I have really been trying to find a homemade version of a cake mix. I think I have finally given up and decided that sometimes cake mixes just work best.
I have now tried several different cake mix recipes that are supposed to be copy cats of a mix like Duncan Hines. I found the recipes online and all were reviewed well. I don’t agree. They are not like a Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker cake mix cake. They just aren’t. Yes, they are good, but they are not a cake mix cake.
The texture is just all wrong. They fall apart and are much dryer then a mix cake. I tried adjusting things and baked them less, but the results still were not the same. It just is not the same.
I rarely use a cake mix. I use them in my cake mix cookies and for a few other cakes that I doctor up to make them better. The homemade mix just won’t work for these things. It just isn’t close enough.
Yes, I can make a good chocolate cake, but sometimes I am just going to break down and buy an unhealthy, preservative filled cake mix.
What do you think? Has anyone else had success trying a homemade version of a cake mix and have it turn out like a cake mix would? Have you found something that works for you? Something that is just truly just like a cake mix?
I haven’t figured it out either. Pioneer Woman seems to have a good one — but you’re right, they just taste different. And, I LOVE a good Betty Crocker cake, warm right out of the oven, no frosting. That’s been my birthday “treat” ever since I was litle. I’m with you — every once and a while, I’m willing to splurge until I find a recipe that will work.
I found a recipe online around Christmas and it is now our favorite:
https://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/mix-in-the-pan-chocolate-cake/
VERY YUMMY!
I don’t have a recipe either, but I DO like cake mixes. And I feel the same way about Brownies. Homemade ones aren’t as good as the mix brownies to me.
Well, I can’t say I know a good homemade cake mix. But…have you read “The Cake Mix Doctor” cookbook? It uses cake mixes, but adds other ingredients so the cakes taste more homemade. I know…defeats the purpose, BUT…the cakes taste very good. I’ve made several different cakes out of the book, and my family loved them.
Cake mixes contain emulsifiers (so?), and a couple of other ingredients that help the cake rise and keep it moist, even after a few days on the counter. I’m not sure they can be duplicated by a home baker.
Kimberly, I love the Cake Mix Dr cookbook. But I am/was trying to stay away from packaged stuff. 🙂 I agree I just don’t think we can duplicate it at home. So I think I will make an exception and use them.
I do have a basic cookie recipe where I switch out the ingredients, but no cake recipe. But April’s Southern Living magazine has a master mix where you add or subtract an ingredient to make different kinds of cakes and match them up with different frostings. It looked great! Try their website, maybe?
I wonder if you may need to do something like sift the mix recipe you have a few times to get a really tender crumb…
What I hate is that the companies that make the cake mixes are now making them in 16.5 oz size instead of 18.25 to 18.5 oz.
I haven’t tried the Duncan Hines copy cat white cake mix from scratch yet, but I tend to agree with you. There is just something about the light airy texture you get with a box mix that you can’t get with homemade. Is it the preservatives that give it that light, airy texture, supposedly that is the only difference. I even use cake flour and still the cake is fairly dense, so what gives? If you find a recipe from scratch that has the light airy texture, I would should like to get a copy.
Some of the problems with homemade can be solved by better flour…no gold metal or pillsbury for me I use Ardent Mills flour that can be purchased on Amazon now but before I got it at Costco but they have eliminated a number of products including the Ultra grain flour that I use to buy there. So I will not use a flour that doesn’t clump in your hand as most grocery store brands have sold off the wheat germ to increase shelf life. But that oil in wheat germ carries the flavor in baked goods I used to mill my own flour but it is messy but flavor is what gives my baked goods that edge..at Sunday social hour my cake cakes take about 2 mins to disappear… This is a health issue as well. Using processed flours is cheap but it’s using a product that is unbalanced between omega 3’s ( wheat germ) and Omega 6’s causing inflammation in the body leading to diabetes and heart dx…..Lynn try it see if the recipes for homemade cake mix isn’t better with better flour I make a 1949 cookbook recipe for yellow cake and multiply the ingredients by 5 an store it in a jar I got when buying 4 gals of pickles for a church outing, I add the wet ingredients when ready to bake cupcakes for the ckids at church thus cutting prep time…I feel good about giving them a healthy sweet that they love.