Alrighty then, it’s winter, I feel good so it’s baking time.
I’m just wondering if a cake from scratch is really worth my time or if I should go back to the boxed mixes.
Which do Dopers prefer, a nice cake made from scratch or a nice cake made from a boxed mix ?
The only cake I ever made successfully from scratch is a pound cake. I use box mixes with my own recipe - based on the original pudding-cake recipe from the 60s. Moist and yummerrific!!
I’ve made pineapple upside-down cake from scratch - the cake was kinda heavy. I tried a chocolate cake once - it was marginal at best. Maybe I gave up too soon. Maybe I’ll try another.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm cake…
I’m firmly on the side of baking your own. I’ve never had a boxed mix that didn’t taste like a mix-vaguely artificial and always disappointing. I won’t eat cakes from the supermarket bakery, either.
Baking is a skill and it does take some time to perfect your homemade cakes, but I think it is time well spent. I grew up on homemade baked goods. My mom never bought cakes, cookies, pies, anything. For a long time, she didn’t buy bread either, but made 6 loaves every weekend. I’m sure that has a lot to do with my preferences. I remember on my 14th birthday, she was very busy and bought a frozen Sara Lee cake. I managed not to cry in front of her, but I was horribly disappointed.
I think part of the secret to a good homemade cake is to cream the sugar with the shortening before adding the othing, at least it works for me. I have a basic cake recipe I have been playing with, adding different flavorings, fruits ect. So far they’ve been good.
For pineapple upside down cake (mix or from scratch) I use the liquid from the pineapple in my cake batter and add water or milk to make the liquid amount right.
** robinh ** My hat is off to your Mom, baking like that all the time is hard work.
Boy. I haven’t made a homemade cake in ages!
I prefer Duncan Hines. They are good.
To me, it depends on both the occasion and the item. I greatly prefer baking from scratch, but there are just times when it’s preferable or at least “okay” to use a mix.
If the cake is just “part” of the dish – if I’m layering it with pudding and whipped cream, for instance – I’m okay using a mix for the cake. The other items will make sure the dish as a whole remains moist.
But for the most part, I bake from scratch. It just tastes better, impresses the women more (okay, that’s a LARGE part of it! lol) and you can do so many different desserts from scratch than if you limit yourself to mixes. I have yet to see a mix for an Orange Liquer Cream Chocolate Pinwheel Cake. Man, did THAT one ever impress the women! Either it was very cold at the party that day, or one person in particular was especially impressed. 
Yeah, that’s pretty much MY main reason for baking from scratch. Impressing women. 
And it tastes better. Definitely.
Will you marry me ? If not will you at least share the recipe for for your Orange Liquer Cream Chocolate Pinwheel Cake with me ?
Homemade is best, but, in a pinch the boxed mix will do with some doctoring. My speciality is Mississippi Mud Cake. It takes a really long time to make, it’s hard to stir because the batter is really thick, but in the end, it’s worth it.
I am not a baking snob.
But I can tell you there is a difference from Betty Crocker box mix to From Scratch. It is also cheaper to bake from scratch when you have all the ingredients. ( which are basics in any pantry: flour, sugar, oil/shortening, butter, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, milk.)
Secondly, if I may be so bold as to state that canned frosting is singularly the most disgusting thing to taste on a cake. Too sugary. It hurts my teeth. I like butter cream frosting.
Thirdly, **Orange chocolate cream liquer pinwheel cake ** THIS sounds absolutely divine. I must have the recipe. [sub]Please **
And last, if you are using chocolate in the recipe, SKIP Hershey’s. ( Unless it’s for a potluck or baking for your kid’s class room.)** Life is too short for cheap chocolate.**(This is one of my many mantra’s. ) You CAN taste a difference by using good quality chocolate.
I keep wanting to bake a cake from scratch, but I can never find “scratch” in the stores.
OK–old joke, bad joke. Seriouly, I never did make a scratch cake that wasn’t as dry as the Sahara, until I made one from a recipe I found on the back of a box of Hershey’s Cocoa. Deep Dark Chocolate Cake, it’s called. Doesn’t even need frosting, it’s so moist and rich. Calls for one cup of boiling water–maybe that’s what makes the diff. Whatever it is, this cake is fabulous!
Usually, though, I use the box mixes. Quicker, and easier to clean up after, and they taste just fine to us! 
I don’t remember the last time I made a cake from a mix. That’s not snobbery, it’s just that the mixes here are boring and I don’t think it’s hard at all to make a cake from scratch.
When it comes to eating, though, the only cake I’ll turn down is one that was made from a just-add-water mix. Powdered eggs, eeeewwwwwww. :eek:
It appears that none of you are aware of the mad raving Genius that is the
Cake Mix Doctor.
Duncan Hines butter yellow cake mix with homemade chocolate butter cream or chocolate mousse icing. Let’s just say there are NEVER any leftovers…
I never buy packet mixes, all our cakes are homemade and the better for it.
A fabulous cookbook is the Cake Bible by Rose Ley Beranbaum. Explains why ingredients behave as they do. Her recipes look complicated but aren’t really. She’s just anal retentive about every step.
It impresses the women, and my mum would kill me if she ever caught me using a cake-inna-box.
Me too! Sounds WONDERFUL!!!
To all those who make them from scratch on a regular basis:
I’ve often wondered why people didn’t make their own mixes? You know, mix up all the dry stuff and and put in a freezer bag or something like that with instructions on what wet ingredients to add etc. Would make a great gift–especially for bridal showers and house warmings. Just an idea.
I was actually going to suggest this. It’s a one bowl cake, so it basically consists of measuring everything, throwing it into the bowl, and mixing. It doesn’t get much simpler, and it’s much better than a mix. The only mix I ever use is Dunkin Hines brownies, which really are pretty good. Everything else I make from scratch. All other mixes I’ve ever tasted tasted like, well, cake made from mix. You can tell the difference.
And Dunkin Hines frosting is disgusting.
Oh, and for the chocolate cake recipe on the Hershey’s box (and many other cakes), you can replace half of the oil with applesauce without a very discernable change in flavor.
Darn it, now I want to go bake a cake.
good evening friends.
i love to cook, but as a baker, i am a one trick pony. try the recipe, and you’ll see that the trick is pretty good though. (i apologise for the caps)
longhair’s chocolate cake recipe
2 1/2 CUPS FLOUR
2 CUPS SUGAR
1/2 CUP COCOA (HERSHEYS DRY)
2 ROUNDED TEASPOONS BAKING SODA
1 CUP SOURED MILK (ADD A TEASPOON OF VINEGAR TO THE MILK)
(NO, I DON’T KNOW WHY. THAT IS HOW MOM TAUGHT ME TO DO IT)
1 CUP VEGETABLE OIL
1/2 TEASPOON VANILLA
2 EGGS
1 CUP HOT WATER (ADD LAST)
COMBINE ALL DRY INGREDIENTS, THEN ADD LIQUID INGREDIENTS, WITH HOT WATER LAST. PUT INTO 9X12 FLOURED BAKING DISH AND BAKE AT 350 TILL A TOOTHPICK IN CENTER COMES OUT DRY, (APPROX 45 MINUTE)I cook desserts from scratch, and am especially proud of my cheesecakes.
I just finished a pumpkin cheesecake last week - I love doing those in October because of the abundance of real pumpkin… one pumpkin gets carved to be the jack o’ lantern, and one gets cut up, peeled, and cooked to become puree for cheesecake and pumpkin pie.
I’ve also created amaretto, amaretto chocolate, banana, banana chocolate, Frangelico, melon (Midori), and Grand Marnier cheesecake. (The abundance of liqueur? I used to be a bartender years ago, and I keep a stocked liquor cabinet… so when I’m in the mood to experiment in the kitchen, I often open the liquor cabinet and think, “Hmmm… what might work here?”)
I still have pumpkin puree left, and I’m doing a pumpkin bread on Saturday to serve Sunday for Bricker Jr.'s baptism party. And we have one whole pumpkin left, which will either be grist for pumpkin soup or stuffed with various shrimp/rice/lobster/sausage goodies and baked - my mother-in-law will handle that one, me being more of a dessert-type cook.
Anyway, if you have a springform pan, and want to try your hand at any of the cheesecakes listed above… let me know. I do NOT recommend trying cheesecake without a springform pan… I also STRONGLY recommend a water bath in the oven to equalize the temperature - although maybe I just have a crappy oven.