Cake Mixes - Homemade Vs Store Bought

[Mama Mangia]

What your preference with cake mixes, cookie mixes, baking mixes, frosting mixes, brownie mixes, etc?

I prefer to make my own baking mixes, cake mixes, pie crust mix, hot chocolate, etc. There are many store-bought mixes that I cannot use - it must be all the preservatives in them that make me very sick. Because of that I have had to make all my own mixes. Keeps me busy and out of trouble I guess - LOL!

[Mrs. Chipotle]

I generally bake everything from scratch, including bread. I have always LOVED to bake.

However, the one exception is brownies. I have yet to find a recipe that I like as well as the Duncan Hines mix. Don't know what that is about, but oh well. It's tasty, so I eat them and shut up.

[Traciray]

In a perfect world I would make all my cake/brownie mixes but working 32 hours a week and being a mom to very active almost two year old I find myself using pre-made mixes more and more.

I do take a page from my Mom, who doesn't enjoy baking like I do and always uses box mixes. She always add a few extra ingredients to the mixes and everyone raves about her cakes.

But I do love baking, the last thing I made from scratch was some vanilla cupcakes w/super shock pink icing

[r8rpwr]

I get a lot of satisfaction out of baking from scratch. I grew up baking and have always loved it, and so I very rarely use any store bought mixes.

However, I'm not above doing so in a pinch, since I am human after all....

[Kaabi]

I'm sure it is fun baking from scratch, when I was young I loved watching my mom do it, but I'll always be a store-bought man myself.

[TexasRose]

Has anyone made the famous Diet Coke cake? (actually, I think it works with any diet drink). The one with one package of store cake mix and one can of Diet Coke?

I haven't made it, but I have eaten it and it's not half bad. I need to try it soon. One of my friends recently made it with spice cake mix and diet Sprite. She said it tasted like gingerbread.

[alice.b.toklas]

I don't think there is anything in the box that you can't make yourself for 10% of the cost. The box the cake mix comes in costs more than the ingredients. Cakes are quite simple recipes consisting of sugar, flour, butter, eggs, baking power, perhaps cocoa, and a flavor like vanilla extract or lemon extract. The cost of the sugar, flour, and baking powder is almost zero, and you'd need to add the eggs, milk, and butter anyway.

My point would be that if you can follow a recipe, make it yourself. If you can't, buy the box that's been measured for you.

[TexasRose]

I once saw a website that was selling a piecrust mix.

"Don't be afraid of making piecrusts anymore! Just add shortening and water!"

I was like, "So, it's a bag of flour?" LOL

[Mama Mangia]

It's do much healthier and so much cheaper to make it yourself. I make all my own mixes, spice blends, etc. I started doing it years ago and I really enjoy it. Some of my mixes go into gallon containers, some go into ziplock bags, spice blends go into jars of various sizes, homemade salad dressing (dry) mixes go into small ziplock bags, etc. I go through a lot of labels!



Is this the diet soda cake recipe you used?

1 box of any cake mix.. dry
1 - 12 oz. can of diet soda. . any flavor
2 egg whites...doesn't matter if you beat the egg whites or not first

Mix these 3 ingredients together in a bowl
in all recipes unless stated otherwise
Bake in a 9 x12 Cake pan.
Bake at 350 degrees ...for what ever box calls for

Variations using different cakes and soda:
1 box of Butter Cream Cake mix
1-12 oz. Can of Diet Seven Up Wild Berry Plus
Blueberries ... fresh... or a 16 oz. bag of frozen blueberries.
. .or mixed frozen berries
this one you
Pre Heat oven at 350 degrees
Lightly spray pan with butter cooking spray. ...
Layer ingredients:
1st layer of Berries..than-Cake Mix... Diet Mixed Berry 7-up Plus
It's just like making what is called Dump cake!

Bake for about 35 minutes or until top is golden brown!
Serve hot or cold! Oh this is good you could
(while still hot) add a scoop of ice cream!!

or try
1 can of Diet cream soda . . excellent addition to any flavor cake mix -
vanilly tasting

or
Chocolate Cake mix...1- Diet Root Beer ... 2 beaten egg whites
So - moist ..yummy..

or

Chocolate Fudge Cake mix with pudding in the mix ..
1-12 oz. Diet Dr. Pepper
Add a few chopped walnuts... gives a cherry yet nutty flavor

No reason not to make cup cakes out of these

Don't use oil or the whole eggs in a mix again unless it is on these recipes
It's better without them! However, beating the eggs takes out the air and makes it lighter and fluffier.

[cinnamon]

I rarely make anything out of the box, and almost always start from scratch except for the staples like bread, pasta, canned tomatoes, etc. Occasionally I might cheat and buy a frozen pizza to have on hand for emergency lunches for guests.

If you think about something like Bisquick, which isn't anything more than flour with a baking soda,it doesn't make sense to pay 4 times as much for something that simple just because it appears easier. It's absolutely simple to add a 1/2 tbsp of baking powder to 2 cups of flour.