Do People Not Like Dense Cakes?????
Decorating By missyjo30 Updated 27 Jun 2006 , 3:44am by MrsMissey
I make 99% of my cakes from scratch and I noticed that people would comment that it was "very dense"???...Is this bad????? I know I need to work on the moisture level (just seems like scratch cakes are not as moist and fluffy as box mixes).
I just can't figure out if people prefer the moister fluffier cake as opposed to the dense heavier cakes. It seems to me more people prefer box dr.'ed cakes.
What has everyone else had the best "taste" with????....
I think it's just that most people are used to the taste/texture of cake mix cake. It's a shame that hardly anyone makes cakes (or anything else) from scratch anymore. I never new the difference between boxed cake and scratch until I tasted a friend's homemade pound cake. I think people tend to prefer what they are accustomed to. I love a dense cake, but it has to be dense and moist for my taste; like it has pudding in it. I really don't care for the taste of any grocery store cakes anymore.
I just use regular box mixes & not doctored either! I get rave reviews from my customers.
Most people in this day and age do not like the mouth feel of a scratch cake. They are never going to have the moistness and texture of a cake that has a mix as a base. I do not even bake them anymore - people just do not care for them as much as they do the doctored mixes. I am more than happy to make my cakes from a doctored mix - very predictable and always raved about....and the customer is always happy.
There are a few cakes I still make from scratch - red cake, carrot cake. granny cake and pina colada cake - the rest are from my best friend Duncan Hines.
I speak for myself when I say that I cannot blinkin' stand cake mixes. I haven't had one yet that has any flavor. I stick to Rose Beranbaum's butter cakes, and periodically test cakes from other people, other recipes. If I feel it needs to be more moist, I use a sugar syrup. But I do not use cake mixes. Ever. My DH feels the same way. I've had doctored cake mixes that are ok, but by and large, homemade is the way to go. One of my wedding cakes was made for someone I work with, and they were making a small speech right before the cake was cut, and after the bride(my colleague) fed it to the groom, he said into the mike "This is good cake". So I feel, right or wrong, that I will always use scratch cakes.
Just my opinion.....
IMO - sponge cakes are worse about the texture issue than a regular scratch cake. I will eat most any kind of cakes, (scratch, mix, anything but a grocery store one!!) but I do not care for the texture of a sponge cake at all. You should bake one so you know what it is like - see if you like it yourself.
If you are stuck on baking from scratch ~ you can use the simple syrup to help moisten them up, a lot of the scratch bakers do that and it is supposed to help with that issue. (along with freezing them - which I do not do either)
It will be trial and error for you. Just keep trying recipes that you have heard good reviews on and see how well you like them yourself....hopefully you will find some that will be what you are looking for.
I use cake mixes to, sometimes Dr. sometimes not, just depends on who it's for or what it's for. I'm not doing it professionally or running a bakery etc, so unless someone request it homemade from scratch, I'm going with what saves time and money!! 
And everyone I've ever done a cake for loves my cakes, I've never had anyone complain about them 
I've heard that Europeans care more for the scratch taste or for the denser taste and that Americans prefer the mix taste -- because that's what they've grown accustomed to. A lovely genois will taste too dry and/or dense to most people's taste. I've tried a couple of times to make a scratch chocolate cake, and I've always hated the results -- not chocolaty enough, not dark enough in color -- I know I'm no expert, and I've got a lot of practicing to do, and I would love to someday have that great scratch recipe that I and everyone can rave about. Until then, I'm sticking with Duncan Hines.
Sarah
I've noticed that on my chocolate cake too. It has a great flavor, but the moisture is not there.
I made some simple syrup and i brushed it on my strawberry cake and it seemed like it only made the top 1/4 in or so moist. anyway....
I may try the chocolate cake mix, give it a shot!!
Yeah I got another star!!!
My sister tasted one of my homemade cakes. She said that it tasted funny. I figured it out that it was cause she wasn't used to homemade cakes. It made me kind of disgusted. When people think homemade cake is odd, we have a problem. I have only made one cake mix, it was very gross. No matter what texture a cake has, taste trumps it. Also, think about how many ingredients a cake mix has that you don't know what they are or how to say them. Just things that aren't natural.
The most popular brands of cake mixes are actually catering to people's tastes. It might seem like those of us who eat cakes from a mix have had our taste buds altered 
so that we prefer mix over scratch. It's really the other way around. The companies who make the mixes have spent huge amounts of $$$ trying to figure out exactly what the majority want cake to taste like. They make the mix to match that. This doesn't at all mean dense is bad. Many who bake from a mix go through extra steps to make a mix cake more dense...extra egg, pudding, extra butter or oil, etc. Saying a cake is "very dense" might be considered a compliment to some 
You are right - taste trumps.....and in my business, the mixes win hands down. IF my customers wanted scratch cakes, I would make them. They do not want them, do not like them. That is fine with me - I prefer making the ones from a mix anyways - they are not nearly as finicky.
I will try to do whatever the recipient wnats, but my "guinea pigs" get it all...they've liked most everything. Occasionally a doctored DH has been too lemony or too chocolate-y. I would never do a carrot cake or a red velvet from a mix...but I wouldn't use premade refrigerated pie shells, either!
Here's a question for you, Quadcrew... could you please tell me what a granny cake is????? I apologize ahead for my ignorance!!! Got to get in gear for the 4th of July goodies I'll be making...teaching VBS next week will sure cut my time down! Thanks - PAT
Granny Cake - one of my favorite cakes from scratch! (and one of my Gramma's recipes!)
Here is the recipe:
2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 #2 can crushed pineapple in juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups chopped nuts (pecans is what I use)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaorated milk)
1/2 cup sugar (for the topping)
1 stick of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix flour, sugar, soda and salt - add eggs, and pineapple with juice and mix well. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the top with the brown sugar and nuts. Bake at 350 for 35 - 45 minutes. After cake has baked for 25 minutes start making the topping:
Mix 1 cup of the sweetened condensed milk/ 1/2 cup sugar, 1 stick of butter and the vanilla. Boil 5 minutes over med. heat - stirring constantly. Pour the topping over the the cake immediately after removing it from the oven.
pound cakes are supposed to be dense, but other cakes aren't. Butter cakes are rich and light, sponge is VERY light textured. ALL of them should be moist. I bake from scratch and I don't think there is any cake mix out there that tastes better than my cakes. I'm biased, but my friends aren't - and they agree. Cake mixes can taste yummy, but I taste an aftertaste in most of them that I don't get in my cakes - I tend to think it is the preservatives and chemicals they use in the mixes to give them a long shelf life.
I get an off taste from a cake that has been frozen - I have friends that did not beleive it, so they "tested" me on it, and I was right every time - I could pick that frozen cake out every time.
I can taste off flavors if the mix is a cheapo one, the name brand ones don't have it though.
You're lucky your scratch cakes turn out so well - I don't know of many folks that have that luck with them (me included!)
I've never had anyone complain about my scratch cakes being dry either. I use a lot of Martha Stewart, Fannie Farmer, & Cooking Light recipes, and usually have very good results.
My "old standby" chocolate cake is a HUGE hit everytime I make it, and it's just one I got from a magazine ad for Hershey's cocoa powder. I think it's on their website too, but I'm not sure. It's super-easy, and very dark & moist (uses oil instead of butter too, in addition to using cocoa powder instead of solid chocolate).
missyjo30--
brush your cakes with a sugar syrup and it will help make them more moist. 1 cup water, 1 cup suar--heat until sugar is dissolved. You can add any flavoring or liquer here. Brush on your cakes or put in a spray bottle and spritz all over the cake and let it absorb before frosting.
My sister's wedding cake was TOO DENSE (I was only 12 and therefore didn't make it) It was dry and crumbly and solid, my brother said it was like eating cake jerky. Now that I decorate cakes I make some very dense cakes (dr'd cake mix) that my family loves. I don't think you have to worry about someone saying it's very dense (that's my personal preference) I think that the adjective's you want to avoid are dry, tasteless, etc.
I think it depends on people's preferrences..Some like dense and some like airy.. Cake mixes are not an evil thing..It was invented for a reason, I use both, mix and scratch.. I am not a snub of either one. My nose is not that high !!! I like both of them. I have an open mind about cakes.
Isn't that why we are all here ? in this website ?
what are you trying to say? I don't use any kinds of mixes, of anything, ever. I just wouldn't know how. I just think it is better to use fresh foods rather than mixes (whether cake or mac and cheese or whatever). I'm not sure why thyou would think that would mean I don't have an open mind.
Personally I think mixes ARE evil. But whatever works for people is fine by me - I wouldn't use them, but I don't care if other people do.
I get all kinds of compliments on my cakes. Everyone tells me they are so "light and fluffy", and they love the taste. They rave about my cakes. Every time I do a repeat customer, I get "you outdid yourself this time, it's so delicious."
Yep, I use mixes, and haven't doctored one yet. Why mess with what works?
what are you trying to say? I don't use any kinds of mixes, of anything, ever. I just wouldn't know how. I just think it is better to use fresh foods rather than mixes (whether cake or mac and cheese or whatever). I'm not sure why thyou would think that would mean I don't have an open mind.
Personally I think mixes ARE evil. But whatever works for people is fine by me - I wouldn't use them, but I don't care if other people do.
Boy, EVIL is a strong word to use...
Personally, I put out box cakes with scratch fillings. I like the box mixes because they're reliable and sturdy, and everyone loves them. I doctor a bit, but not much. My fillings, however, are purely scratch (no puddings or cornstarch either.) But, in the end, I do what tastes best to me. And, I think that's what we all do ultimately because we don't want our names associated with something WE think tastes bad. If you think mixes don't taste good then that's your opinion, but to call them evil is to turn up your nose at the fine and hard work that so many on this site put into their creations.
I'm sure that your cakes are delicious, but I know that mine are too. Can't we have room for both in this business? Sarah
I grew up eating scratch cakes all the time. For birthdays and specials occ. my mom went to a bakery. When I think of b-day cake I think mix cake. I have used both and cake mix extender- reminds me of scratch. just depends on what the customer wants or what is going to be done with it stacked or 3-D or whatever.
Nothing beats a scratch cake in taste and texture. If you find a scratch cake dry, then you need to hone your baking skills or find a better recipe. If you think a mix is better, then you have, over the years, become accustomed to that chemical aftertaste and this has become your basis or standard for all cakes, which personally, I find disturbing. I call it the Starbucks syndrome, where people judge other coffees by Starbuck's standards. Mind you, this is the same place that makes espresso not from the traditional espresso machine, but a pump that squirts liquid goop from a canister.
In a scratch cake, the moisture is coming from the pure ingredients, butter, milk, flour, etc, not artificial flavors, milk powders, homogenized oils and who knows what else. Better texture in mixes? Most of them are over-loaded with sugar. Sugar tenderizes the crumb, which causes it to literally fall apart in your mouth. I want a cake with a tooth that does not dissolve into air.
Cook's Illustrated did a test on mixes vs. scratch cake. Testers preferred the scratch hands down.
Here is another scathing report by Gourmet magazine on mixes;
http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/kitchen_notebook/cake
"Either the ingredients in cake mixes or our taste buds have changed," said executive food editor Zanne Stewart, "because most of these are awful."
Yep, I use mixes, and haven't doctored one yet. Why mess with what works?[/quote]
I like to Dr mine because the texture becomes a little firmer. (Have you ever noticed how strawberry flavoured cake are too fluffy?) I use Dream Whip, sour cream, and pudding mix to doctor them up. I also find that my cakes will rise higher. I use this recipe and it fills my 12X18 pan beautifully.
Two DH mixes
1 small box pudding
1 cup sour cream
1 cup oil
1 cup liquid (milk, water, juice, coffee, etc)
8 eggs
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients, then pour wet on to dry and mix.
Its a winner everytime. It is also very versatile. For instance, I just made a shower cake that is banana cream flavoured. I used yellow cake mix and half a pkg. of banana cream pudding mix to flavor the cake. I cut the recipe in half to fill two nine inch rounds. I filled the cake with the leftover pudding mix with a spash of milk, mixed with 1 vanilla pudding snack cup.
I love the height I get from this recipe. You can't get that from a mix on its own. And everyone loves it!
Just my .02,
Kat
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