Good one Doug!

All of my cakes are doctored mixes and I get compliments on the taste all of the time. I always tell my brides I "start" with a mix and add my own recipe for the taste I want.

So funny- this weekend I made a cake for my twin nephews 16th B-day party. I usually do the cakes and my family knows this but my sister had a friend there that doesn't know me (or that I do cakes) and of course I was sitting next to her at dessert time. She was eating my cake (chocolate cake w/ whipped ganache & whipped cream cheese frosting) and explaining to her husband how this cake was so far superior to a boxed cake mix etc. While I should have given her the heads up that I was the baker & tried to get a new customer- my husband & I were too busy giggling into our ganache- because I start ALL my cakes with a mix!

Doug you are hilarious.....your posts always brighten my days!! I also have baked for years and have always used dr'd mixes for the most part. I also am one who will never do a cake for the "allergic" folks - that will have to be someone else's job.

No, just have option of the two. Some brides may like them and so may not.

I would have some from scratch and some from cake mix that way you have a back up for just in case the bride doesn't like one or the other.

Has anyone heard of these cake mixes?

https://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/items.asp

They are peanut-nut free - they cost a pretty penny more than DH mix - I think they're somewhere around $4.00 a box - and of course there is only chocolate and yellow - but I was wondering if anyone had tried them.... I might start a new thread on them but I thought I'd first try posting here...

I always wonder about people like Duff & Colette & Elisa and those types of people - do they start w/ a mix of any kind? They have so many cakes to make each week how do they have time to do it all from scratch? Or do they just make their own mixes? I have the worst time w/ scratch cakes so for now if I'm baking for someone else I think I'll stick to regular old cake mix - I don't know what I do diffrently b/c even if I don't add anything people say it tastes so good...... maybe it's that extra "love" put in...

I have been selling cakes for almost 20 years and only in the past 3-4 years have I been doctoring the mixes...occasionaly.

The best part is when people tell me how much better than a mix my cakes taste LOL!

I don't think that there is anything wrong with using doctored mixes. They are much more convenient and taste amazing !!!

I don't think it is wrong to use a cake mix. I do think it is wrong to tell someone a cake from a mix is "homemade". It is probably more like "home-mixed".

I also think it depends on your focus. If you are a "baker" and taste, freshness, and quality of ingredients are your number one priority, then in your heart of hearts, you know you shouldn't be using a mix.

If you are an "artist" whose focus is really the looks of the cake, then the cake is just your medium, and so be it.

I don't use a mix. I don't use pudding boxes. I don't use crisco, BUT because of those decisions I have made, there are a lot of things I can't achieve looks-wise, and I tell brides upfront " Your cake is going to look like cake, and unless you choose fondant, the frosting is going to look like frosting."

I make only one exception, I do use a mix for gluten free cakes, and for certain food sensitivities, but I let the client know up front.

I don't like the manufacturing process, so I bake from scratch. That way, the ingredients, the cleanliness, etc are under my control. If I order a cake from someone, I expect that it will be made from scratch and that the ingredients will be clear.

I eat a lot of cake, but I don't eat manufactured foods. While most Americans fight their weight, I have no weight problem. The big difference is the manufactured food.

Want to list the ingredients of the cake mix box? Yuck. I hear anti-freeze is sweet and tasty, but I'm not about to drink any.

If you want to use a box mix, fine, but definitely reveal it to the customer. Most won't mind at all.

I didn't read the entire thread, so I apologize if someone else has already written this....but there are many many bakeries and restaurants that purchase their mixes in bulk. You can find tons of companies online that sell them in bulk. I doubt anyone asks them if they make their cakes from scratch.
I do agree with the poster who said that when you doctor a mix, it is like adding it as an ingredient.

If I doctored a mix...and if I was ever asked...I think my answer would be that it is my own recipe. I don't feel that I would be lying because I am totally changing the box mix. Or you could say that you use a commercial base (the box) and then add your own ingredients. They don't have to know it's Duncan Hines....

That's precisely why I don't buy from such companies, adven68. I would go to a one-person operation specifically to avoid such a thing. I do ask in restaurants and reject what they don't do from scratch in-house.

frider-how do you know if you will like something if you reject it before you even try it? The people I bake for don't have a clue I use dr'd cake mixes and if they found out I am sure they wouldn't care. I mean if it tastes delicious and they enjoy eating it who cares if I mixed the flour, sugar, cocoa, etc myself or not?

I'm not in business,but if Iwere, I think I'd be hesitant to guarantee that anything is nut/milk/flour/egg....whatever-free. I could speak for my own kitchen, but I can't guarantee what's going on at the various manufacturers' lines.

Doctored mix benefits:

Consistent results
People like them/used to them
The preservatvies extend the life of the cake

Scratch downfalls:

White cakes are usually dry and are meant to be eaten the day they're made, IMO
High bacterial growth (no/little preservatives)

You'll find supporters on both sides of this fence. Choose what works for you. I use mixes for white and chocolate, but all others are homemade. My experiments continue.......!!!

Those of you defending mixes, seriously, have you read the list of ingredients ?

That moistness you rave about is from propylene glycol, which along with being used as a laxative, yumm..is also, you guessed it, antifreeze

With so many of your clients being parents of young children, don't you think you owe them the truth about what you are feeding their kids? And would they buy from you if they knew they were getting hydrogenated fat and antifreeze ?

Precisely my point, txkat. Thanks for the additional info.

txkat.................this is an ingredient in anti-freeze, it does not mean that the ingredient IS anti-freeze. This is how pseudo-science evolves. Dangerous territory! If a mom wants to feed her kids cake, do you REALLY think she's concerned about hydrogenated fat? Most do not, which is why they also give them fruits/vegetables sprayed with insecticides, cereals with corn syrup, etc. In light of all this, Americans are living longer than ever before! BTW, do scratch cake bakers reveal the acceptable/allowable number of dead insects in their flour, sugar, etc. that make their way into their "wholesome" cakes? Should that be revealed any more than other ingredients? Is it any better?? Can't we all just get along?

My guess is that the mom who goes to the trouble of spending $40 or $50 or $100 for a cake is probably under the impression she is getting something other than $1.59 Duncan Hines cake mix.

I'm not saying don't use it. I'm saying you should tell your customers you are using it. It's like MSG in Chinese food. Many of the cagey "well it's just an ingredient" type responses on this thread indicate to me that people are hiding things from their customers.

I will happily give a list of ingredients, including brand names, to any of my customers. I am very proud of the quality of the desserts I serve.

How exactly is propylene glycol digested then, lsawyer? It is clearly not a food.

Hydrogenated oil is far more dangerous than a piece of cake.

Definitions of Propylene Glycol on the Web:

- A substance used to improve the spreadability of a product that can worsen acne.

- ( a first cousin to anti freeze) This compound causes the fatal destruction of red blood cells. This compound is used to maintain the right texture and moisture and to tie up the water content, thus inhibiting bacterial growth, it is added to some chewy foods to keep them moist.

- One of the most widely used ingredients in cosmetics. Most common moisture carrying vehicle other than water. Permeates skin better than glycerin, but causes more sensitivity reactions

- a sweet colorless, viscous, hygroscopic liquid used as an antifreeze and in brake fluid and also as a humectant in cosmetics and personal care items although it can be absorbed through the skin with harmful effects

- Propylene glycol (C3H2; CAS no. 57-55-6) is a chemical compound, usually a tasteless, odorless, and colorless clear oily liquid that is hygroscopic and miscible with water.

And for those of you that add pudding mix, it is thickened with tetrasodium diphosphate ...yummm!

Are you serious? I can't use pudding either? Cripes, I don't bake organic and quite frankly, have you checked the label of the creme bouquet or vanilla or meringue powder or better yet, the little bottles of color we all use so religiously to get the color we want?

It's all filled with fake junk and unless you are making organic cake with organic ingredients, I don't think we are cheating our customers. If they asked, I would tell them since now I realize that my doctored recipes cost more and taste better then the dry, scratch chocolate cakes. I am not saying all scratch choc. recipes are dry.... just the ones I have tried. More power to you all natural, 100% no preservative organic bakers!

When I first posted this, I was intimidated by all the scratch bakers.... now, I respect them and also realize that we are all bakers....scratch or not. I have seen many scratch recipes that call for bourbon, coffee ( OMG, the caffeine!! ) glycerine in some fondant recipes.... has anyone looked at the ingredients on a can of Crisco lastely? I can feel my arteries tightening as we speak.

Where do we draw the line? If I have a scratch recipe, it is no longer scratch if I add pudding to it? Do you give your customers an ingredient list with all the cakes? Or an ingredients in the ingredients list so they know just what is in the crisco that is in the icing that is on the cake?

Y'all have more patience than I do because at some point I stopped reading every single ingredient list.... I guess I never thought a box of cake mix was going to kill me

Ok, I wasn't going to post on this topic b/c it usually always ends up being locked because everyone is very passionate about their thoughts on this subject. But, after reading this last post I just feel that I have to say something. I appreciate what txkat and frider are trying to say, I do. I agree that our nation would be a healthier one if we all stopped eating processed foods and such. But in all reality, that isn't going to happen. Now for those of us that do try to eat a healthy balanced diet most of the time, I don't think it is going to hurt to eat a cake that is based from a box every now and then. And if you think about how long people have been eating cakes from a box... I don't know of any that have gotten sick, in a long-term sense, from eating them.

Like I said, I do understand what you guys are trying to say. But nothing that you said is going to change the way that I make my cakes. I think that the original poster was asking the question if it was unprofessional to use a boxed cake mix. I, myself, like many others have already said, doctor mine. IF someone were to ask me if they were from scratch I would tell them that I did start with a mix, but I added my own ingredients to make it my own cake. I do not see anything unprofessional about that.

Sorry CakeDiva73, I must have still been typing when you posted, I agree with you 100%!!

frider.....it's digested the same way the dead insects are.
You might also want to check your make-up, perfume, carpet fibers, water, air quality, electricity, air conditioning, shampoo, lotions, etc. for goopy stuff. I'm not prepared to live in a bubble or freak out over technological advances. In spite of all the new "bad" stuff, we're living longer than ever before in human history! AND we can eat box mix cakes, too!!! Ain't life grand!!!!
P.S. I recommend the book "The Chicken Little Agenda," which addresses these issues.

frider.....it's digested the same way the dead insects are.
You might also want to check your make-up, perfume, carpet fibers, water, air quality, electricity, air conditioning, shampoo, lotions, etc. for goopy stuff. I'm not prepared to live in a bubble or freak out over technological advances. In spite of all the new "bad" stuff, we're living longer than ever before in human history! AND we can eat box mix cakes, too!!! Ain't life grand!!!!
P.S. I recommend the book "The Chicken Little Agenda," which addresses these issues.

I find it ironic that so many here defend the use of mixes by saying 'the bakeries do it' but heaven forbid a customer says to a CC'er that they are going to a bakery to get their cake cheaper...then all of a sudden everyone is righteously declaring how small bakers are so far superior to the big bakeries and that stupid customer is just getting some crappy cake.

imho, if you sell cakes that start with a mix, you should bill yourself as a Cake DECORATOR, not a Cake baker.

Cakediva73, i'm not talking about you specifically, but in general about anyone on this thread who uses box mixes and passes it off as homemade. if i get a cake for my dd at a bakery, i am pretty sure that i am getting a mix cake of some kind, whereas if i seek out a specialized, home baker, i would assume its REALLY homemade.

That , exactly.

For what it is worth...I don't use crisco, I don't use any artificial flavorings, and I only use food color in gumpaste or fondant, which can be easily picked off if someone chooses not to ingest artificial colours.

I am not suggesting that anyone bake the same way I do. I bake my own cookies for cheesecake crusts and make my own english toffee for heath bar cookies. My customers know that, and that's why I can charge $45 for a cheesecake and sell 15 to 30 of them a week.

I've just seen many a baker here decry "cheap Sam's Club" etc. cakes and then bake and serve with pride nearly the same thing. They use mixes too.

If you wouldn't hand your customer a list of the ingredients in their purchase with confidence, then, in my opinion, you shouldn't use those ingredients.

edicooks wrote:

imho, if you BAKE the cake then you are a cake BAKER. The cake mix is only a PART of the ingredients anyway. You still have to add at least the eggs, oil, milk/water and anything that you use to doctor it. That still takes baking ability and/or talent. You then STILL have to check the cake for proper doneness and not over/under cook it. Then you STILL have to have it not stick to the pan and not dry out. I'm sorry, but I use both scratch recipes and doctored cake mixes depending on the timing, the project and the customer. I have never had anyone complain about either.

Is is still scratch if we don't own and feed the hen that laid the egg? Or if we didn't hand sow the grain that fed her? What about milking our own cow for the milk and then pasturizing it? Or milling the flour?

Come on