K8memphis

Oh, so close! Can you call the restaurant???? How many do you need?

Wedding Cake Base Duncan Hines white cake mix 1 cup self-rising flour 1 cup super-fine sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp of almond extract 1 cup of sour cream 3 egg whites 1 egg a little salt 2T oil 1 1/3 c. water Whisk the powders together, mix in the the other stuff. Beat for two minutes bake as usual.

Ludja, I was not very clear. I meant when I test scratch cakes and used all oil--not the best of results. When I use mixes, I use oil because the mix has all that stuff in it already. In that demo I made about my daughter's wedding cake I put in the formula I use for doctored mix. It's a popular recipe that floats on the internet. My variation uses self rising flour. I'll go find it and post it here. brb

I find my cakes don't get dry when I substitute oil for some of the butter in scratch cake recipes. I made a white cake and left out some scraps, uncovered, overnight and the next morning ate some. The scraps were still moist, except for the very edges. I can't stand dry cake either. Blech. It has taken some time for me to come up with recipes for scratch cakes that have a desirable texture in tiered applications. I'm not sure many other people would go through such measures when they can have the ease and consistency of a mix. I just don't like the taste of most mixes so I went out of my way to find (invent) scratch recipes that work. And of course I could just be deluding myself that these cakes aren't dry and tasteless, but I like to think they are good . ← I've tested and tested and tested too. I have some really nice scratch recipes. I would only use them if I baked the day before the event though. I mean I just can't push a deadline like that and stay sane. I've decorated by the light of the silvery moon when the power has gone out. We do have a generator for emergencies. It doesn't happen often of course, but it does happen. For me, it would be irresponsible to wait till the last minute to bake. Making a wedding cake is too intense an endeavor to not make the best choices for yourself and your client. I've tried so many variations. The only problem I have with using butter in the cake is it binds so tight after the cake is refrigerated, the texture doesn't relax back out and it stiffens the texture. I mean delivering a cake that has not been fully chilled is risking it big time in hot weather or bumpy roads or if there's another car on the road. Now if everybody ordered pound cake and staggered their weddings out over the week instead of all on the weekends that would sure be helpful. I tried all oil --yech --part butter still changes the texture in the frige. Doctored cake mix avoids all these issues, every time. Sure I can bake from scratch but scratch cake is not even close to my best choice for celebration cake (sculpted or tiered). Now for double the price I can bake it the day before But that's only fair, it ginormously jacks up the stakes. Talk about a pressure pit. And the decor has to be tame enough or able to be mostly done in advance. So in my opinion if scratch cake is baked more than a day or two at the most away from the date it's no wonder that by serving time it's past it's prime. I was going to do a groom's cake once with someone else once for a Saturday wedding. She said, let's get together Thursday afternoon before the wedding to plan. Ahhh, oh man, too bad, something's come up and I won't be able to help. So sorry. No wonder her husband won't let her do cakes anymore. Labor intensive, pinpoint accuracy.

← I think that's saying that shortening makes no positive flavor contribution (like butter and even margarine do), not that it has no taste at all. I can taste it, and I don't think I have a peculiar sensitivity. ← I understand what you're saying. But that's what I meant. It's flat, not flavorful, doesn't add to anything. And you're saying it subtracts, yes I get your point.

It has snowballed. Good point. Umm, I have some advice for scratch cake bakers of celebration cake. It's purely cafeteria style, take it or leave it. No worries. But consider using one cup of a good mix for one cup of flour or whatever ratio to get a bit of those particular finely honed chemicals into your brew so that scratch cakes can increase the hover quality needed to improve texture and fluff and most importantly that holding quality necessary to have several days in which to birth the baby. Scratch cakes take a beating at weddings. If they are not dense or rubbery or egg whitey they are invariably dry. Simple syrup does not mask dry scratch cake. Good scratch cake needs to just about be baked the day before because the cat is out of the bag. There may yet be debate about fluffy texture preferences but nobody likes dry. Not all of them, but way too many.

I pretty much feel the same way, I prefer enrobed more than molded although whichever kind is most readily available overrides any preconceived notions But I like cleverly molded chocolates that match the theme for events like weddings, valentines stuff like that for a specific celebration. I always like a box of pretty sea shells, classics. But truly the enrobed or hand modeled are the most intriguing. The boxes of chocolates with all the different kinds perplex me even if they include a road map. I am forced take one tiny bite out of each chocolate in the box to see which ones I like first. My husband got over his horror of my method long ago. It's a cup-bearer type duty I take very seriously.

If you posted any stray photos of your fine establishments that would be a too cool bonus within the challenge. Just a thought...

from Ochef

No! come back it was just getting good! No I got it. You contractor showed up three days in a row? That's incredibly unexpected for a contractor. No offense to any good contractors

Actually plain shortening has no taste. It has other properties but the taste is flat which is why it's useful in some applications.

Of course Kiddle misses Mom's cooking. Me too, gonna get me some pate. Shortening has a place in baking but maybe not for long with all the trans fat controversy going on. But I like to use shortening in some cookies like snickerdoodles and in my tea-ring dough because the filling is so rich and caramelly. But I don't use shortening in cake. I do use it in icing that I would use to make decorations out of. Like piping roses or something like that. Just depends although I do use butter for that icing also. Umm, but Wilton is using the smelly stuff in their fondant. It's horridly awful. However I do not detect it in the cake mix I use. Now when I worked for Seessel's here in Memphis their cakes tasted horrible without icing. So I can detect the taste and the smell. Every cake mix probably has emulsifiers but not all of them stink with it.

I don’t see that much heat or drama on the thread regarding people’s opinion on others who want to use a cake mix. Why keep insisting to people that prefer scratch cakes based on taste, texture, mouthfeel or other reasons that there is no difference between scratch and mix cakes? ← Yes, no in general in the country, box or scratch is more polarizing than fois gras or no fois gras, or even the trans fat debate. I am not insisiting that there is no difference in scratch or mix. I'm asking why is there such a polarity. There is a big difference between the two and unless one is a very good cake baker, one cannot duplicate the qualities of a mix with scratch ingredients. Great cake can be made. But so-o many wedding cakes taste like so much sweetened egg white poo. The learning curve is high to make great scratch cake that performs right for weddings.

Fear is a good word for it too. I've worked for people that hide cake mix for fear a customer will see it and...and then what? Good points. But I bet there was triggering incident somewhere. Or cake mix became the poster boy for lazy housewifing or something like that. Umm, Mrs. O'Learys cow kicked open a box and the whole thing caught on fire. Something happened.

I guess if the assumption is that the cake is a lesser component to the finished dish than the icing and decoration then you could justify using just about anything. ←

I buy the big box of Costco wrap 3000 feet x 12 inches with the slidey cutter thing. It lasts for years. It's under ten bucks. Love it. I double wrap stuff. Umm, a great topper to use for larger sized bowls (as in bowls of icing or whatever) is cheap disposable shower caps from the dollar store. You can get the extra large size to go over the five gallon bucket size of containers. Or a big bowl. It helps a layer of saran wrap to stay put too. That elastic around there.

Good point. I sweated wrong three times a week for a year. My bad. ← Isn't muscle mass heavier than fat? Seems I remember that from son's lifting in high school and college. ← Well yeah, but 185 to 199 is far outside the body mass index for me at 5'8". I think like 164 is the max. Something like that.

I agree with you. You don't have to use a mix. But those are the reasons for the times when I do use a mix. It works wonderfully. And in particular for white cake which is the most requested flavor in this part of the world. My rhetoric question is, why the heat & drama about cake mix (not to Darcie B, just in general) Honestly, to me, the cake is canvas for the icings and fillings and splashes and especially the decor. The cake has to be good but it's actually the component on the bottom of the list for the wow factor of the cake. If it's crummy, that's a problem. If it's ok, I can make it sing high notes. The fact that the cake is the focal point of the reception dynamic and the focal point of the food and the fulfillment of traditon is overwhelming compared to the mixing methods. Then spatula on to that some butter rich icings and sharp snappy fillings. The cake is a vehicle for the rest of the procession. So I'd love to hear the anthropology of our cake cliqueing about this subject. How it got to be so dramatic. But a continuing clean clear discussion without the drama. That reveals the basis of the drama. Like Patrick said earlier in this discussion, the ingredients we use in scratch cakes are all chemicals. We have easy common names for them like flour and sugar but they are as highly refined as the maligned mixes.

Good point. I sweated wrong three times a week for a year. My bad.

Making a tier cake, which has always been my point of reference in this discussion, takes more consideration than the choice of ingredients, a whirl in the mixer bowl and a few minutes in the oven. It must fit with your flow. It need to be easy enough to not consume you in planning and execution. It's a small fraction of the work. It needs to handle and torte well. It needs to be like a helicopter able to hover in quality and performance at every stage of preparation. It needs to exist several days in advance of the event in the frige, or in the freezer and still be great tasting with great texture. Or hold at room temp and still be great. Needs to take icing well. Needs to hold up under fondant. Needs to sit pretty while it's decorated. Releasing the least amount of gas so it stays the same as long as possible. Needs to travel well. Needs to slice and serve with pinpoint accuracy and freshness. No glopping, no excess of crumbs, no crumbling. It needs to not go stale and not grow a crust while sitting out on the plate for an hour or more. You sweet talker Betty Crocker! Actually I use Duncan Hines but Betty has a pithier little saying there. Sure anybody can toss a sweetened flour mixture into the oven, but there's just a little more to it than that.

For frosting, what about just a basic one? Whip butter and confectioners sugar with a bit of milk and splash of vanilla - ta-da! Very easy, top with sprinkles, and you're done. Growing up in Canada, that was the only kind of frosting I knew existed, so I bet it will be a nice familiar flavor for your group. ← Yes and you could use a heart shaped piece of paper to put over each one to shape a heart of the sprinkles then remove the paper. Either use the heart on top of an uniced cupcake & the sprinkles will adhere (might need to miosten with a quick brush of simple syrup) or use the piece of paper the heart was cut out of. 'Course if this is getting too complik8ed consider the source. Still could be done the day before. 50 could be fast & easy peasy. Or this is also so easy if you have the stuff. Umm you need a brand new clean spray bottle. I get them at the drug store like the travel size. Or they sell edible color spray too. But you can lay a piece of lace on top of the cupcake, spray & remove the lace. Viola a lace cupcake. Wouldn't they (your diners) be stoked?? Umm, I use a bit of alcohol in with the food color. I use airbrush color. But probaly any color with the alcohol will work. Like lemon extract has high alcohol content. I mean a coupla squirts and you've got a designer cupcake. Iced or not. You do want a smooth surface though. Just some cupcake thoughts for your seniors....

I think the exact cost to cost comparison has to factor in the risk of flops when you do scratch. You can hit it on the money each time with a mix. You can consider the cost of all the testing too. edited to say: and the cost factor of a 14" cake flop is huge not to mention how it throws you off your game. The security of using mixes is worth risking the stigma, cake clique issues. You are 'in the shoot' the roller coaster has left the gate, the game is on and tossing out cake is upsetting. And it upsets the flow. I am referencing tier cakes and high end work. There's so much more to it than creating the canvas on which you will paint.

I agree with you on this one. I'm pretty sure "natural flavor" in the ingredients list means "crack." If this change was due to health issues, then you are illustrating one of Pollan's main points exceptionally well. I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to read to the end of the article. If you have more time, you can read that he is not maligning a single food, but is concerned about our general food lifestyle and its resulting health, social, and economic effects. He even argues that studies about single foods and nutrients are part of the overall problem. I thought this article was a pretty balanced look at the different issues with food science, politics, and the way we eat. Edited for spellage. ← Interesting. Every step I take every move I make. I'm only a committe of one but still...it feels a little stalk-y around here. Before I lost 50 pounds a coupla years ago, I exercised 45 minutes a day, three times a week. I was toned I was beautiful. I was way over my body mass index and stayed there like a plump pretty and well toned rock. I lost not one ounce not one single ounce doing this religiously. I exercised for months and months. I am nothing if I am not anal. I was doing a The Firm routine with weights. No one was more dumbfounded than I was. I'm 55. I weighed 199 at my highest usually around 185 but I hit it up big for the holidays 'cause we had planned the diet thing to correspond with a spring wedding in the family. To my utter shock and amazement I lost 40 pounds from January to April by correcting my diet. I'm not a 'dieter', I'm a lifelong baker because I love baked goods. During this time I did not work out. Too tired. Then I started gaining again so I went back on it and lost 10 pounds for a total of 50 lost. If I stray off the proscribed eating very much I gain weight. I do need to incorporate the exercise more back into it so hopefully I can cheat more But it's so interesting that you said 45 minutes of weights. Dude, it did not work and believe me, I was pissed. It's the whole insulin thing and glycemic index and the being 50. And eating like a baker would eat for all my years. I mean I started baking in my single digit years. sniff

So for this reason, and because I blew it at my daughter's wedding, (hey I've only been doing this 30 years) umm, I'm offering a new detail. I'm going to supply a small box with a note attached to put in a coupla slices of cake for the couple to have take-out, a pre-arranged doggy bag for bride & groom. And further instruct for someone to place it in the getaway car. I mean in a lot of cases and if the b&g were cool, the baker could even accomplish this with (nice) cake scraps and pre-fill the box. Caterers should always be doing this for them anyway. You know it's common to not be able to even remember the day much less enjoy the eats. Just a thought....