Vanilla cake
321g sugar
113g unsalted butter, softened
2 lg eggs
1 lg egg white
336g all purpose flour
7.5g baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
312 ml homo milk
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

OK my turn LOLOLOL I hope some of this is a typo. Get rid of the egg white, add a touch of sugar, and a lil more butter. NOW you'll have a moist cake. I truly don't understand the extra egg white. Alls it will do is confuse the other ingredients.

Mike

[quote="Mike1394"] Also consider yourself lucky that they have palates made of cement. LOLOLOL J/K LOLOL



I'm glad you made yourself laugh. I didn't find that funny actually. There is no reason to insult the taste of cake mixes just because you don't like the taste of them. You also insulted all my customers which I'm not happy about. I could say that people around here are more about taste then anything because we are all cajun. People all over have said that our cooking is better than most places so I don't think their palates are made of cement.

that joke was in bad taste and that's all I was saying. This discussion was going well until you made that comment. you need to think before you post a "joke" about a very controversial topic. Please next time just think, "is this gunna make someone upset?" That joke was a low blow to anyone who uses cake mixes. I'm glad you bake from scratch. Go ahead and keep baking like that. but there was no reason to get ugly.

I am a box mix baker but one thing I haven't found is one that is good for sculpting. Do you think this recipe would be good in a high humidity environment? I would love to try it.

Not beltting at all Sally. Egg whites are protien. Protien are tougheners in a cake. Now that the caveat of it being sturdy enough for carving. That makes it a whole different ballgame.

Mike

I will definitely try it before I ever said anything about it.

I love my mixes. I will say that. But they do have down sides. I am very limited in the kinds of cake I can have. I don't like pound cake but I have found that is the only kind that I can use on sculpted cakes without them falling apart. I will absolutely try that recipe.

SallyBrat I love the sound of the almond cake! Thanks for posting the recipes. Could I bake it in an 8" round tin, and how long would I bake for? I have lots of marzipan I need to use up left over from christmas.......

*moderator edited*

Welcome to CC Bratt!

Yes you asked a hot topic question...but eventhough I have answered this on several other threads, I will answer you as well. I'm in a good mood today.

I use both mixes and few (very few) scratch recipes. Most of the mixes are doctored, but there are a couple that are straight. I only use DH, have tried the others and they suck, especially Betty Crocker, Pills is an ok second to DH, but it doesn't yield as much batter so in the long run is more costly to use.

My icings on the otherhand are 100% from scratch. I use a equal salted butter to Hi ratio Shortening with stable pasturized meringue, less p sugar than most buttercreams, and add pure vanilla, cornstarch, and a bit of Cream cheese to make the butter flavor "POP", my BC does not crust, I personally don't like the taste or texture of crusting BC's and obviously neither do my clients because my BC icing is what they always rave about. There isn't a set recipe with the dry ingredients as the amount of sugar & cornstarch depends on how humid or hot it is (I'm in Texas). So basically made to taste & texture. I pretty much have it down to a science though.

My ganache is premium chocolate with heavy cream and butter. Royal is pasturized egg whites (not whipped), with p sugar and lemon juice. My Cream Cheese icing is the same as my BC, but I use 80 oz of whipped cream cheese so never the cream cheese icing that others seem to have. Those are the only icings I ever use.

I do order my fondant from Fondarific, and won't use any other brand now, and I have tried them ALL, even the homemade. The homemade is just too time consuming, and it is another bowl and beater I have to clean...not interested.

As for my clients...I have never had a client ask me if my cakes are from a mix or scratch. But if they did I would be honest about it. The reason they don't ask is because they taste how yummy and moist my cakes are, and how my icings don't overpower the flavor of the cake, and they don't really care how I acheived that level of excellence in the flavor of my cakes, they just love them.

I worked at 2 different custom bakeries in the past, and both bought and used straight from the box with NO doctoring Betty Crocker mixes because it is the cheapest; the used the gross shortening only BC (still wondering how someone can call it buttercream if you don't use any butter in it). Did they ever tell anyone their product was from a box?...nope. And they were still churning out 200+ cakes a week. These were NOT grocery store bakeries. That is a WHOLE other issue...LOL!

Hey Sally, remember 10 pages ago when people were saying, "uh-oh"? This is what they meant.

Your cakes are beautiful. Welcome to CC. This is all part of the fun. Don't let it scare you away. Pretty soon you'll be the one saying, "uh-oh. get the popcorn, Earl"

Welcome to CC Bratt!

Yes you asked a hot topic question...but eventhough I have answered this on several other threads, I will answer you as well. I'm in a good mood today.
*moderator edited*

I do order my fondant from Fondarific, and won't use any other brand now, and I have tried them ALL, even the homemade. The homemade is just too time consuming, and it is another bowl and beater I have to clean...not interested. [/quote]

My scratch cakes aren't dry!!!



thanks for the welcome and for not raking me over the coals. I've got to get off this forum tho and get some work done. I have 6 books due to go to the printers early next week and I'm way behind! Yikes!!

Have fun guys...and whether it's from a box or from scratch...happy baking!

What I noticed when I started baking scratch, is the obvious lack of oily moisture in my cakes. The cake mixes I always tried required you add oil to them.

Now, call me crazy, but anything with a cup of oil in it is going to have the illusion of being moist. I say illusion, because technically (in my opinion) it isn't moist, it's just oily.

So, I can understand where someone would think a scratch cake that is moist (if baked and mixed properly) isn't moist, if they are basing what they perceive moist from box mixes and their oil requirements.

Neither are mine Sally, neither are mine.

Thats a good story Deb. I have people drooling over my "ckaes" and they are cake mix, and sometimes I doctor them but not always. I will challenge anyone to make it better. I see no reason for people to be down right insulting about it though, and I do take offense!

Does anyone realize what scratch means? When you bake from scratch? Starting with basic ingredients, not prepared items. If you want to get technical, I am sure most of you don't churn your own butter, or go out to get your own wheat. Yeah, that's what I thought. Unless, you have a farm, then pardon me.
Therefore, this posting is ridiculous to me, considering that I have taken classes at bakeries in Orange County who bake from box mixes. In addition, their cakes taste just as good as my g-ma's "scratch" cake recipes from Cuba.

Cakesbylissette
I totally agree. I have people reeling over my cakes. Some know they are a mix and some do not.

I think everyone needs to just agree to disagree on this subject. We need to stop arguing. No one is going to change their opinions. I see problems with box mixes and I also see problems with scratch cakes. I personally think a good scratch cake tastes the same as a good box mix. Whether a box mix is oily or not, no customer cares as longs as it is moist. No one has told me that they have ever thought my cakes are oily. I am definitely open to trying scratch recipes.

We are one community of cake decorators. We need to be talking about how we can help each other find new ideas, better techniques, and anything else that we can help each other with. This debate is never going to end. All we are doing is making people upset and hurting feelings. I say we take a stance that everyone should be open to trying new things and be able to see the other side of this debate. That doesn't mean that if you are a scratch baker you need to try box mix or the other way around. I think it would benefit everyone to see both sides.

I am not trying to offend anyone. That is not my purpose here. I hope we can all get along. I am very sorry if my post does offend someone. That is not my point at all. I apologize in advance.

Thanks Ginni.

I say do whatever it takes to make your customers happy. And do whatever works for you. THE END!

Welcome to CC, Bratt!

I like scratch baking first and foremost because I'm a control freak and I like knowing every little thing that goes into my cakes and cookies and I want to use the best ingredients available, but there's one box mix I cannot live without...the white cake mix. You can beat me with a big stick all day long and I would still not serve any of the scratch white cakes I've made to anyone. They stink....and yep, that includes the popular WASC cake. I've probably tried 15 different white scratch cake recipes and they all have the texture of cardboard that's been run through a food mill then mushed back together with elementary school paste and the flavors are horrible. The only white cake I find edible is a box mix that's been doctored.

As many have said here, if your clients like your cakes, don't change a thing and be proud that they like what you provide. There's no right or wrong here; it's all just a matter of taste and you'll find those who will never eat anything but scratch cakes and those who will never eat anything but box mixes.

I love how some boxers get so riled up. Don't take it personally that we have an advantage when it comes to pitching our products.

If you were the only one selling real fur coats in a sea of fake Chinese imports, wouldn't you tout that? Not trying to be insulting, but this is the business side of me talking now.

I don't see how a boxer should take this personally.

Is there some way you can promote the benefit of your box mixes?

It's a fair question.

I mean, if you and I were next to each other at a bridal show, and one bride left my booth with info about my recipes, the names of premium ingredients I use, the methods I use.....what do you say when they ask you about your recipes?

Again, talking business now. Not personalities. This should not turn into a "box/scratch bash" or make me out to be a big meanie. JJust making some observations, that's all.

Im jus tsaying I take the time to do induvidual ingrediants as well, and the mix is just 1 small ingrediant.

Everything else I do scratch, icings, cookies, candy......and bread lol (and if you need a tip on not hard bread ill give it to you!(and for the people who missed the whole bread thing... this is a joke))

Im proud of all the baking I do, and the mix is just one more ingrediant in my recipe.

oh i must add, I make all my fondant from scratch too.......

So its not abotu what people do scratch and dont..... everyone has things that they buy and everyoen has things they insist on making themselves