Box cake mix almost never tastes better than scratch.

Next you’ll tell me store-bought frosting tastes better?

Just the other day I was making brownies and I always make them from scratch, but my partner has been making a particular box mix forever and thought I'd buy one and try it since its easier than from scratch.

But it wasn't better. I like to get a nice glossy top on a brownie with a fudgy consistency under it. The glossy top cracks when you bite into it and it's amazing. But there's no way to do that with a box mix. The top comes from whipping air into the butter, egg and sugar mixture but a box mix is one bag. You try to beat air into it and you develop the gluten and it turns out terrible.

Box mixes are acceptable. But they don't beat from scratch by a long shot, unless its your first time or to ever for baking.

	▲	sersi a day ago \| parent [-]
		And box mix tend to be overly sweet (at least from my limited experience tasting then when I was a student in the us)

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phil21 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Cake mixes almost always come ahead in blind taste tests. Very few bakers short of folks with a lot of volume are doing stuff from scratch.

It may or may not be healthier, but the subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

Frosting is a different topic - totally agree there, but I haven't seen any blind taste tests on that one.

The professional bakers around me who do a dozen cakes a day or whatnot are all pre-made mixes, maybe some small modifications to the mix, and from-scratch frostings. I'm not sure I could even find a local spot with cakes made from scratch - at least in the traditional sense. The spots making 200 cakes a day perhaps, but those are going to look a lot more like the mixes you buy from Sysco or whatnot.

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internet_points a day ago | parent | next [-]

Don't neglect the cultural component when considering taste tests. I've heard there are many americans who actually prefer american chocolate. To me it tastes like sugary beeswax with a hint of sock.

	▲	phil21 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Fair. I am definitely speaking of US consumers.
	▲	pests a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The milk in American chocolate is spoiled.

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sersi a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I wonder what is the proportion of that according to countries. In France, there's a label "fait maison" that's supposed to limit how much the baker or restaurateur rely on pre made mix. But besides this if a professional baker uses a premade mix, how do they differentiate themselves (but then I guess from my experience in the US some shops mostly compete on decoration and not taste)

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AlexandrB a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Cake mixes almost always come ahead in blind taste tests.

Could be a "New Coke"[1] thing, where people just like the one with more sugar. There's a reason food companies pack the stuff into everything - it (usually) works.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

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mgiampapa a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> The professional bakers around me who do a dozen cakes a day or whatnot are all pre-made mixes, maybe some small modifications to the mix, and from-scratch frostings. I'm not sure I could even find a local spot with cakes made from scratch - at least in the traditional sense. The spots making 200 cakes a day perhaps, but those are going to look a lot more like the mixes you buy from Sysco or whatnot.

95% of bakeries are using a box mix and a packet of jello pudding. That's the secret.

	▲	a day ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

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2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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brnt a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

You will be surprised to learn that brands have very differently tasting products developed for different markets. Often even under the same name.

	▲	thaumasiotes a day ago \| parent [-]
		> Often even under the same name This is an issue with Kellogg's cereal and Lay's potato chips in China. They purport to be available. But they're not the same product. I'm not sure why this is supposed to be a good idea; it entirely defeats the purpose of branding.

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komali2 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> It may or may not be healthier, but the subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

The masses sustain Hostess by buying enough of their atrocious boxed "cakes" and cookies. I really wouldn't trust their taste buds.

If your argument is, "if making cakes for the masses, boxed is fine," sure, I don't disagree. My argument is that I hang out with folks that do care about that kind of thing and basically never go to the middle aisles of a grocery store - that crowd will appreciate baked with straightforward ingredients. Flour, sugar, actual cocoa powder, yeast, whatever.

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SapporoChris 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Ability to cook is a spectrum. In order for your statement to be true, then the average cook must be 'almost always' better at producing cake than the average bake mix.

	▲	account42 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You can bake good cake from scratch with very little skill as long as you can follow instructions and mix shit together in the right amounts.