Do I avoid the "do you use a mix" question?? - Page 12

Oh I disagree here. That's the American palate at work. Cake mixes are marketed as "Super Moist" They need all the emulsifiers in them to keep them that way. You don't need teeth to eat them.

Mike

I disagree too. It's not super nasty or anything.. it's just different than a cake baked without the gums and emulsifiers. I have baked (and properly thank you) a mix cake before. My mom still does. I eat them when I have to (like when she makes me a b-day cake) but if I have a choice.. no way. But it's my personal preference. There are plenty of people who like mix cakes more than scratch cakes. No harm no foul.. unless you make me a mix (dr'd or not) that you passed off as a scratch cake. Then I'm going to throw it at you.

Thanks, jkalman, for confirming that there's Yellows #5&6 in yellow cake mix. It is also listed in DH boxes. Jessie, it is my understanding from our licensing system here in NYS that we have to disclose the full ingredients we use -- espeically those colors -- they cannot listed as simply "coloring" or "additives."

It's good to know states/countries vary -- but, at least for us, yup, we gotta list it all.

Hope that helps with your original question!

I believe TN is suppose to list all ingredients as well. My question is how you do that on a cake you deliver? I don't plan (in the future) to sell my cakes boxed like Walmart. I understand for allergies why to list, but I've can't really say I've ever looked at the ingredients list of something I buy from a bakery section (be it Walmart, Kroger, Sam's, etc). Maybe I'll stop to take a look next time just to see what's in the food.

Good Lord K8... can you take a joke?

But honestly.. if I was to get a cake that claimed to be a scratch cake and it was a mix I'd be upset as a customer. Not going to happen because I bake cakes and I'm not going to pay someone to do what I can do myself, but speaking in hypotheticals here and all.

The whole point of this thread was to be honest about what you are doing. If you do that.. then there's no harm in it. Just don't be deceitful.. maybe I sound a bit snobbish, but I don't consider anything that is started with a mix from scratch. I'm not saying that can't be yummy.. just that they are not scratch.

I do make things with helpers.. I have made a casserole with cream of mushroom soup from a can.. I have also made it from scratch. I don't call the can my own and I let people know what's in there. I'm not saying that mixes are bad on the whole. I did state my preference to not eat them and that is my right. Just like it would be someone's right to say they don't like to eat scratch cakes.

Bad cake is bad cake no matter how it started, and there are some bad scratch recipes out there.. they have little flavor and are nothing special, but you can tweak them or find a new one.

It comes down to personal choice.. until that choice is clouded by elusive terms. If you trick your customers you take away that choice for them. That I don't agree with.

'no wonder your from scratch cakes were bad, there's nothing real in them!'

No, those were the scratch cakes the bakery used before they changed to a mix.

The scratch recipes I tested were all real ingredients: eggs, milk, butter, etc.

Bakeries started using fluid flex and emulsifiers and whatnot for a reason; they didn't say 'hey let's start passing off crappier product and make more money.' Back when all this stuff first came out (my bakery's been open since 1929), it was considered new and cutting edge technology that makes cakes softer, firmer and better mouthfeel, not 'fake' as it's considered today.

Honestly, I think it's the fluid flex that makes the difference. It creates that soft, moist cake texture people are so used to nowadays that you don't get from from scratch cakes, while still maintaining it's firmness.

Personally, I prefer to use real ingredients but if it doesn't work like the mix, I can't do it that way. People complain. I mean, personally, I don't even eat refined sugar (yes, I'm a hippocrite!), but I sell it every day!

By the way let me state just exactly what was wrong with the scratch recipes I tried, because maybe someone knows something I don't (as I said, I really want to start using scratch recipes when I start my bakery in January).
I tried them with one of the girls who works there who's a graduate from the patisserie program at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago and our lead baker. She said they tasted different than what Americans are used to because of the fluid flex; it's in most american processed recipes and figured into most cake mixes. *sigh* it's like getting people used to Kraft Singles to like fine cheeses. Can I get an Amen??

So anyways, we tried a few recipes from the Cake Bible, like White Chocolate Whisper cake, Butter Yellow Cake, Chocolate cake, etc, and we tried a red velvet cake from online, we tried basic yellow cake recipe from Better Homes and Gardens (that classic cook book), and we tried a couple recipes from the CHIC textbook (which, by the way, were full of fake ingredients like the bakery's old recipes used to be).

All the ones without fluid flex had a drier texture. They weren't bad at all, in fact the flavors were wonderful, they were just...more 'bready' than our current mix. I mean it tastes like the stuff my aunts bring to family reunions. Definitely not bad in flavor, passable in consistancy, but either too soft to sculpt or not soft enough. It was hard to find that 'firm enough to sculpt, yet still maintaining it's velvety mouthfeel' without the artificial stuff.

Any tips anyone? All y'all scratch bakers, what do you use?

The fliud flex is liquid shortening right? It has the emusifiers in it that would give you the texture you are talking about.. but to me that's the same as using a mix. If you are going to add all the fakey fake stuff that gives a mix it's properties to your scratch cakes you might as well just start with a mix and call it a day.. less work.

Shakti.. I PM'd you.

Jessie --

I am truly sorry if I wrote something that was offensive or judgemental. So sorry -- please, as I wrote in the PM -- go by your inspector's requirements.

I guess I thought requirements were the same throughout the state...NYS can be a confusing place!

All best --

Petit-four

I personally don't think anyone here is looking down on people who use mix. I think the negative feelings are about people who use a mix but are dishonest about it. "pre mixed ingredients" and all that stuff.

There is a place for both. With the health centered society we live in it is very important to some people to have "whole foods" Other than that, it's what's best for your business.

Shakti,
There is my recipe for yellow/butter cake. Honestly if your lead baker can't figure out how to make a soft, melt in your mouth cake. She needs to go back to school.

Mike

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-593015.html

For sure.