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Irritated with Pillsbury

post #1 of 83
7/13/12 at 7:57am
Thread Starter 
Maybe this is on here somewhere else, but I couldn't find it.

So I see this week, Pillsbury has made the change to a 15.25 oz box of mix, down from 18.25. This quite irritates me. First off....I bought 10 boxes at Walmart last week and they were 18.25, bought 10 yesterday. WHen I got home I thought to myself...wow, this box looks smaller..........and sure enough it is.

So now my question is......what the heck do I do now? I know exactly how much cake mix to make for every pan I have and now it will be less. I saw on a different website that someone suggested adding 7-8 tbsp to the smaller mix to make it come out with the same volume.

Has anyone done this? I really hate wasting a cake mix on a failure I could avoid.

Comments.........please!!
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post #2 of 83
7/13/12 at 8:21am
Unfortunately, this is old news. All of the big-name cake mix providers have downsized their mixes to 15.5 or 16.5 oz.

Here is information I've read so far:

Some people simply weigh out the missing amount (2 or 3 ounces), from another box mix and add to the smaller box mix amount.

Some people continue using their doctored recipes and simply ignore the smaller size.

Some people may follow the advice of Anne Byrn, the author of the Cake Mix Doctor. I contacted her by email and this was her response:

"Thanks for your email. It is really distressing that food companies think they can keep reducing the size of products. For the past few years the mixes have lacked the structure, and I have advised cooks to add a little flour to the dry cake mix to ensure the cake will have structure and not sink while cooling.
I, too, would rather pay a little more and keep things consistent.
Let's let the dust settle, and I will be interested to try my recipes with the smaller DH mixes.
In the meantime, it's a good idea to add a little flour (up to 1/2 cup), a little sugar, if desired, and a half teaspoon of baking powder to the smaller cake mix before adding other ingredients.
Or, check out my cake mixes on my website - www.cakemixdoctor.com - clicking on Anne's cake mix. They are a little larger than the conventional cake mix. "
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post #3 of 83
7/13/12 at 8:31am
There's nothing stopping people from paying more to get the same amount of mix, it would just be split over multiple boxes now.
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post #4 of 83
7/13/12 at 9:08am
Thread Starter 
I would much rather pay more money for an 18.25 box than get ripped off. Do these companies not realize how many recipes start with a box of 18.25 cake mix? Grrrrrr!
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post #5 of 83
7/13/12 at 9:11am
Unfortunately most consumers shop by shelf price instead of unit price, so if Pillsbury raised their shelf price instead of reducing box size they would lose significant market share to competitors with smaller boxes and lower shelf prices.
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post #6 of 83
7/13/12 at 9:47am
That is so true Jason and up until I met my husband I always looked at the price, but now I look at the per oz price or per unit on the price tag, he is a math geek. icon_biggrin.gif
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post #7 of 83
7/13/12 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 
Well I had some leftover icing to get rid of so I made a batch of cupcakes with the "new" smaller box. I didn't do anything different....but they did all sink about 5 minutes after they came out of the oven. They have never done that before...so there is a difference even if they and Betty Crocker/Duncan Hines claim that there is not. Pillsbury batter is very thick, Betty Crocker very thin.

I just pisses me off. I would rather pay more money than get cheapened by 3 oz.

Booooooooo!!!!
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post #8 of 83
7/13/12 at 1:56pm
..... bought 10 yesterday. ... this box looks smaller ....... sure enough it is......what the heck do I do now?

As another poster said, just measure out 2 or 3 oz from another box. Store the unused dry mix in the fzr until needed.
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post #9 of 83
7/13/12 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 
I do not shop for unit price when shopping for something like a cake mix. The big execs @ Pillsbury, Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker dropped the ball on this one

And......BTW......who started this stupid idea anyway?? Keeping up with competitors? That is a bull**i* statement if I ever heard one. They are obviously the first to do it. And....BTW.....Tops and Price Chopper brand are still at 18.25oz. I might just start using them instead and to hell with Pillsbury....who I have been very LOYAL to.
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post #10 of 83
7/13/12 at 3:03pm
Thread Starter 
To Kakeladi.....I thought about doing the same thing...measure out 3 oz from another box, but then again....that defeats the point of having the "convenience" from a box mix. GRRRRR......

Spat..... (That is me spitting on these companies........LOL)
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post #11 of 83
7/13/12 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

There's nothing stopping people from paying more to get the same amount of mix, it would just be split over multiple boxes now.


It's not quite that simple. They have reformulated all the cake mixes with additional leavening so that the cakes made with the mix do not appear to be smaller. So it's not just an issue of less mix, it's less of a different product. A Dallas baker recently did a side-by-side analysis, taste and appearance, and there IS a difference.

I am also highly irritated. When Betty Crocker went this way, it was inevitable that Pillsbury would follow as they are made by the same parent company. But I had held out a foolish hope that it would not happen. Pillsbury is my mix of choice.
How to Price Your Cakes
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How to Price Your Cakes
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post #12 of 83
7/13/12 at 5:07pm
Duncan Hines has done it too! I contacted Pinnacle Foods, the parent company, and registered my feelings. They told me they had reformulated the mix but that I should get the same product. I told them wrong. I usually use two mixes in a half-sheet pan and it took three and there still was a difference. The consistency is more "spongy". What's worse is that the new mixes went up sixteen cents! Soon a cake mix will make a very generous cupcake!
Making life sweet!

Lindas Just Desserts

Inspected and licensed commercial kitchen
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Making life sweet!

Lindas Just Desserts

Inspected and licensed commercial kitchen
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post #13 of 83
7/13/12 at 5:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kelleym

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

There's nothing stopping people from paying more to get the same amount of mix, it would just be split over multiple boxes now.


It's not quite that simple. They have reformulated all the cake mixes with additional leavening so that the cakes made with the mix do not appear to be smaller. So it's not just an issue of less mix, it's less of a different product. A Dallas baker recently did a side-by-side analysis, taste and appearance, and there IS a difference.

I am also highly irritated. When Betty Crocker went this way, it was inevitable that Pillsbury would follow as they are made by the same parent company. But I had held out a foolish hope that it would not happen. Pillsbury is my mix of choice.


I just bought the last 4 cases of 18.25 oz Pillsbury White from Amazon. Someday I'll have to switch to the smaller boxes, but that day won't come any time soon. icon_evil.gif
How to Price Your Cakes
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How to Price Your Cakes
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post #14 of 83
7/13/12 at 8:19pm
Ah...what the heck.... Just think of this as a new challenge, ladies and gentlemen. We all continue to learn new cake techniques and recipes on a daily basis from the wonderful people on CakeCentral and Wilton.com.

Talk to your great-grandma and get her to tell you about the first time she ever used a box mix to prepare a cake, and she'll tell you how guilty she felt and how it tasted "different". But, guess what? A LOT of women switched from scratch to cake mix.

The history behind this Betty Crocker commercial from 1950 is that General Mills started first with a cake mix that only required water, NOT water AND eggs. However, they were so concerned that the consumer housewives wouldn't feel it was a real cake, that they took out the dried eggs and made "fresh eggs" a requirement for the mix. This gave the housewives the feeling that THEY made the cake, not Betty Crocker.
(Reference: The Cake Mix Doctor, Anne Byrn, page 20, "Cake Mix History")

1950s BETTY CROCKER SPICE CAKE MIX COMMERCIAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcrCyypYEuI
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post #15 of 83
7/14/12 at 5:54am
Thread Starter 
To Apti.............that really doesn't make me feel better. My cakes come out "ok" I suppose....guess I will have to tweak it a bit........but cupcakes were absolutely awful....and I mean AWFUL!!!!

So I guess Pillsbury, Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines got their way.....I will have to buy MORE cake mixes to increase the amount of batter I am putting in the pan AND I will have to buy more to "experiment" with..........oh yeah, so now I will have to buy more eggs and oil. Thanks alot greedy corporate America.
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