Do you bake from scratch or right out of the box?

[Christine]

Brownies from a box (Ghiradelli fan also).

Cake: neither!! I used to do box mixes; however, I don't know what they have done to the flavorings because they now taste really fake to me. And they get an odd texture after a day. I will use a box if I am making a cake that has "mix ins" or additions to the batter. That seems to cut the fakeness out of it.

I don't do scratch cakes either because I haven't had much success, nor do I have a lot of time. So, if I really want a cake, I will generally go to a bakery or I will go to a cupcake shop.

I don't make cookies but as a cookie eater, I will say that scratch cookies are far superior. However, Trader Joe's carries a ginger spice cookie dough during the holidays that's fabulous.

 

[tigercat]

I make things from scratch as I use spelt flour instead of wheat flour. I do have a few box's of cake mixes in the pantry that are dairy free for my grandkids, but I usually just use rice dream as the milk substitution. I have been thinking of doing a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. My dh is away right now though so I will wait until he is home to make it as my 2 ds won't eat it.
tigercat

 

[shortbun]

Everyone raves about my Ghirardelli brownies - best box mix ever!

yep. We make double batches because 1 box never is enough!
My DH makes THE most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever!!

 

[crz4mm2]

I am Gluten Free, so have to do most from scratch. There are some mixes available, but they are expensive and not always very good.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I usually cook from scratch.
Especially with all the lovely and wonderful ingredients in processed foods these days, that I do not want to put in my body.

The other day, I baked a chocolate cake recipe. It had been featured on Yahoo. It sounded so WONDERFUL!!! Tons of butter, sugar, cocoa, sour cream, etc.... I was hoping for that WOW factor.

It came out okay...
But, I mean, after all those expensive ingredients and a LOT of effort, I am sure that there are some boxed mixes that would have been almost as good.

Maybe the culinary gods weren't in my favor that day!!!

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I have a cookbook called The Cake Doctor. It's all recipes made from box mixes-I bake the Darn Good Chocolate Cake all the time and everyone loves it and thinks I slave over it. I tell them it's from a mix and they can't believe it.

When I'm just making a mix from a box for a regular cake I always add a couple of dashes of both butter extract and almond extract. It takes away the slightly "industrial" taste.

The only thing I can't get my family to go for are homemade frostings. I have a chocolate frosting that is wonderful, but they just want it out of a can.

 

[BearcatsFan]

Would one of you who does brownies from scratch kindly post a recipe? I've been looking for a while now and keep resorting back to box mix because I can't seem to find a really good one.

As for myself, I make a lot from scratch. Chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, muffins, pies, gingerbread at Christmas, etc. I've never tackled a cake - for some reason that intimidates me.

 

[java]

Mostly scratch. But I do sometimes use box cake mix but homemade frosting. It's just so much better than the canned junk IMHO.my favorite vanilla recipe is
Billy's Bakery NYC vanilla buttercream recipe. It's very rich but that's how I like my frosting. And my men

 

[BearcatsFan]

Mostly scratch. But I do sometimes use box cake mix but homemade frosting. It's just so much better than the canned junk IMHO.my favorite vanilla recipe is
Billy's Bakery NYC vanilla buttercream recipe. It's very rich but that's how I like my frosting. And my men

 

[PaulaSB12]

I started making cake from mixes but have gone back to baking from scratch, I just prefer it. Last thing I made was some lemon cupcakes with blackberry buttercream icing, the eggs wasn't so much room temperature as bum temperature as it came straight from the bum of the hen that laid it (got a peck for pinching it as well!!!!!!)

 

[jam217]

Another one who does everything including icing from scratch except brownies -- Ghiradelli's dark chocolate are the best. I've tried the other Ghiradelli flavors and aren't fond of them. My icing recipe is from an old Wilton cake decorating book that gets cooked on the stove. Everyone loves it.

 

[mhsjax]

Would one of you who does brownies from scratch kindly post a recipe? I've been looking for a while now and keep resorting back to box mix because I can't seem to find a really good one.

As for myself, I make a lot from scratch. Chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, muffins, pies, gingerbread at Christmas, etc. I've never tackled a cake - for some reason that intimidates me.

If you want a Chocolate cake, use the Best ever recipe on the Hershey cocoa can. My 12 year old did it by herself, it is fantastic.

 

[mhsjax]

Since we are talking about baking. Does anyone here have a recipe for chocolate fudge icing. My mom made this when I was growing up. I think she cooked it and then when you frosted the cake it literally turned to a fudge consistency and it tasted like chocolate fudge but it was an icing. She tried for weeks to find it for me before she passed away and no one in my family has it either, we are all desperate for it. HELP. I know someone out there has something similar. Pretty Please.

 

[bellebud]

Everyone raves about my Ghirardelli brownies - best box mix ever!

yep! same here.

My mom tried some I had made, and said she normally doesn't like brownies at all, but she LOVED these (Ghirardelli).

 

[Poohforyou]

Everyone raves about my Ghirardelli brownies - best box mix ever!

Those are the best, aren't they. Trader Joe's truffle brownies are great as well.

I do both scratch and box. It just depends on what the item is for. Church Christmas bazaar everything is from scratch. Class party at school most likely from a box.

 

[scrapquitler]

I am known as the "brownie queen" around here. I cannot go to any party, picnic or gathering without bringing brownies. The thing is, they're made from a boxed mix but everyone says I make THE BEST brownies ever!!! I attribute it to the pan that I use (Pampered Chef all the way)

Anyhow, I also use boxed mixes for my cakes too. I think I've made a cake from scratch once, a long time ago and it never really came out right. It's been so long, but I don't remember if it was the texture or taste or something else but it was just gross. And for some reason I can never get a homemade frosting done right either, although I do love the taste of them.

Anyways, I found a recipe for a "made from scratch" cake on Pinterest and I would really love to try it but afraid it won't come out very good. Are there any tried & true tips/tricks to a homemade cake or frosting?

This just came up. I usually make a white cake with white frosting for several of my friend's birthdays. I use a mix (always the same one) straight from the box, and everyone always says how much they love it. Last week, there was a memorial services for someone from this group, and one of the gals asked me to make 'that special sheet cake you always make'. So I did. I made 2 9X13 cakes. Everyone was raving about it and how good it was. The daughter of the man who passed away came to me and said "this is the best cake I ever had." My husband and I are like this: A guy I don't know brings a piece to his wife and tells her to try it, it's really good. They were sitting next to us, so even though their conversation was quiet, I heard it (and they didn't know I had made the cake). She tried it and said "ah, it's just a box, nothing special" my husband and I were like this now: Then I went outside and the lady who asked me to bring the cake says "I wish you would share the recipe with me" Byt his time I am dying in hysterics. So I tell her "It's JUST a box, made exactly like the directions say" But now I feel a little embarassed that maybe they thought I was pretending it was from scratch, which I wasn't. Sigh.

And no, I never make a cake from scratch. I've never tried, and probably won't because it seems like a lot more work. I do use a bunch of recipes that doctor up a mix that my mom gave me (they usually involve more eggs, more oil, a box of pudding and extra things like chips, fruit or extra spices).

 

[happygirl]

We use boxes.

 

[aprilchem]

Everything from scratch. We avoid processed foods and I don't really find cooking from scratch much harder; we even bake all our own bread.

 

[mrsdrake625]

Scratch! Less expensive and more versatile. Also we are gluten free so that affects things.

If you're baking from scratch here are a few tips that really helped me -
1) if you can, bake by weight. We have a digital scale for that purpose. The scoop and sweep method can vary like 10% between scoops. This may not be practical if you don't bake a whole lot, I realize, but I love it. Very consistent results.
2) learn the difference between stir and fold. For regular wheat flour, the more you stir, the tougher it gets.
3) pay attention to whether the ingredients need to be cold or room temp - that can make a huge difference!
4) be careful with substitutions. Butter and margarine behave very differently.

 

[ellone]

From scratch - I avoid GMOs so I can't buy regular boxed stuff. And considering the price of non-GMO or organic, it makes sense to do it from scratch.