What do you tell customers when they ask if your cakes are made from scratch? I'm a big believer in doctored cake mixes...never had good luck with cakes from scratch and they taste great but you always get that look when you tell them that they are indeed cake mixes. The "I paid for a cake mix cake" look. I can't bring myself to say it is from scratch...terrible liar...but I don't think their reaction is fair when I tell the truth.

Just wondering what others do,
Suzanne M.

i tell them the truth, if it is store bought, or doctored up, or scratch...but i only tell them if they ask. if they want scratch, then that will usually cost more, so most of my customers go for the store bought, besides, i've never had an unhappy customer!! if i were buying a cake, or anything else for that matter, i would want to be told the truth, after all, it's my money that i'm spending. i always live by the golden rule-"treat people the way you want to be treated!"

I have had this question many times myself. It can be quite tricky. I also use cake mix and doctor it up with my special touch. So I tell them it is my special recipe. This way you are not telling a lie. It is your special recipe when you add your own ingredients and special touch to it.
The fact is, a lot of us use a doctored cake mix. It is just easier and almost fool proof. Don't feel bad for that. Besides, when they take a bite of a moist delicious cake that you have made, it removes all doubt from there mind.
Hope this helps! Happy Baking!

AMEN to that Dawn! It is none of their business about your secret recipe, box or not. Good advise. And we can all come across some snobby customers at times.

And if they have a sense of humor you could say "I could tell you my recipe, but then I'd have to kill you."

I've done just that. hahahahahaha

Thanks for all your suggestions...very helpful. I don't know if I can pull it off though...someone says, "is that a cake mix?" and I answer, "it's my special recipe." That's not a yes or no answer...it seems to me that I'm saying yes it is. Oh well...I'll give it a try. Better than my turning red and sheepish and saying yes it is.

Thanks all,
Suzanne M.

suzyqqq27- the bottom line is either have faith in what you do or don't do it. You have to live with you. Me, I have bigger fish to fry.

...it's called "subterfuge"!! You wouldn't actually be telling a lie but maybe not the compete truth, kinda!!

Okay, I had to weigh in on this.

I actually have done the reverse: I started with scratch cakes and recently turned to cake mixes. My scratch cakes are great, but they are sometimes time consuming and don't always turn out perfectly (whereas cake mixes almost always do).

Yes, Mrs. Jones down the street can whip up her own cake from a box, but can she cover it in fondant and make it look like Miss Spider so that her 5-year-old daughter can't stop smiling at her birthday party? I doubt it. And if she can, then she certainly doesn't need me.

Also, I make amazing desserts that call for a puff pastry shell. Do I take the three hours to make my own puff pastry? No. I buy Pepperidge farm (and so do many pastry chefs). But I sure as heck make my own pastry cream and whatever else I may fill it with.

There are many professions where certain components of the craft are "pre-made" or at least made easier--as is the case with a box mix. Is anything ever fully from scratch? Do people churn their own butter? Do they milk their own cows? Do they get eggs from the henhouse (well, if you are Martha Stewart, maybe)?

If we all on this board were consumate pastry chefs and did everything from scratch, we wouldn't be on this web site. We'd be putting in too many hours to even turn on the computer. Also, we wouldn't need one another's help.

Bottom line: I like cake mixes. Do I tell people I use them? No. Do I tell people how many hours it takes me to make a cake? No. Do I tell them what brand of butter I use? No. I tell them nothing about the process. It is the end result that matters and how I get there is my own way. If not, there are plenty of other bakers in this area.

Phew! If you've read this far, God bless you. I just had to get this off my chest.

Cookieman

If someone asks me, I tell them the truth, whether I baked from scratch or used a mix. If it is a mix, then I tell them that the basic recipe starts with a mix, then I enhanced it to make it special for them and to suit their occasion. I haven't had anyone complain, but I don't sell my cakes. I can't seem to put a price on them, haven't really figured out how much it costs me, so people pay what they feel the cake is worth. I think I am lucky, because I haven't been disappointed yet.

When I get confident enough to do cake decorating for profit, (I've only done one cake for my cake class) I'm thinking of offering both, cake and scratch. Has anyone tried this? Was/is it a good idea?

Joe

..haven't tried that but it is a good idea to offer the choice between box and sctratch. I'd be curious to see the outcome because I imagine the price difference in the two would be quite significant, if you account for the time it takes to make a scratch vs. box!

I tell them that I do mine the same as the bakeries and stores. I do the secret recipe thing also

If they ask, I tell them the truth. I always Doctor the mixes, and I tell them so. Most Megamarts use a mix with Water Only, so Ours would be better anyway.

Okay, I may be in the minority here, but if someone actually asks, the truth is the best policy (some people can taste the difference, then will likely tell other people if you lied to them!)

That being said, there is nothing wrong with saying "my recipes do include commercial bases"... you are telling the truth, just wording it nicer (I always thought that "doctoring a mix" sounds like mix was ill...LOL)

I have had a few people snub their noses when I tell them I bake from mixes. Very few; and the people who have done that never tried my cake. All my customers I've acquired through word of mouth. I never advertise.

You know, if you offer a good product people are going to buy it. So I'm honest if asked the question. I laugh to myself because some customers are convinced I must doctor my cake mix some way. (And I don't :-O...Baked with love I guess. ) If someone who hasn't tried my cake decides not to order because it is a cake mix cake, doesn't bother me. I do what I like and do the best I can.

Lots of bakeries use cake mixes. They're always moist.

Dragonwarlord & MrsMissey - I actually do offer both scratch and boxed mix cakes. I often have people ask me the same question of what kind of cake I make...boxed or from scratch...so I can actually say BOTH! lol The reason I do this is because I can actually make a pretty good scratch cake...I've found a handful of recipes that I feel are dependable enough to offer for sale. Of course, the scratch cakes do cost more...$15-$25 more, on average, than the equivilent that I would make using mixes. But I also live in a town where people have the mindset that if it costs more it must be better. So it hasn't really hut me to charge so much more for a scratch cake.

Now, if the customer doesn't ask, I don't tell. Then I usually use a doctored mix. But when they do ask I tell them that I do both and ask them if they prefer one over the other. If they don't, I offer to do a mix cake with my 'special touch' and I've only had compliments. If they do have a preference, then I tell them that my scratch cakes are X amount more in cost and the reasons why, i.e. the tempermentality of scratch recipes, extra costs of special ingredients, etc. If the cake is a stacked, multiple tier cake or if it requires any kind of construction or doweling, the only cakes I will use are mixes or a from scratch pound cake recipe that I've found reliable. Most of my scratch cakes are just simple 4 layer rounds with lots of decoration...no doweling involved...lol. I just don't trust the texture of the scratch cakes to stand up to being stacked or doweled or sculpted, etc...except for my pound cake.

And I don't say in my brochures or anything that I offer both....I just list the flavors/types of cake...whether they're a doctored mix or from scratch. 99.999% of the time people just want to order a certain flavor cake, it never occurs to them to ask if it's from a box or scratch. I've also started going one town over to buy my mixes...lol... Not that I hide the fact I use them, but I just don't want to run into someone I've sold a scratch cake to and them see 25 boxes of cake mix in my cart and wonder if I really did sell them a scratch cake or not !!! lol

When you really think about it what is a cake mix? It is cake flour and flavorings and sweetener...even on box ones you add your own water/milk and oil/butter and eggs! If you had started from scratch you would do almost the same except add the flavor and sugar! To me they (cake mixes) are really nothing but doctored flour! I always add my own additions...so really...I don't feel a bit guilty saying it is my own special recipe...or like someone said, just telling them that I don't reveal my recipes.

I don't have a problem telling customers I use a cake mix and add extra ingredients...and then I go on to say my icing is made from scratch. That way they know (some honestly do want to know if its cake mix or not and I'd rather not mislead them) and then usually when they find out my icing is homemade that makes them feel better. Also after they taste how fresh and moist the cake is, they don't care how I made it anyway, and I usually tell the person that everybody raves over the cake so they won't be disappointed.

I always like to be completely upfront, that way there are no surprises and people know exactly what they will be getting.

All the people I make for a friends or people close to my friends. So if anyone is referred to me they expect the same cake they ate from my friends, which will be scratch.

IF they want a cake mix, which I only do on occaion, I will do it. I always doctored up the cake mixes because I like how firm they get.

So, yes, when people want cakes, I always have a set of questions I ask to make sure they know what I make and what they are getting.

by Anne Byrn, author of Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor


"In addition, they (cake mixes) contain shortening, emulsifiers, colorings and flavorings such as chocolate. The shortening makes the cake tender, the chocolate is for flavor and color, and the emulsifiers make the cake moist. Emulsifiers bind the fat and the liquid together; soy lecithin is the most common emulsifier.

Mixes also contain flavorings like vanillin, which is an artificial vanilla flavoring, thought by many to be the source of "cake mix taste," an aftertaste you get from cake mix. They contain a heavy amount of artificial colorings, too"

So I guess this would be good for a customer who doesn't mind a cake with many additives...Very different from cakes baked from scratch.

I forgot to add, that I do more than half of my cakes from scratch, it honestly depends on whether the customer seems concerned with the makings of the cake or asks what ingredients are involved.Then you KNOW they are wanting to make sure it is from scratch. You can usually tell in minutes when consulting with them if cost plays a big part or not and I do charge more for my scratch cakes. If they simply say I want something that tastes good and inexpensive, I go with doctored mix.

i bake mostly from scratch but used a doctored mix on occasion. the customer has a right to know whether the cake is based from a mix or not. now, for those who tell them its a "special recipe", i thinks thats fine as long as you let them know that the "special recipe" includes a duncan hines mix (or whatever you used).

what i don't understand is why wouldn't you tell the truth? there is no need to feel ashamed or embarrassed for starting with a mix. just be honest because that is your responsibility to your clients.

OK, I am most likely opening a can of worms here, but I disagree. When you go out to dinner do you ask the restaurant what recipe they use on all the dishes?
If you are on a special diet or are vegan or have allergies I understand wanting to know the ingredients ...or if a customer tells me they have issues with all preservatives...and don't want additives then I will work and charge accordingly. But with the majority this isnt the case. I find that most want good tasting and beautiful. Do I feel that I have to reveal all of our trade secrets? NOPE.... however I have never had anyone point blank ask me..."Do you use cake mixes?" Or I most likely would tell them at that point that sometimes I do and sometimes I don't..and just be honest and say that at times when cost is a big factor I do, but add that I also add my own ingredients to them. Just my humble opinion.