and heck if I could afford organic, I would buy it! My shampoos and toothpaste and stuff like that all come from the Whole Foods/Wild Oats type places... but since I try to compromise, I figure a cake w/ some preservatives every now and then won't kill me.... as for other people - well it's up to them to eat it or not!
It also depends on your customers - if they have allergies, etc. or if they say "I hate box mix cakes" or something along those lines - then you might want to cater to their request..... but do what you feel comfortable with and what works for you
Baking is chemistry. And yes, you have to be precise with measuring and baking or the results will be disappointing.
Mixes were made for convenience. No measuring..just add what they tell you to add and you get a cake. And then you can "doctor" them up by adding more ingredients to them. Simple and relatively effortless!!
It certainly does take away the stress of "scratch" baking.
I've baked from scratch for years. I did try a box mix, once when my son was in elementary school. I was in a hurry and needed cupcakes. I have no idea what I did but the darn things turned out awful and that was the last of the cake mixes.
I will confess to keeping an angel food cake mix in the house in case of an emergency. 
When I got started, I used Betty Crocker cake mixes and always had several people tell me how moist the cake was. I have always stuck to that brand because the old, "If it ain't broke...don't fix it." The only difference is I don't use 3 egg yolks (or is it whites) like it says, I use 2 whole eggs. I suppose if someone requests a special flavor that I can't buy, I'll make it from scratch. Good luck experimenting !!
I have some wonderful specialty recipes for scratch cakes that I occasionally use. 90% of what I bake & sell anymore starts out from a box, then gets doctored up! Never do I use the box mix 'as is". This is a BIG adjustment for me- I was one of those who thought that if you didn't buy and measure each ingredient separately, you weren't a 'real baker'. I now believe that , like so many other things in this world today, cake mixes have too evolved into quite tastey, convenient tools available for our use. Box mixes are simply PRE-MEASURED basic cake ingredients. They have expiration dates to follow as well. I agree with "prettycake", if you are not trying to go Organic, or preservative free, then why not use the products that make your baking more efficient? It works for me! I get raves about my doctored cake mix cakes!
Yes, this question has been asked before and it is still a good question. In my experience, box cakes bake up light and tender (a problem if you need to handle in the decorating phase), a scratch cake to me tastes coarse and a little dry compared to the box cake. One day I reached for and used Crisco's Canola Oil rather than the Crisco Vegetable Oil. Wow, what a difference. Stayed with Canola Oil for a long time until I tried the extenders discussed here on CC. With the extenders, I think the texture and taste is superb. Try different ways and see if you can tell the difference.
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