Tuesday, 30 March 2010
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In Defense of Cake Mix in a Box
I was reading book reviews for the book, The Cake Mix Doctor
, when I saw a lot of reviews bad-mouthing cake mixes from a box in general. First of all, modifying boxed cake mixes is the premise of the book. Yes, some people make their cakes from scratch, but some people don't. Can't we all just get along?
The truth is, not everybody has the time to buy all the different ingredients, measure them perfectly, and make delicious cakes from scratch. Some people may not have the skill to do so well. Others may not want to keep their pantries stocked with all the different ingredients it would take to make a simple cake or cupcakes or pay the money to do so.
Shouldn't everyone be able to enjoy some cake? Should only seasoned bakers be able to enjoy cakes at home without having to go out and buy them?
Furthermore, despite what some say, cake mix in a box can be delicious! I've been using Duncan Hines for a while, and it's very moist and tasty. Besides, it's not like I'm selling it and telling people it's my grandmother's secret recipe or anything.
Now, I do make my own icing because I like the consistency for decorating, the taste, and the price (it's cheaper than buying a lot of decorating icing), but I'm not going to say anything bad about people who buy their icings either. I actually bought a 4.5lb tub of red icing because red is a very difficult color to make without tasting bitter. Hey, some people even decorate store bought cakes. It's more expensive, but that's their prerogative.
So I say, whether they choose to buy from a grocery, bakery, or restaurant, make it from scratch or make it from a box, let them eat cake!
Do you do all of your baking from scratch or do you buy cake mix in a box?
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Comments (31)
I do both, sometimes I just feel like making cake from scratch and have fun with it! Sometimes though, a family event may come up and I totally don't feel like dealing with all my ingredients and such... BETTY CROCKER TO THE RESCUE! :)
both!
Hmm, I usually bake from a box. But I like to experiment and doctor up those mixes myself.
Since baking is such a precise art, I prefer box mixes...that way I can't screw it up!
it depends. if i want to make a fancy cake or if i'm taking it somewhere or if i'm at my parents' house, i'll make it from scratch. if i'm living in the dorms at school and it's my roommate's birthday, she is getting a box cake. no one who eats the cakes i bake seems to mind if i make it from scratch or a box. my roommate actually asked me for the recipe i used for the cake i made her for her birthday and i laughed because it was a box cake.
just curious if you have ever heard Eddie Izzard's old school comedy on "let them eat cake".... you should really look it up. SOOOOOO much laughter
I much prefer boxed mixes over cakes bought from a store (read: Costco). I do whatever I have time for. I will gladly make you a devil's food cake from scratch, but if I don't happen to have all twenty ingredients on hand, I have no problem whipping up a mix.
Both. Different cakes for different occasions. I don't think of it as a better/worse issue as much as a this/that issue. They are different, and good for different times, occasions etc. Sometimes I totally crave box cake.
I bake from scratch 4 or 5 times a week, but for my birthday, I only ever want white cake out of a box. Nothing else taste like birthday cake to me. And those ice cream cones with the cake baked inside...box for the win.
baking from scratch is the fun part. i haven't made anything (cake or otherwise) from a box for ages. things just taste better that way. plus its usually healthier (no freeze dried over processed ingredients) and you can control how much fat and what kind goes into your meal.
once you get used to making everything from scratch, pre-packaged stuff just tastes gross.
Love the let them eat cake reference. What trouble cake caused in history, lol
Let them eat cake! xD
I'd prefer to buy it from the box. This post inspired me to make brownies sometime soon.
I would love to bake from scratch one day but I am definitely not stocked up with all the right ingredients. :[
Both! Depends on how much time I have to fuss in the kitchen and what ingredients on hand. However I might gussy up a boxed mix to make it taste less "boxed." I might use butter instead of oil and milk instead of the water. I'd add a little more vanilla extract. Brownies are soooo easy to make from scratch and tastes a lot better I wouldn't bother with brownie mix but for cakes, I might still use the mix. If I need cookies in a hurry, I'll give myself a break and use the premade cookie dough. Pillsbury and Toll House are pretty good but for cookies, I would normally make it from scratch.
both. if I don't have a lot of time, or if I don't have all the ingredients to bake from scratch, i'll use a box mix hanging out in my pantry.
otherwise, i dig baking from scratch.
If I'm experimenting, I prefer using mixes, because there is more of a control factor there. Fewer variables to consider. Once I get a recipe where I like it, I can adapt it to a scratch recipe.
Scratch. boxed mixes are so freaking gross tasting.
I want to be a patry chef when I get older, so I've been baking since I was at least ten. But back then my grandmother was doing most of the work. All I would do was put stuff in the bowl to mix. But when I turned 13 I started making things myself. We did cookies home made, but never cakes. Any time I wanted cake, I had to do a box. I'm 16 now, and I've only been making cakes from scratch for about 6 months now. It took me forever to get to this point, and even still, I can only make chocolate cakes. That's it. I can't make anything else from scratch. But I'm working on it. I'm trying to shy away from box cakes though. But they can be completely amazing.
I've never made anything from scratch.
boxed cake is delicious
actually, Alton Brown has said on his show "Good Eats", that if you bake from a bax you should frost from scratch. why? boxed cakes are better generally (he gave the science, but i dont remember it), but store bought frosting usually blows (again, i dont remember the reasons he gave, but i'm sure you can find the episode on food networks website).
Mix in a box! I usually bake during exam times when I'm uber stressed out. I do not want to be precise with the measurements whereas I can just dump the mix in a bowl along with eggs and milk and tada, twenty-five minutes later, I have delicious cupcakes! :)
I don't see anything wrong with boxed cake mixes. If you know which ones are good, they're just fine. No biggie. I think they taste just fine.
For me, box mix is cool. The icing has to be home made or from some place where they know how to make icing. I can't stand the high fructose sweet that comes off the shelf. Blah!
Always from scractch! I don't think the boxed type even gives you that much of an advantage. What goes into plain (white/chocolate/etc) cake?
butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking powder or baking soda w/ acid, flavoring (vanilla, cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, etc) The proportions aren't as finicky as people think, you just get slightly different-tasting product if you change them ;) There are cakes with no eggs and cakes with no butter. It runs the whole range!
What I really don't get is boxed pancakes. When I make pancakes I add eggs, milk, sugar, salt, a little vegetable oil or butter, and flour until it feels like pancake batter. Sometimes it's thicker and sometimes it's more liquidy. I don't really care--they're tasty anyway. My roommate takes eggs, milk, and pancake mix...
Bottom line: good cooking, I think, doesn't actually take 20 ingredients, and if it does, you can usually substitute.
I've done it both ways as well. There are some cakes that almost have to be made from scratch--they just aren't the same doing it from a box! But I'm big on baking--so I usually have all the ingredients needed. Ususally it's a time-saving factor that goes into opting for boxed cakes.
But I agree with the frosting--I do it myself because I don't like the taste of bought frosting. Not dissing it, just my opinion...
Scratch most of the time. Mixes when I don't have the time and need it NOW. Jk, and also when I don't feel like washing so many things.