Air bubbles and Duncan Hines

This is also making me crazy. I just got 20 cases of the French Vanilla and it is awful!!!! I tried banging, sifting, adding water, etc... Nothing works. I think they just mess up the formula sometimes or use bad ingredients. It is probably too much baking soda/powder. Any advice on fixing the problem???
 

I haven't seen the "new" DH cake mixes yet.

So those of you with the "new" mix, READ the fine print...if there is calcium "pyrophosphate" or "acid phosphate" listed in with the other chemicals, then you will get a normal second rise in the oven.

In general, to get rid of too much baking soda lift, you would add a tablespoon of vinegar, let the batter sit an hour, stir it.  It will then NOT have any first cold rise.  So please experiment with a teaspoon of vinegar.

I find that the "18.25 ounce" formulation of the yellow mix has too many bubbles. I have been baking cake for customers from scratch.  For myself, I have been using fruit puree instead of water and this gets me a moist cake without tunnels in it.

WOW! Thanks. That is the best response to this question I have ever gotten. I'll give it a try.
 

Please let me be very clear:

I said get rid of the LIFT--I should have added, from 1 teaspoon too much baking soda.

If you add tablespoons of baking soda instead of teaspoons, you still need to throw out the batter because it will be grossly salty.

BakingIrene:  Out of curiosity, does the vinegar leave a taste with the batter?  Would white or cider be the one you choose?  What type of fruit puree would you recommend for a white cake that will not overpower?  I too am concerned with the holes that I get in the new boxed cake while I try out new recipes.  So far, I haven't found out that works for me.  I will be trying the one from ScratchSF's blog soon though!

When the vinegar combines with baking soda, there is a slight salty taste but no sour taste.  Using cider or malt vinegar would be OK in a chocolate cake.

I use pureed canned pineapple or mandarin oranges using the full can of fruit and liquid.  Of course it tastes like the fruit...that's my personal preference.

You could use half water and half buttermilk for the mildest flavour that will match with even the white-white cake mixes.  It will make them taste a whole lot more like real cake...since the milk powder disappeared from the packaged formulas some time ago.

OK, after trying 8 different possibilities including vinegar, sifting, letting it sit various amounts of time, barely mixing it, etc..... I think I have something I can work with. The last thing I tried was to use the wisk on the kitchenaid and beat it on high for one and a half minutes. (No changes to recipe except increase mix speed and shorter time) When I tapped the pan on the counter, lots of bubbles immediately rose. It had a large bubble at completion of baking but it was barely noticeable compared to previous mixes. Tomorrow will be the true test when I make a large batch on my big mixer and fill larger pans. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!! Thanks for the suggestions.