Has anyone tried out recipes from this book? I'm working on going to fully scratch baking. I'd like to be able to offer an expanded flavor selection, but it takes me forever to find a good recipe, much less a great one!

I'm looking for a good resource to start with, and since I do more cupcakes than cakes I'd like something I know will work in cupcake form.

I have all of her books, the cake mix doctor, more from the cake mix doctor, the dinner doctor and the chocolate cake mix doctor and then now the cupcake doctor.

I have tried many of the recipies from the books. THe Dreamsicle recipie using the duncan hines orange mix is excellent. There is one in the cake mix doctor book but she changed it and put it in the dinner doctor book and it is even better and moist.

The only one that I did not like was I think the snickerdoodle cake. It was more dry than I would have liked the cake to be but everyone loved it. The pumpkin spice cake is very good, I can't remember what others that I have used but
they are good.

These are time savers and they are cost efficient. And I find when I am making several tiers of the same flavors I have the same results each layer of each tier. sometimes that doesn't happen with scratch items, if not careful on the measuring or if it is cold or humid.

good luck I hope you enjoy it.

I tell everyone that the original "Cake Mix Doctor" book is a MUST have. I don't have any of her other books; don't feel they are needed. My most reliable, trusted, tasty recipe is her Basic Sour Cream White Cake. My favorite chocolate cake recipe is her Darned Good Chocolate Cake (I do not add the chocolate chips). I've only made about 6 or 7 of her recipes and have only been blown away by the 2 listed above. Personally, I feel that any cake recipe will work whether it is cupcakes OR cake.

I am a hobby baker. I want my cakes to TASTE as good as they look. Using a doctored Duncan Hines mix as my dry base gives me very consistent, excellent cakes. The dry mix has the emulsifiers that simply are not consistent in scratch recipes. I wish to concentrate on improving my decorating skills, not producing consistent scratch recipes.

If I was targeting a special needs clientele, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, nut allergy, no chemicals, sugar free, etc., THEN I would definitely invest the time, effort, and money needed to perfect scratch recipes.

Two years into this I use these recipes the most, all of them are "doctored mix recipes and ALL of them get rave reviews:

Basic Sour Cream White (can be modified for a LOT of different flavors)
Darned Good Chocolate Cake
Blake's Cakes Red Velvet (Duncan Hines doctored recipe)
My version of a wonderful Sprinkles cupcake: Salted Caramel
Lemon

Apti, will you give the recipe for the salted caramel cupcake and the Blake's red velvet?

Be happy to share. The recipe for BlakesCakes red velvet is the FIRST RV I've found that actually tastes unique and GOOD! I tried 5 recipes myself, and tasted RV cupcakes from 4 different famous (scratch??) bakeries to see what all the hoopla was about. I was left very UNimpressed UNTIL I made and tasted her recipe:

Courtesy of BlakesCakes from CakeCentral.comDOCTORED RED VELVET CAKE:

1 Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix
1 box white chocolate (hard to find) or chocolate instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

BlakesCakes: Hand mix all ingredients until incorporated and then mix on medium with a hand mixer for 1:30 to 2:00 minutes. Bake at 325 until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake is tasty and sturdy. I often ice with a 50/50 mixture of homemade buttercream and canned cream cheese icing so that the cake can stay at room temp for long periods.

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My version of Sprinkles' Salty Caramel FABULOUS Cupcakes--Yummmmm.....

http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=155496&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

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Sprinkles recipes (shared free online by Sprinkles):

http://www.oprah.com/food/Sprinkles-Cupcakes-Strawberry-Cupcakes-Recipe

http://www.oprah.com/food/Sprinkles-Cupcakes-Strawberry-Frosting

http://www.oprah.com/food/Dark-Chocolate-Frosting

http://www.oprah.com/food/Vanilla-Peppermint-Cupcakes

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just for the heck of it, the lemon:

LEMON POPPYSEED CAKE:
1 box Duncan Hines lemon cake mix
4 oz. (1 box) Lemon instant pudding
1 cup lemonade
4 large eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 Tablespoon poppy seed

Thanks for the replies! I finally found this thread again. Mine seem to disappear sometimes...
I definitely want to go all scratch, because I myself am anti-chemical for health reasons, but sometimes I just need a sure thing when I don't have a scratch recipe! I'll definitely try a cake mix doctor book.