hey guys,

i'm really new to this site, but was wondering if yall could help me decide b/w using box mixes vs. those made from scratch? i am doing a couple of birthday cakes and such for charge, and am wondering what yall usually do. any input would help, i haven't had the most success w/ my scratch recipes . thanks

if i am doing a buttercream covered cake i sometimes use a boxed cake. if covering in fondant i go with a scratch cake because they are more dense and hold up better to the weight of the fondant. boxed cakes can be doctored up though and they taste just as yummy!

Pilsbury with the pudding in the mix or the Duncan Heinz are super moist. I always have people tell me the cake is super yummy and I don't doctor them at all. The secret is the tasty frosting! That is what makes it so good!

Here is "my" frosting recipe.

2 cups CRISCO
2 tsp clear vanilla (or regular if not white)
2 tsp clear almond flavor
2 tsp clear butter flavor
water
sift 2 tbsp of meringue powder and 2 lbs powdered sugar

sounds good, i wasn't really sure and i didn't want someone to catch me hehehe . if any of you don't mind sharing your "doctoring up" recipes they would be greatly appreciated! thanks again

I use mostly mixes. I have tried a few scratch recipes, especially the butter cake recipe from The Cake Bible, and I just seem to have better luck with the mixes doctored up! If you take a look there have been many discussions on this topic, and I think it's split down the middle!

....here we go again!....

make which ever you do best. Thats all anyone can expect from any of us is our best.

use whatever yOU want to use. the only thing I would suggestis that if you aren't already making cakes from scratch you will need to practice beforehand with a few different recipes. Just like anything else, you should alwasy test a recipe before using it for a customer.