How to Make Box Mix Taste Like Bakery Cake

[H_annp]

Hi everyone. I know that a lot of bakeries use bulk mix (Pillsbury, DH, etc,) and I LOVE how they taste. I am wondering how or what is the best way to try to recreate this at home using your standard box mix (eggs, water, oil). The bulk mix is just add water or water/oil. So, there must be some sort of egg in the mix already. How do I get the same tasting cake? What is the difference in ingredients in the big bulk vs small box mix because they do taste different. I have tried multiple cakes with ideas found on Pinterest (use milk instead of water, add an extra egg, add sour cream, use butter instead of oil, add pudding, etc) I have not been able to find the right combination and I am getting frustrated! Can any of you help me with what you do to get the same taste & texture as bakeries?

Very frustrated!~
Please help a mom out : )

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi everyone. I know that a lot of bakeries use bulk mix (Pillsbury, DH, etc,) and I LOVE how they taste. I am wondering how or what is the best way to try to recreate this at home using your standard box mix (eggs, water, oil). The bulk mix is just add water or water/oil. So, there must be some sort of egg in the mix already. How do I get the same tasting cake? What is the difference in ingredients in the big bulk vs small box mix because they do taste different. I have tried multiple cakes with ideas found on Pinterest (use milk instead of water, add an extra egg, add sour cream, use butter instead of oil, add pudding, etc) I have not been able to find the right combination and I am getting frustrated! Can any of you help me with what you do to get the same taste & texture as bakeries?

Very frustrated!~
Please help a mom out : )

The most common method in doctored box mix is additional flour, then the addition of sour cream, additional eggs, milk/buttermilk. How you doctor depends on the cake flavor.

Google Shawna McGreevy. McGreevy is an amazing 3 D cake decorator who bakes from box mix. She has several doctored box mix cakes recipes on her site.

Google WASC, look for the "kakeladi" version. It's the most popular white almond sour cream doctored box mix. But some have had trouble with it since she uses Betty Crocker, and Betty Crocker made changes to their mix after the doctored box mix recipe was made.

Duncan Hines grocery store box mix is the same mix they use in their commercial mx.

The texture and "moistness" from box mix is from chemical emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides, sodium-stearoyl lacty- late, and/or polyglycerol esters. While not readily available to the home baker, restaurant supply store in your area may stock at least one of these emulsifiers.

But many bakeries do not use box mix. They are scratch cakes made with commercial ingredients. The "moist" texture is from commercial high ratio cake flour, commercial high ratio shortening, and at least one of the commercial chemical emulsifiers that I mentioned above.

What you perceive as moist is actually shortening coating the inside of your mouth, since high ratio shortening is used both in the batter and the icing.

The airy crumb is from heat treated, bleached cake flour. The shortening and cake flour sold in grocery stores it's not the same as the commercial high ratio shortening and cake flour. But both can be purchased through restaurant supply stores and some cake decorating specialty stores.

 

[ChesterV]

Yeah, private bakeries usually don't use box mix anything, they do it all from scratch, as they are trying to develop their own recipes to bring in the customers.

Bakeries that are commercial or franchises use box mixes, at least the ones I worked in did. It saves them time and effort, and supposedly cuts down on costs.....not that the customer ever see's any of that savings.

I too doctor up boxed cake mixes.

You have to be careful about boxed mixes of any sort though. You want the most basic boxed mixed you can get and doctor it up the way you want it. The reason being, is that the more things you want already in a box mix, means more additives, chemicals, and artificial "this and thats" to get that result without having to doctor it up yourself.

The more basic your box mix is, the more you have control over what goes into it.

As for getting a bakery style cake, it depends on the bakery and the kind of cake that they make.
Each bakery is different, uses different varieties of ingredients, and may not use the exact same quantities of ingredients when mixing the batters.

I prefer to use ONE more egg, LESS water, and a bit more OIL in my cake batters.
The extra egg gives it more "fluff" and "body". Less water makes it more dense and more "solid", and more oil makes it more moist, and helps with the extra denseness created by less water and more egg.

Using a bit of vinegar or sour cream will help kick some of that super sweet twinge you get from cakes that are too sweet. These will also work in the frostings for cakes. I've been putting vinegar in my buttercreams for years. It helps SO much with taking out that "toothache" sweetness.

Dang.


I want cake now!

 

[H_annp]

The most common method in doctored box mix is additional flour, then the addition of sour cream, additional eggs, milk/buttermilk. How you doctor depends on the cake flavor.

Google Shawna McGreevy. McGreevy is an amazing 3 D cake decorator who bakes from box mix. She has several doctored box mix cakes recipes on her site.

Google WASC, look for the "kakeladi" version. It's the most popular white almond sour cream doctored box mix. But some have had trouble with it since she uses Betty Crocker, and Betty Crocker made changes to their mix after the doctored box mix recipe was made.

Duncan Hines grocery store box mix is the same mix they use in their commercial mx.

The texture and "moistness" from box mix is from chemical emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides, sodium-stearoyl lacty- late, and/or polyglycerol esters. While not readily available to the home baker, restaurant supply store in your area may stock at least one of these emulsifiers.

But many bakeries do not use box mix. They are scratch cakes made with commercial ingredients. The "moist" texture is from commercial high ratio cake flour, commercial high ratio shortening, and at least one of the commercial chemical emulsifiers that I mentioned above.

What you perceive as moist is actually shortening coating the inside of your mouth, since high ratio shortening is used both in the batter and the icing.

The airy crumb is from heat treated, bleached cake flour. The shortening and cake flour sold in grocery stores it's not the same as the commercial high ratio shortening and cake flour. But both can be purchased through restaurant supply stores and some cake decorating specialty stores.

The most common method in doctored box mix is additional flour, then the addition of sour cream, additional eggs, milk/buttermilk. How you doctor depends on the cake flavor.

Google Shawna McGreevy. McGreevy is an amazing 3 D cake decorator who bakes from box mix. She has several doctored box mix cakes recipes on her site.

Google WASC, look for the "kakeladi" version. It's the most popular white almond sour cream doctored box mix. But some have had trouble with it since she uses Betty Crocker, and Betty Crocker made changes to their mix after the doctored box mix recipe was made.

Duncan Hines grocery store box mix is the same mix they use in their commercial mx.

The texture and "moistness" from box mix is from chemical emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides, sodium-stearoyl lacty- late, and/or polyglycerol esters. While not readily available to the home baker, restaurant supply store in your area may stock at least one of these emulsifiers.

But many bakeries do not use box mix. They are scratch cakes made with commercial ingredients. The "moist" texture is from commercial high ratio cake flour, commercial high ratio shortening, and at least one of the commercial chemical emulsifiers that I mentioned above.

What you perceive as moist is actually shortening coating the inside of your mouth, since high ratio shortening is used both in the batter and the icing.

The airy crumb is from heat treated, bleached cake flour. The shortening and cake flour sold in grocery stores it's not the same as the commercial high ratio shortening and cake flour. But both can be purchased through restaurant supply stores and some cake decorating specialty stores.

Yeah, private bakeries usually don't use box mix anything, they do it all from scratch, as they are trying to develop their own recipes to bring in the customers.

Bakeries that are commercial or franchises use box mixes, at least the ones I worked in did. It saves them time and effort, and supposedly cuts down on costs.....not that the customer ever see's any of that savings.

I too doctor up boxed cake mixes.

You have to be careful about boxed mixes of any sort though. You want the most basic boxed mixed you can get and doctor it up the way you want it. The reason being, is that the more things you want already in a box mix, means more additives, chemicals, and artificial "this and thats" to get that result without having to doctor it up yourself.

The more basic your box mix is, the more you have control over what goes into it.

As for getting a bakery style cake, it depends on the bakery and the kind of cake that they make.
Each bakery is different, uses different varieties of ingredients, and may not use the exact same quantities of ingredients when mixing the batters.

I prefer to use ONE more egg, LESS water, and a bit more OIL in my cake batters.
The extra egg gives it more "fluff" and "body". Less water makes it more dense and more "solid", and more oil makes it more moist, and helps with the extra denseness created by less water and more egg.

Using a bit of vinegar or sour cream will help kick some of that super sweet twinge you get from cakes that are too sweet. These will also work in the frostings for cakes. I've been putting vinegar in my buttercreams for years. It helps SO much with taking out that "toothache" sweetness.

Dang.


I want cake now!

Me too lol! Thank you for your help : )

 

[H_annp]

The most common method in doctored box mix is additional flour, then the addition of sour cream, additional eggs, milk/buttermilk. How you doctor depends on the cake flavor.

Google Shawna McGreevy. McGreevy is an amazing 3 D cake decorator who bakes from box mix. She has several doctored box mix cakes recipes on her site.

Google WASC, look for the "kakeladi" version. It's the most popular white almond sour cream doctored box mix. But some have had trouble with it since she uses Betty Crocker, and Betty Crocker made changes to their mix after the doctored box mix recipe was made.

Duncan Hines grocery store box mix is the same mix they use in their commercial mx.

The texture and "moistness" from box mix is from chemical emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides, sodium-stearoyl lacty- late, and/or polyglycerol esters. While not readily available to the home baker, restaurant supply store in your area may stock at least one of these emulsifiers.

But many bakeries do not use box mix. They are scratch cakes made with commercial ingredients. The "moist" texture is from commercial high ratio cake flour, commercial high ratio shortening, and at least one of the commercial chemical emulsifiers that I mentioned above.

What you perceive as moist is actually shortening coating the inside of your mouth, since high ratio shortening is used both in the batter and the icing.

The airy crumb is from heat treated, bleached cake flour. The shortening and cake flour sold in grocery stores it's not the same as the commercial high ratio shortening and cake flour. But both can be purchased through restaurant supply stores and some cake decorating specialty stores.

Thank you so much! Googled her and can't wait to try some of her cakes! : )