8O Does anyone make homemade cakes? Why or Why not? - Page 2

I can taste the difference between scratch and mix too. The MAIN reason though that I do scratch is that I can CONTROL the quality of ingredients. I have to admit, I was a bit grossed out and appalled at the Wilton course - imitation vanilla, popcorn salt to cut sweetness, fake this and fake that. Isn't the WHOLE POINT (in my opinion only) of doing it at home is to make it taste better? But if you are using the same aritificial ingredients, how is it better? (again, just my thoughts...)

I guess I always thought the main reason I cooked at home was to have it be more wholesome. Which is why I use organic milk, eggs, butter and flour in my cakes. I use real vanilla and while it SLIGHTLY colors my icing, no one would call it not white and I use all butter icing even though it does tend to get soft in my hands while piping. I just FEEL better about eating it and serving it.

I know several people have said, and I understand this, that cakes are once in awhile, but are they really? Count up how many baked goods you eat in a week that is fro the store or bakery - all those muffins, danishes, donuts, cupcakes, cakes, etc. and now think how many of these items KIDS eat.... It's just too much, imo...

Sure, cakes are ANYTHING but healthy, but at least I feel better about it not being a DOUBLE whammy in badness when I make from scratch and use better ingredients. We don't eat American cakes at home either, so food coloring isn't even used. _IF_ I bake at home, it's usually whole grain muffins or European cakes which aren't really decorated like we consider decorated. They are usually full of nuts and eggs are are just more wholesome overall (though also chock full of butter! LOL)

Melissa

Not trying to ruffle feathers - this is just my "way".

In the UK there are a few box mixes available but they're grim; they taste artifical. A customer would be horrified if I'd made a box mix cake, just isn't the done thing in the UK.

For me I grew up in a house where everything was cooked/made from scratch, wholesome, fresh,natural ingredients. Just my lifestyle, growing up and as an adult, and I'm one of those anomales who never ate (briefly tried) a bowl of boxed cereal until I was 18 lol. Everything that comes out of my kitchen is from scratch. I dont buy canned soups or anything else pre-processed. I just find that icky. No harm done. Each to their own.
When the day comes I'm going pro as a baker, there is no reason for me to start using mixes either lol. Just my personal preference. Let me tell you though it does drive me crazy running into recipes that sound yummy in the title and then the recipe says 'one box of this and one can of that' - GRRRR lol

Oh, me too... I'm still trying to figure out how and if I can make the sour cream almond cake from scratch and I'm trying to figure out a way to make the creme bouquet flavoring from scratch... maybe if I substitute some of the water for lemon juice and still use vanilla? What about orange water?

I make all my soups from scratch too. For "emergencies" I make homemade chicken soup, cook it down (condensing it) and then freeze. When soemone gets sick, out pops the homemade chicken soup which just needs reheating and water added - SOOOOOOOOO much better tasting. I can't STAND canned soups! LOL

Melissa

P.S., I do think it depends on how you grew up. We ate mostly scratch too - a few things from a box like macaroni and cheese, but other than that, always fresh, veggies home grown and TASTY.

I bake from scratch with the exception of

Lemon(I haven't found a lemon cake recipe that is as lemony AND moist as a mix)
and
Funfetti

I keep a few cake mixes on hand for those dump cake recipes and for the kids to mess with

I have a rare gramma that boxes and mixes everything!!!!
My mom was a phenomenal chef and cooked everything she could from the farmer's markets and locally grown products. But like I said I get so tired of trying scratch recipes that just are dry or crumbling even when I do exactly as recipe states!
So I continue to prod and poke through recipes and doctoring mixes till I can come up with enough tried and true recipes that I really like and work consistantly for me.

I usually use boxed mixes that I docor up. I've never had a single complaint about them. My problem with the scratch cakes is that they come out dry. If any of you could help me with that, then I would probably bake from scratch as well. I just don't have the time or the money to waste on dry cakes, when the boxed mixes work out great for me.

I only bake from scratch because my customers love the fact that there are still scratch bakers available, and I've been told it reminds them of when they were young and their mother or grandmother would go into the kitchen and bake. All of my customers prefer the taste of my cakes over boxed mixes I never have dry cakes and I love the fact that I can control the quality of the ingredients that I use.

I always find it funny that people find scratch recipes dry... I think they are usually denser (which is preferable to my palate) but NEVER dry. I find box cakes too fluffy. I tried an extender recipe once and still find it "boxish".

Melissa

I prefer doctored up box mixes. I have made scratch cakes before and I don't like the way they turn out. I guess maybe because Im used to box mixes. I also think they take more time than I have to give. I made a scratch red velvet cake for someone and they told me it was too dense, they like fluffy better...go figure. But if someone asked me for a scratch cake, Id be more than happy do do one.

WE ALL MAKE "HOMEMADE" cakes....... just different methods are used to achieve the end result.....

That reminds of my best friend from college. She was going home for something and she said she wanted to make a homemade rhubarb strawberry pie. So we went to the store and I thought OK, we'll buy some rhubarb, strawberries, etc.... NOPE, her HOMEMADE pie was a premade one that you just baked at home! WHAT?!?!?!? I guess our ideas of homemade were vastly different.

Over time though, she has seen how truly homemade tastes better and since her sister got chrone's, she's learned how to do more an dmore things from scratch... they take more time, but are worth the results.

Melissa

Well, I feel a little silly about replying to this....I only bake at home and do the occasional cake for purchase, but here goes.
My 2 cents:
I have tried scratch cakes. Many times. They ALL met their end in the bottome of the trash. I understand that it takes the right recipe and I have yet to find it (anyone want to help me out?) My mother is a scratch baker/ cook. I guess I didn't get that passed down to me.
I feel like the cake mix is the base. It is the flour, salt, b. powder, base flavour. I feel it is akin to using Bisquick mix. If I make shortbread with bisquick, I call it homemade. Am I lying?
When I use cake mixes, I ALWAYS doctor them and change the taste. I make all frosting homemade (cc friends...thank you for that) and I agree with berryblondeboys about the butter. Although it is softer, I can't imagine anyone putting a glob of shortening in their mouth...and enjoying it.

I don't think there is good or bad here. I think it is wonderful that we have all of these options available to us and we should be thankful that if needed, a cake mix is only a grocery away......and a scratch is only as far as your kitchen!

Honestly, if anyone could personally refer any good scratch recipes that I couldn't screw up, it would be appreciated......

Not sure about the dry thing either. Cept for a choco cake I tried and it was dry cause I wasnt 'feeling' when the cake was done, I relied on the clock lol, and my oven wasnt calibrated yet I don't think I've ever had a dry cake.
Lemon cake recipe I have, would have to look into copyright issues, but in the mean time you can find it in Lisa Yockelson's Cakes By Flavor book. Every recipe I've tried in that book has been a success. Did the lemon layer cake twice so far and it was raved over. Doing it again today for that matter lol.
(so far it's a library book but I might have to keep it and pay them for it cause I've 'used' it so much lol)

I don't think there's anything wrong with mixes. Scratch baking has become a personal conquest. I started out making cakes from mixes.

After eating Grandma's cakes(lol...found out later that her multi layered choc/choc was actually Pepperidge Farm), I became determined to overcome the fear of THE DRY SCRATCH CAKE!

Lesson learned from Grandma...make what you can...buy the rest

Hey! That woman ALWAYS had a cake though!