Julie Bove wrote:
> Boron Elgar wrote:
>> On Sun, 13 Mar 2011 12:00:19 -0800, Mark Thorson >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> This web site makes the bold claim that most home bakers
>>> cannot make a cake from scratch better than from a boxed
>>> cake mix.
>>>
>>> http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/cake.html
>>>
>>> His reasons are that the ingredients are better measured,
>>> and they use ingredients that you can't get.
>>>
>>> He also says that making certain changes to the recipe
>>> on the box results in even better cakes. He cites a
>>> book, _The_Cake_Mix_Doctor_, which agrees with him and
>>> describes some of these methods.
>>>
>>> Most of his page describes the experiments he did to
>>> verify the tips in that book, and to compare all of the
>>> boxed cake mixes he could get his hands on. Most of
>>> the tips didn't pan out, but the modifications he
>>> developed worked very well.
>>>
>>> I think this will come as a surprise to many bakers,
>>> that making a cake from a box mix gives a better result
>>> than most bakers can achieve from scratch with butter, etc.
>> As a market researcher of 35 years' experience, I say hooey to the
>> broad conclusions.
>>
>> The major flaw is that most folks were raised on mix cakes - doctored
>> or otherwise - and that sort of taste and texture is what gets
>> established as the gold standard in the mind of these beholders. Same
>> reason that McD's usually wins in French fry contests.
>
> I actually know quite a few people who say they prefer the type of bakery
> icing that has Crisco in it. Blech!
>
>
Oh, ick! I'd rather have no cake.

--
Jean B.