Ok - I Am Officially A "cake Snob"
Decorating By MindiBrad Updated 14 Apr 2005 , 5:52pm by GHOST_USER_NAME
I do the same thing Christy!
One of my friends in the Fire Dept used to work for a very good bakery. He tasted my FD wedding cake but he only took a little tiny slice. I was hurt at first because I thought he was thinking it was going to be horrible... 
I guess I had the look of failure on my face.. He told me to hold on.. I watch him, he held the cake up with his thumb & the pointer finger. Then he said I passed the 1st test... the cake didn't move, it kept it's shape! Then he squeezed it & said I passed the 2nd test that is was very moist no crumbs!! Then he tasted it & said Damn Tina, You past all 3 of my tests!! Wonderful cake!!!! I then had a smile of happiness!!!!!!! 
To pass a test by another baker is a big time accomplishment!!!!!
So now I know I've figured out a cake that is wonderful for wedding cakes. It took me a few weeks to get it the way I liked it! Now I got it!! If anyone wants the recipe just email me. It is just a yellow cake mix dr'd up... Yumm, Yumm!!! 
I do the same thing Christy!
One of my friends in the Fire Dept used to work for a very good bakery. He tasted my FD wedding cake but he only took a little tiny slice. I was hurt at first because I thought he was thinking it was going to be horrible...
I guess I had the look of failure on my face.. He told me to hold on.. I watch him, he held the cake up with his thumb & the pointer finger. Then he said I passed the 1st test... the cake didn't move, it kept it's shape! Then he squeezed it & said I passed the 2nd test that is was very moist no crumbs!! Then he tasted it & said Damn Tina, You past all 3 of my tests!! Wonderful cake!!!! I then had a smile of happiness!!!!!!! To pass a test by another baker is a big time accomplishment!!!!!So now I know I've figured out a cake that is wonderful for wedding cakes. It took me a few weeks to get it the way I liked it! Now I got it!! If anyone wants the recipe just email me. It is just a yellow cake mix dr'd up... Yumm, Yumm!!!
hey tc!! congrats! that is sooo awesome !!!!!!!!!!
is that the recipe you gave me?
can you e-mail me at
[email protected]
thanks
Ok I am stepping up on the soapbox about this!
First off, I have worked in a Sam's Club bakery, SuperWalmart bakery, a private bakery, and my own kitchen, making my own cake, and cake mix cakes. I know how these places work..they are trying to find the cheapest products to do the job so they can get paid more for it with a bigger overhead. THe cheaper products taste cheaper. Sure some of us on here use cake mixes, but MOST doctor them up to make it their own. THere is a BIG BIG difference between a store bought cake, and a cake mix...if people dont see a difference then their taste buds are dead.
I vote for "cake dummies", "dead taste buds" and maybe even "dead brain cells", if you really think store bakery cakes are as good or better than homemade, even with "just a cake mix"! Janice
Here here! TELL IT SISTA! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU! THANKS FOR SAYING IT!
I know that ever since I started making better cakes than I used to I have become critical of cakes as well. Someone at work brought in a sam's club carrot cake the other, talk about yuck! It was funny, while I was waiting in line to get a piece I heard someone say "this is the best carrot cake ever" so I was all excited because I love carrot cake.
Blech!! The cake was dry and the "cream cheese" icing was not cream cheesy enough- too much powdered sugar.
I immediately thought to myself, I should make a carrot cake, bring it in and then we'll see what the best carrot cake ever is. 
hmmm could it be that you are partial m0use? If I were you I'd be too!!! I too love carrot cake but dont get it much at all!!!!!!!!
I find it funny that many of you bash store bought cakes, yet use cake mixes.
Having worked in the store bakery- they are not the same at all. The cakes come in frozen. They thaw out while sitting on the dock after delivery. They are thrown in to the freezer and refrozen. We grabbed a case and sat on the table grabbing cakes through-out the day to decorate. Cakes left over at the end of the day in the original case? No worries! Back to the freezer. That cake you are eating from your favorite grocery chain may have been frozen and thawed several times before you eat it.
The "so-called" buttercream icing comes in a huge 50 pound box that looks like a big cube of Crisco. You place it in the huge mixer and add water. That's it. Then proceed to spread the nastiness on the cake.
There is a huge difference between what I make from a box and what I can purchase at the grocery store. The box mix already has the dry ingredients measured out. Other than some added preservatives, it's not much different than me measuring out my own flour and such. I then use milk or other milk based products instead of water. I use butter in place of oil. I use only egg whites. My cake has not been frozen-thawed-frozen-thawed-frozen-thawed-frozen-thawed many times before I serve it. My icing has real butter in it. It is fresh. It has not been sitting in a cardboard box for a month or two or more before I use it.
Yes, there is a difference in a scratch cake and a box... differences that may or may not be important to some people. But there is a HUGE difference between a boxed mix and a store bought cake... even if I followed the directions on the box and did not doctor... there is still a huge difference.
If you like store bought cakes that's fine- everyone has their own tastes. But to pretty much tell us we are insane for thinking ours is better is just not nice. I happen to not like store bought cakes long before I ever started decorating. I also don't like most professional bakery cakes, never have. Do you find that funny?
You know, hamburger and sirloin steak are essentially the same thing (come from the same exact cut of meat)... so I don't understand why someone would want one over the other... no not at all. 
Having worked in the store bakery- they are not the same at all. The cakes come in frozen. They thaw out while sitting on the dock after delivery. They are thrown in to the freezer and refrozen. We grabbed a case and sat on the table grabbing cakes through-out the day to decorate. Cakes left over at the end of the day in the original case? No worries! Back to the freezer. That cake you are eating from your favorite grocery chain may have been frozen and thawed several times before you eat it.
The "so-called" buttercream icing comes in a huge 50 pound box that looks like a big cube of Crisco. You place it in the huge mixer and add water. That's it. Then proceed to spread the nastiness on the cake.
Ewwww 
That's not the snob in me talking either. That's the consumer in me. Before I started decorating, Sam's Club was the only place we'd get cakes. Glad those days are gone!
My daughter is a cake snob. We gave her a bite of store bought cake and she made a face. 
She ate one piece and said, "not daddy" She refused to eat any more. When I make a cake, we have to limit her. And sometimes she figures out a way to sneak some. 
Joe
My daughter is a cake snob. We gave her a bite of store bought cake and she made a face.
She ate one piece and said, "not daddy" She refused to eat any more. When I make a cake, we have to limit her. And sometimes she figures out a way to sneak some. Joe
*laughs insanely* Now that is something! Dude, if I were you, I'd be crowing about that for weeks! My kids just love cake, any way they can get it. My daughter's vicious for the top trimmings, and pesters me until I give in. She usually gets a whole .5" tall trimming off an 8" all to herself, mainly because she can appreciate it.
Illy
You know, I used to think that store bought cakes were pretty good, until I decided one day to purchase a box and make my own. I was amased at the difference. Than I started doctoring up the boxes, and again, I was amased at the difference. Same with the icing tubs. Since Cali4dawn shared her BC icing recipe awhile back, that's all I've been using. Now, I can say that a doctored cake with a great buttercrem icing tastes much better, and everyone I know that's tasted it can vouch for it.
Emi
I find it funny that many of you bash store bought cakes, yet use cake mixes.
If you like store bought cakes that's fine- everyone has their own tastes. But to pretty much tell us we are insane for thinking ours is better is just not nice. I happen to not like store bought cakes long before I ever started decorating. I also don't like most professional bakery cakes, never have. Do you find that funny?
You know, hamburger and sirloin steak are essentially the same thing (come from the same exact cut of meat)... so I don't understand why someone would want one over the other... no not at all.
Cali4dawn - thank you so much for expressing your thoughts in such a professional manner- I found your post very intriguing and I agree with all that was said.
My daughter is a cake snob. We gave her a bite of store bought cake and she made a face.
She ate one piece and said, "not daddy" She refused to eat any more. When I make a cake, we have to limit her. And sometimes she figures out a way to sneak some. Joe
*laughs insanely* Now that is something! Dude, if I were you, I'd be crowing about that for weeks! My kids just love cake, any way they can get it. My daughter's vicious for the top trimmings, and pesters me until I give in. She usually gets a whole .5" tall trimming off an 8" all to herself, mainly because she can appreciate it.
Illy
I forgot to mention the funny yet slightly annoying thing Daddy got her hooked on. I was working on a cake and she walked up and said, "cake" I said yes, then she wanted a bite. I told her no. Now for my mistake, but still cute nonetheless. I put a dab of frosting on her tongue. Now when I decorate, she walks up and sticks her tongue out at me So, one day when I was piping, I piped a dab on her finger. Now, she walks up to me when I decorating, points at me and sticks her tongue out at me. 
The slightly annoying part is after I give her a dab, she leaves and then quickly returns. She's so cute it's hard to say no. 
It has been fun listen to you all.
How nasty can something get. I feel very gross when I hear of your supermarket cakes.
uuuuhhh.
Anyway, I like to make all my cakes from start. No boxes here. There havent been box kind of here for long. I think just a few years. So I am not used with it. But when I talk with friends who can't make a nice cake them self, I advice them to use that. Then they make anyway something that taste good.
My youngest does the same. I can't get her away!! If I tell her no she sits down and has a fit and annoys me until I tell her "last bite" and I give her a little more and she will run away for about 3 minutes, then be back for more!!!!!!! Kids, you gotta love 'em!!!!!
Hey, amen to everyone's posts. At the party this weekend that I made two cakes for there was also a cake made by my friend's mom (the g-ma wanted to make the 2 year olds cake). Well, we had dinner with them last night and she said they were still enjoying the cake and that they had been pawning off her mom's cake to the kids (don't you want some pink cake??!?!?!) because she said they wanted my cakes all to themselves because my cake tasted better. Her mom's cake was a boxed marbled cake (well, I assume boxed, I didn't ask) but it had a funny taste to it. Her decorating was very cute!! Mine were boxed as well (white and lemon) and all I did different to these was add milk instead of water. I am so bad, I am always experimenting on paying customers. Well, this time it paid off!!!
Suzanna
Anyway, I like to make all my cakes from start. No boxes here. There havent been box kind of here for long. I think just a few years. So I am not used with it. But when I talk with friends who can't make a nice cake them self, I advice them to use that. Then they make anyway something that taste good.
That's the bottom line... which do YOU personally make better? I can make a scratch cake OK... I'm getting better. However, for the cost factor I have to stick to boxes right now. They keep my costs down which in turn keeps my charges down. You have to consider your area and the area's income. I live in an impoverished town (if you don't work for the government (as we do) you have a minimum paying job or on welfare). Poor people just plainly cannot affords a scratch cake me. i had to decide... do I want to decorate or not?
But ultimately, if you make a lousy scratch cake- use the box... there's no sin in this.
To give you an answer cali4down.
Yes the cost might be a little down. But as I said the box is not something we are used with here.
You see, as a norwegian, we have a big fright in the e-stuff. That is not just me, but all here. Even the goverment is very stright. That is also a reasson why we have so little readymadestuff here.
And from my childshoes I have learned to do all from scratch.
I am sorry, but that is mostly the standard here.
Cost or no cost, that is my honest way of being.
I think you misunderstood ... I was agreeing with you.... each baker should do what he/she is comfortable with. You ended your statement with the comment about telling your friends who cannot bake to use a box... I was agreeing with that... we should all do what we do best. there is nothing wrong with either method... it's all on the baker.
I'm so sorry if I misrepresented myself. That was not my intention.
Believe me- there are many bakers here in the US who can be called scratch snobs- I did not get that impression from you at all!!!
The first and last time I ever used a cake mix:
I was nine, my family had just moved to canada, and we were living in a cramped two bedroom appartment. It was my moms birthday so my dad and I made a duncan hines chocolate cake, and decorated it with canned frosting and sprinkles.
I forgot to mention the funny yet slightly annoying thing Daddy got her hooked on. I was working on a cake and she walked up and said, "cake" I said yes, then she wanted a bite. I told her no. Now for my mistake, but still cute nonetheless. I put a dab of frosting on her tongue. Now when I decorate, she walks up and sticks her tongue out at me
So, one day when I was piping, I piped a dab on her finger. Now, she walks up to me when I decorating, points at me and sticks her tongue out at me. The slightly annoying part is after I give her a dab, she leaves and then quickly returns. She's so cute it's hard to say no.
Teehee... guilty of this, too! Mine either sticks out her tongue, or holds out her hand. I usually pipe a flower and some leaves on her hands, and she'll lick it off on her way out to the trampoline.
When I'm done, I just give her the bag and she'll sit and pipe out gobs of frosting into her hand while she watches me clean.
I am such a naughty mom. But at least we know that our kids will be able to bake and decorate, neh?
Illy
P106_peppy
well i must say, things are much different in the states... being here in Europe has made me appreciate the US. The products on shelves here at a german market are not the same kind or taste that it is in our markets back home. Its not as sweet not as moist etc....so its my opinion, that everyone has an opinion and we have to go with the punches there....but I GUARANTEE if I went to the market here, got the same cake product as I would get from a US grocery store (if I could find it) and made it the exact same way, the cake mix made by the US mix would be better hands down..I have had many nationals tell me that! ! So perhaps the cake mix you used when you were 9 happen to be one of the off flavors that are sold (by demand) to other countries under one of our names. It happens all the time here. I have been told by the nationals here that for a Europeans taste Our stuff is too sweet compared to what they are used to and like...generally! An example of this..German Coca Cola, German Pepsi, German Capri Sun juices do not taste like the US product, not by a long shot.... they are good...but not like US's
and the canned icing makes a HUGE difference. Under no circumstances can I stand to ice a cake with that stuff!!
I have had to do it...by request... dont like to use it, its not made for decorating I dont think..just icing a cake.
No, not at all. It's made for all those wonderful moms and dads out there doing their best to provide a cake for their loved ones. It is great for that.
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