I'm a hobby baker, and have been using the WASC for white cakes, and Sugar Shack's bc recipe. I do bake a chocolate cake from scratch, and make butter based chocolate frostings, and PB frostings.

I'm feeling like I'm turning a corner here, and don't want to use these types of ingredients any longer. Now that I've just spend $35 on hi ratio shortening, I feel like I want to make only butter based frostings from here on out. And I think I want to do cakes from scratch, as well.

Am I nuts? As a consumer, I've complained for years about food places using inferior products, and here I was doing the same thing.

Anyone else feel this way?

Personally I prefer the flavor and texture of scratch cakes but I have some friends and family members that will only eat cakes from a box (which I will only make in a doctored version like WASC). They love the more commercial taste for whatever reason. I will do 50/50 frostings when the weather is hot and humid, but don't make all shortening frosting at all (just a little too greasy for my taste). I definitely prefer to use better ingredients but it can also be very costly, so for those who choose to spend less on their cakes, they'll probably get the mix version.

I guess it depends on what you mean by inferior products. It took me almost a year of trying out scratch white cake recipes before I found one that I liked. But I served doctored box versions until I did, because IMO my scratch versions were inferior to the doctored box. Now that I found a scratch version I like better I still don't consider it to be a superior product. It's just different. Shortening and butter based frostings work the same way. I live in the South and events are frequently outside. A shortening based buttercream is superior in this situation because it holds up better.....butter based BC would just melt all over the place. I do prefer the flavor of butter based, but it doesn't do me any good to have the frosting melt and slide off before anyone has a chance to eat it. I guess what I'm saying is that the circustances often dictate which products I use, but they should always taste good and look great.

I would say "Go for it!" I made the switch too.

Although I know some people prefer box mixes, I feel uncomfortable with the many chemicals used in them. Just looking at the side of a Jello Pudding box made me quit using it. It has 3 or 4 chemicals that are on the list of things to avoid eating!

Another advantage of scratch is that you don't have to worry that your favorite mix will be discontinued.