Hi...I'm just curious.

I went into a local bakery yesterday and started talking shop with the owner. He said that he uses a commercial cake mix that is sold by pillsbury, and all you do is add water and oil. He said it is sold in 50 lb bags. I can't imagine it tasting good without whole eggs, but who knows.

Anyway, I'm just curious about this...has anyone heard of this or used it before? What did you think? What are your experiences?

Interesting!! It is probably something made by Pillsbury specifically for bakeries. It probably has egg in it already! That is the only thing I can think of. It is a time saver for the bakeries who mass produce. I can see why they do it having worked in a restuarant kitchen before there were numerous products we recieved in bulk that were brand named.


Amy

I've tasted this guys cakes before, and I was not too impressed. They didn't taste like they were from scratch, but he claims it's the best thing.

That is definately the problem (IMO) with mass produced cakes! They don't have that personal touch you know!!


Amy

Most bakeries use a commercial mix which is why they will only do white, chocolate or marble. I got an order for a strawberry wedding cake a couple weeks ago because there are no bakeries that will do that flavor because they use commercial mix. The shelf life does last longer because you are only adding water and sometimes oil. That is a positive.

Those commercial mixes are bad. I don't mind the ones that you get at the grocery store (NAME brands) - but the commercial ones are TERRIBLE.....now you want to talk about chemical taste ~ there you go - it's in there!!

I am the manager of a county jail kitchen, and we get that cake mix in also, but we get 10 - 5# bags (50#), but on the bag there are different recipes, plain water, & oil, and also a recipe to use eggs, but I much prefer the mixes you buy in a store, and doctor, although I have never tried doctoring these. Maybe I should try as I can get everything at cost, it's just that I don't often use the quantities that I would have to buy. As I don't do as much decorating as some of you probably do, but you never know, someday I may.

Wilma

I'm glad to get feedback on this. It is good because I can tell my customers about what other bakeries are using for their cakes. That should be a plus for me..."Hey, I use REAL eggs!"

I'm sure prisoners are humanely treated....they get to eat something sweet now and again. Their lives are probably so bitter, it may be the only good thing they ever get.

PS--not that they deserve it; they don't

By state and federal mandates they are entitled to 3 square meals aday, one required to be hot, must be paletable. These menu's must be signed by a state lisenced dietician, and believe it or not they have more rights in jail, than the civilian staff. They get cake on Sunday's only. I understand where you are coming from, but I have policy guidelines I have to follow, they are allowed to notify the state commition of corrections, at anytime, and if they feel that their may be a problem, they come down and inspect all of my records, and decide if there request are justified. I am not standing up for them getting cake, I am only saying some of the reasons why I have to give them some of the things that you would think they don't deserve, and I do understand your thinking believe me.

PS There cakes are not decorated just plain frosted cakes.

From the sounds of just how tasty that commercial mix is, I think I'd have to BE an inmate to eat it!

I'd agree...it's not really a treat to get cardboard tasting cake anyway. I think what is scary is that the cake mix they are serving in a prison is the same cake mix that most larger-scale bakeries are using. UGH!!!

Would you believe that I live in town with no bakery, just the supermarket bakeries. In my opinion everything they sell looks and tastes mass produced and yuck. I don't get why people even buy the stuff. I have lived in this town for 20 years, at one time there was a bakery but thier stuff was worse than the supermarket.

Well I can understand the regulations in order for the 3 square meals. I bet it stinks for you to have to make a cake and not be able to decorate it! 'course the two cakes I'm doing right now for tomorrow, I wish that was what I could do to them, slap some frosting on them and be done with it!! AARRGGHH!!!!!

Thank you for answering my question and understanding!


Amy

Unless a bakery states that they bake 'from scratch' they are more than likely using a commercial mix. A lot of the grocery stores bring in their cakes already made and frozen they just take out what they need!

Presently I am working at a local custom cake shop and they offer a huge variety of flavours (32 to be exact!) and they use 2 flavours of commercial mix as their base, however I believe their carrot based recipes are homemade. I have asked about these mixes with the owners and they said that people just don't know the difference and it's true! This place is doing more repeat business than even they thought they would. I have tried their items and they really are good. Just like anything else I believe there are good and not so good items.

Another bakery owner that I know said that she brought in a variety of commercial mixes and had taste tests to determine which one wasn't so 'chemically' tasting. They must have been doing something right as they did my wedding cake and everyone loved it.

My hubby, I swear, has taste buds that don't work properly. He thinks food is food and that is it. When I started making cakes he didn't see why I wanted to make scratch over box. Despite this I am a big fan of scatch cakes and in a side-by-side taste test my hubby noticed the difference BIG TIME between a DH cake and my scratch yellow cake. Give it to him on a seperate occasion with nothing to compare it to and he doesn't know. Hate to say it but I think this is the case with most people.

People know they should WANT and like a scratch cake over a mix but when it comes down to it most really don't KNOW the difference.

No it doesn't bother me not to be able to decorate their cakes, I like decorating cakes for people who appreciate them. Believe me inmates do not appreciate anything, and when you work there it doesn't take long to learn it.

Wilma

Ellen,
I read a long time ago that a lot of bakeries use DH commercial mixes. I am pretty sure I read it on the AOL chat with Earlene. It was either there or on the personal website of the Sugarcraft owner. If I am not mistaken it can be purchased at Sugarcraft but it is not called DH, they have a different name for it. I'm sure if you searched on the Sugarcraft site you'd find it (I hate going there because it is so disorganized and such a mess! I really wish they'd make their site more user friendly! There's so much valuable info there, but it drives me nuts looking at all of that clutter!!!)

HTH and thanks for letting me rant, lol