VERY well said, chi83!

Thank you for posting.

Rusty

I am with Chi 83. Cake mixes are just pre-measured stuff. Please read her post three times.

My dd says to a friend, "wanna bake? wanna bake brownies?" Goes to the basement shelf and picks up a box of brownies and they have a great time. And they call 'the pals' and the baking pan is cleaned.

And yes, we do know the difference. Home made is better. But, unless the two are side by side, it is hard to remember and who cares when you have had the fun of baking it. Even a box. Premeasured ingredients.

Westsider, cake mixes are not just pre-measured ingredients, there are a whole raft of chemicals (emulsifiers, anti-caking agents, preservatives) and other weird things that I'm pretty sure don't go into my scratch cakes. In most box cakes I find they have a sort of sharpish undertaste that I don't care for.
If you like the taste of box cakes, then someone baking one for you is a loving thing. I don't and never did, and I can remember being disappointed when my mother planned to make a box cake that I wouldn't like for my Sweet 16 to save the little time it would take to make a scratch cake I would like. I didn't think that "showed the love".
I'm not convinced the cost of scratch ingredients to even a non-baker is so prohibitive, given that most of the ingredients can be used in other cooking. And you don't need to buy a huge quantity of each ingredient and discard the rest. Butter- can you not get it in half pounds there? And would you not use any remainder in other meals- on sandwiches, vegetables, etc? Flour and sugar are also used in lots of things besides cake. Eggs- get a half-dozen. The rest can be eaten as eggs or used in other recipes. (Besides you usually have to put eggs in a box cake anyway.)
I don't think it's snobbish to prefer the real thing to an artificially flavoured product you don't care for the taste of. Like others here, I too have had times in my life when I have been on the bones of my bum and certainly wasn't buying gourmet ingredients for meal and dessert making. Like Annie I found scratch was generally cheaper and more versatile than packet stuff, but if I couldn't afford the real thing we just did without. I seldom drink coffee at friends' houses because here instant coffee is the norm and I would rather drink tea than instant coffee; to some I might be a "coffee snob" but I just can't see the point in consuming something I dislike.
To get back to my original post, if you feel you have to "doctor" box mixes then presumably you're not entirely satisfied with them; and it takes extra time, effort and ingredients to "doctor" a mix. So why not put that time, effort and ingredients into making something from scratch?

I agree colleen. I too really taste the chemicals in cake mixes but not everybody can.

Cake mixes have a place, just not in my kitchen. If someone, (especially a child), offered me a piece of cake that they made, I'd happily eat it, homemade or not. And I would tell them how delicious it was, again, homemade or not. Any effort deserves acknowledgment. Like Colleen and Beez mentioned, cake mixes have an odd undertone that I find unpleasant, but I suspect too many people eat with their eyes and have learned that a frosted cake must equal yum.
I know my family loves me, and I them. But if I made my dad a box mix cake, he would happily eat it and tell me how delicious it was. But he would also be wondering what the heck happened to my usual cakes? Like me, he would never say a thing.
If baking is your thing, then box cake mixes feel very unsatisfying, no matter how many roses you put on top.

jo

My taste buds can easily detect the chemical cocktail in cake mixes. And sometimes, the mere mention of propylene glycol makes my mouth water. And don't even get me started on the climactic subject of "enriched" flour.
Ooh, is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?

I suppose it's all my mother's fault. She is an excellent cook, not a religious baker, but a fine cook. In any case, whenever she baked a cake, or any dessert, it was always made from scratch. So, I guess that would explain my preference.

Does that make me a food snob? I dunno. And I simply don't care.
Everyone here, who knows me, know I don't say things to please the majority, or be on 'good terms' with the populace.
I know what I like, and make no excuses for it. And neither should anyone else, whatever your choice may be.

I wonder if this why these subjects always engender such passion? I'm beginning to think so :)

Annie, next time, try Satin Ice. One of the best fondants you can buy. Steer clear of anything that starts with the name "Wilton."
In any event, as you know, I sometimes make my own rolled fondant, but I always mix it with chocolate to enhance the texture and flavor of fondant. Similar to Chocopan. Another great product.

Sol

The snobbery that I was referring to has nothing to do with personal preferences. We are all entitled to like or dislike whatever we want and I don't believe that makes someone a snob. I also happen to agree that homemade cake *does* taste better and avoiding chemicals/preservatives is always smart.

My "passionate" side came out more in response to the statement that mothers who use cake mix clearly don't put any effort or love into it. I find it insulting to those of us who perhaps grew up in different circumstances but were no less loved. It could be that I'm over-sensitive and I have no problem admitting that. Everyone has a right to their opinion and I respect that. And my opinion is that such statements are snobby. :)

I'm wondering why anyone would use fondant when frosting is so much better. Seriously, the best and most beautiful wedding cake I ever ate was a towering beauty that served about 200, homemade by the bride's mother with frosting and fresh flowers in the days and weeks before the wedding, no fondant anywhere at all. If it's just for show and going to be wasted, anyway, why bother in the first place?

I'm sorry this sounds snarky, I don't mean it to be. Just curious, is all.

I, too, think boxes have their place. I just wish it wasn't such a BIG place. My own little grandkids prefer boxed mac and cheese to my delicious homemade because it's what they are used to. And they prefer twinkies and cupcakes to mine, too.

I always thought it was funny that my own kids, raised on natural peanut butter and homemade everything as much as possible, would come home from friends' houses raving about all the delicious store-bought food, then bought all that "junk" as soon as they left the nest. Now that they are raising their own kids, most of my kids are going back to the way they were raised, and that pleases me.

Hamburger helper is expensive!!! It's far from an economical meal, and if anyone was eating lots of meals of hamburger helper and they were beyond broke, they're not thinking very clearly.

I see no correlation between using boxes and mixes and pre-prepared foods and lack of love....just lack of brains, or perhaps a desire to learn how to do things more cheaply and with better health benefits.

When I see the welfare mommas with the 3 kids tagging along and one in the cart, with a cart full of potato chips, boxes of pop tarts and lunchables, pre formed hamburger patties, breaded chicken bites, juice "drinks", sugar filled cereals....and pay with food stamps....and then pull out some money and buy a couple of packs of cigarettes, I long to pull her aside and say, I can show you how to make good food cheap!...but I'm sure she wouldn't listen, the government's paying for it.

Let's face it....pre made food is expensive...you are paying for someone's labor to mix it up, to market it, for the box to put it in and the over head in the store which sells it. The excuse that anyone can't afford to cook from scratch doesn't hold water for me. The food giants have managed to convince the American woman that if you do some cooking of a produce, it's not junk food....just as the fast food chains have convinced parents that a bigger burger, with more cheese and bacon and a supersized order of fries and a super sized shake, somehow shows more love than a small steak a baked potato, small salad and a glass of milk.

And Tricae I can't believe you lived a whole year with a stove too filthy to use and no one would clean it up! I have cleaned the stove in a rented cottage, where I was spending a week.....while on vacation!! ( some vacation. cleaning the stove! LOL!)

I'm stuck in the house today, so I guess I will make some "breakfast breads"...I can make a partially whole wheat loaf with pecans and dried cherries for about $1.25 a loaf.
And I'll pour a $.99 bag of lentils into a pot, add half an onion, couple of carrots, couple of cloves of garlic and simmer that while the bread rises. Food for royalty for less than $4.00.
Linda C

One of my very dearest friends has a kitchen all of us would kill for. It is beyond exquisite. She has four kids who she loves dearly.

Lady can't cook a thing, nothing, and she doesn't even want to. Her idea of having gone all out is a frozen lasagna, a bagged salad and bottled dressing....but you should see her water colours, breath taking.

We all have our passions and things we excel at, usually what interests us, no stones from me. I do have to say though that I'm in the camp with the metallic taste to boxed mixes.....just look at the ingredients list!

I could care a less who uses a packaged cake mix, and I suspect most here could care a less as well. Mind you I have to agree with Linda when it comes to how many, I'm sure not all, people trying to make ends meet or getting some sort of social assistance blow their money on prepared foods. I think it's because they simply don't know any better.

Education is key.

I'm conducting a test.

I've just baked Jo's Yellow Cake recipe above. I'm also making chocolate butter cream icing to frost it with.

I'm going to serve it to my husband and son tonight and see if they notice if it tastes any different from other cakes I've made over the years.

Because you see, I use box mixes. Always have. This will be the very first "from scratch" cake I've ever made. Go ahead and laugh at me. But it's true.

I've always used box mixes because it was so easy to dump the mix in, add eggs, water and oil. Badda Bing. I'll say, making this from scratch cake, you do have to measure the flour, measure the sugar, measure the baking powder, measure the salt, vanilla, .... along with adding the eggs and milk. It does take a little extra time but if I'm being honest, I wouldn't say too much more time.

Can't wait to taste it.

Stay tuned! We'll see if hubs and son notice any difference.

I made the marshmallow fondant and yes it is better than regular but still sickly sweet. Although, I made a second batch and made it chocolate (as in I subbed some of the icing sugar for cocoa powder) and it was pretty good. As in quite edible. It is quite easy, as long as you read the directions and follow them when making (yes, eyes are shifting because of first hand experience of not reading directions properly).

I gotta chime in on Linda's post about welfare mothers...'cause it makes me nuts too.

I realize that in most cases, it's a matter of the way they were raised, coupled often with a lack of education which brings with it a lack of critical thinking skills.

It does sound cheaper, if one doesn't think things through, to buy prepackaged, (ON SALE!!) meals rather than stock your kitchen with basics. Yeah, a pound of butter can be expensive...but you aren't using the whole pound in a cake, for example. A box of corn muffin mix is cheaper than buying all the ingredients you would need to make them...but, it only makes one tray of muffins, whereas buying the ingredients sets you up for trays and trays of them.

But, stocking a pantry requires planning ahead and budgeting, and lets face it, barring the folks temporarily down on their luck through no fault of their own, folks on welfare are often not strong in the planning and budgeting department or they wouldn't be on it!

Now don't get riled at me, like I said, I'm not talking about the folks that none of us mind helping out. I'm talking about the many, many to whom welfare is just a way of life.

Wish we could require a basic Home Ec class for welfare recipients.

One minor quibble though,the government isn't paying for it, WE ARE. It's a pet theory of mine that if we were to all start substituting the words, "The American Taxpayer" for "The Government" as often as applicable, we'd get as riled up as we need to be to DO something about the crazy budgets (or lack thereof) our elected officials sign off on so blithely.

O.k., off soapbox. ;D

On a slightly different note...I bought a few cans of soup (Campbells Chunky) for my trip across country. I figured that heating a can of soup in the hotel microwave for dinner was better than just grabbing fast food or something. I honestly couldn't eat it. I tried, but just couldn't. I ended up hauling a hot plate into my hotel room one night to make a pot of veggie soup to carry in my cooler and bought some sandwich fixings.

Chi, you weren't being overly-sensitive. And I believe your mother's baking efforts translated into her love for you.

Just as my mom's did, when she cooked her Spanish dishes for my brother and me. She cooked everything to perfection, never following a single recipe.
...until one day, when she tried to cook "American" for my new husband. At the time, this type of cuisine was uncharted territory. But eager to please, mom forged ahead.

Her American gravy was so thick, we didn't pour it, we cut it with a knife and spread it over the mashed potatoes. Her attempt at American coffee didn't fare any better. It turned out to be as potent as Cuban espresso (which, btw, I happen to love. Too bad about new husband, whose eyes popped out of his head with the first sip).
Long story short, mom became visibly upset with the results. But the effort and love she put into her first American meal was undeniable, and appreciated. Sliced gravy and all.

Sherrmann, to me, the texture of most rolled fondant can only be described as gnawing on a pair of Crocs that have been left out in the sun too long.

Aside from that initial shock ;) most of us decorators prefer fondant for its aesthetic effect on wedding cakes. It also holds up better than buttercream during the hot, summer months. But, in terms of taste, buttercream is still at the top of favorite cake coverings.

Sol

I can eat cake mix cakes as long as they're Duncan Hines. All the others are either too dry or taste too much like chemicals. Christy won't bake from scratch after my doberman ate her whole first from scratch cake. She will make a box cake so I keep some Duncan Hines around for her and yes, sometimes for me when I want to have a cake in the oven in less than five minutes. Now canned icing I can't take. I can't eat it at all. There is no fooling me with that stuff. If you put it on a from scratch cake I'd still have to not eat the cake. When we make a box cake we still make icing.

shermann, I'm using fondant because that's what Ashley wants. She's the bride, it's her cake, she gets to choose. She wants it to look a very specific way, and so it shall.

Amanda was just the opposite, she had a cake frosted completely in buttercream, because she said she didn't care what it looked like, she wanted it to taste good. Ashley wants it to look perfect, so fondant it is.

And I can't mix it with chocolate because I have to have a white cake with black decorations.

Sol, I bought "Fondarific", it got a lot of good reviews on Global Sugar Art about how it tasted better than usual and was so easy to handle that beginners could get good results. Figures, I should have asked you first.

As for cake mixes, I don't like the metallic flavor from the preservatives, but it's the texture that really puts me off, it's too.....spongy.....for want of a better word, and you know how I am about texture.

As for the "welfare moms", maybe it is because they don't know better or it's the way they were raised. Sometimes. My sister, however, raised and is still raising her children on things like Hamburger Helper, chicken nuggets and Doritos. Oh, and copious amounts of Mountain Dew, no water or juice. She and I were both raised in the same house by the same people and Grandma taught her to cook. She says it's "too much work".

Annie

I'm not much of a cake person, but for years I brought dessert to work for staff birthdays. When I was working 60 hrs/wk I had no problem throwing a quick cake mix based bundt cake together. One of them would always request that chocolate cherry cake made with a mix and a can of pie filling. When we hired the last person, I was told that I was way too busy to bake for all of them and we had to discontinue the homemade birthday treat tradition. awwwww.....

Wish we could require a basic Home Ec class for welfare recipients. Rachelellen, I spent nearly three years trying to do just that with a nutrition, cooking and money management program through our Extension. You didn't get your food stamps if you didn't go through our program. We shopped and cooked and did things like comparing hamburger helper to homemade - budget-wise, time-wise and nutrition-wise. Mostly it was an uphill battle, though 13 years later a couple of my clients' children bring their kids to the library. Once one of them told me that she still makes mac and cheese the way we did when I came to her house. awwwwww....

I sometimes use a cake mix, but I have not found one that I think is as good as a 'made from scratch' cake, even when other ingredients are added. In addition, I am allergic to Red#40 dye, and it is in some cake mixes and a million other products. You don't expect to find red dye in yellow or chocolate cake, but it is there. Red#40 is suspect in a lot of problems with children, so it would probably be wise to elimanate it from their diet, if you haven't already. Almost all of the imitation berry things are loaded.

Thanks, Annie. If I got to vote, I'd say you should make her cake look like she does in her wedding gown, like the one you posted about on the Conversations side! Wouldn't that be fun! But I've been Mother of the Bride, too, so I know how it is.

Oh dear, sherrman, I'm not sure I have that much fondant, LOL. And I'm sure not artistic enugh to make a cake look like her! She'll be lucky if all the layers are just square.

Annie

I do both, mixes and homemade. My group would rather have a pie,brownies, cobbler or their favorite is fried pies, but they like cake also. I have never made a homemade angel food cake because if I use a dozen egg whites, what do I do with the yolks other than down the garbage disposal.

I also make very good dinner rolls, but I always keep a bag of Sister Schubert's rolls in my freezer (and they are expensive.) If I am taking lunch to the field or holidays when we have a larger crowd they are homemade rolls because I know they will all be eaten. If it is just for us and we need two or three rolls they come in real handy and I can bake what I need with no waste.

That said, two of their favorite cakes are teresa_NC7'S apricot nectar cake and lindac's applecake and gravy. One uses a box, the other doesn't but they are both really, really good!

I don't care how anyone makes their cakes, but the people on welfare that have an entire basket full of frozen meals drives me crazy. There was a woman in front of me that had her basket loaded and I mean loaded. She had all frozen dinners, lunch meat, chips and bread. She didn't have any fresh fruits or vegetables or even canned ones. The only thing I saw that you had to make was a sandwich.

I agree with Chase and katiec, education is the key and if your are going to get food stamps you should have to go through a money management, nutrition and cooking program. There are so many people that need help and want it, but so many that are using the system!

I "have" to comment on a few things in this thread.

The "Why are you on a cooking forum if you don't like to cook?" thing. I don't get a huge kick out of cooking but I like good food so I cook. I am always looking for recipes and try new recipes at least once a week. I avoid websites that include recipes that include things like canned soup. That said: My grandma made pork chops baked in cream of celery soup that was delish. You don't always have to cook from scratch to make something good.

To me cooking and baking are different beasts. I get no enjoyment out of baking so I rarely bake. When I do bake it's from scratch (except pie crust) because I was raised by a baked goods snob (who was horrified that I buy Pillsbury pie crusts) and I can see her nose in the air if I even think about buying a mix. Do I care if other people use mixes? No.

Do I care if other people use HH or the like? No. Don't understand it but who am I to judge their tastes? I know people who can appreciate the finest dining but will sometimes make HH at home. Whatever.

Many welfare recipients would probably benefit from meal planning, shopping, cooking classes. How many of you taxpayers would like to pay for those classes?

I think those who enjoy cooking and/or baking from scratch should just bask in the delighted reaction they get from the people who eat their food and stop fretting about whether other people's efforts meet their standards. Do you sew your own clothes? A seamstress might think you a fool if you don't. Everyone has their strengths and interests.

Please don't post pie crust recipes. I ain't going there. ;-)

I'm fairly indifferent to cooking too, rosesstink, but I do like to eat. If I had a bazillion bucks I would have a private chef, go out to eat all the time and never look back.

It doesn't bother me to buy premade meals if they suit me. I eat lean cuisines sometimes because I like them and they are convenient. Do I know how to make them? Yes, but I only want a small portion and not a freezer full of something so a small package of LC garlic spring rolls is just fine occasionally. When I am very busy with work, they are a life saver.

I have been buying premade things at Trader Joes for convenience. Garlic Naan bread, for instance.

I don't make my own crackers, ketchup, mayonnaise or sausages although I suppose if I were more interested in cooking and had more free time, I could.

rosesstink, we already have those classes available through the Extension Service, at no cost to the participants, so if they became required, they wouldn't cost any more than they are now. I'm not convinced they'd do any good, though, as KatieC mentioned, she gave such classes and it didn't help a large amount of the time. Someone like my sister already knows, but has decided that she doesn't care to cook or eat any more cheaply or in a more healthy manner if it requires any amount of time or effort, so it wouldn't do her any good either. And yes, she has a Bridge Card, which is Michigan's version of food stamps.

My pet peeve is that people buy a lot of soft drinks with food stamps. They can't buy toilet paper or laundry soap, shampoo or deodorant because those things are not food. They can buy cases of Coke or whatever, though, and as far as I'm concerned that's not food either, it contains zero nutrition. I think food stamps should not be used for soft drinks just as the funds cannot be used for alcohol or tobacco or cleaning products but I'll bet the lobby groups for soft drink manufacturers would have a fit. And so now I'll step down off my own personal soapbox.

Oh, and I do sew. And have a garden, do some farming, I can and freeze what I grow. I have a husband who lives 3 hours away so I do my own yard work and have a full time job and am Conservator for my elderly stepmother, so I don't sit around and just decide to bake a cake or whatever, I make time to do it because I like it, I like the taste better and it's cheaper. If people just say "I don't like to do it and so I choose not to", that I understand , different people like and choose to do different things.

I don't care who uses cake mix or Hamburger Helper or whatever, but anyone who says they use it because it's less expensive is probably going to get an economic argument because it just isn't.

I also never said "Why are you on a cooking forum if you don't like to cook?". I said "if you don't cook or bake, you probably wouldn't hang around a Cooking Forum". I'm assuming that people come here because they want or need to cook, whether or not they enjoy it.

Annie

Some people don't care if meals taste good, they are just looking for filler. Welfare folks drive me crazy when I look at what they buy, but they are unlikely to change, especially since it is free. In addition, those who rob Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul, and as long as they continue to get benefits they will continue to vote that way and government will grow and citizens who work for a living will get poorer. Fact of life..all of us are working to support that life style.

Ok....we've gone from cake mixes to politics....not a good thing for a cooking forum.
I have known a couple of families who were on welfare temporarily, because of hard times, who did manage to join the tax paying public again, but it doesn't happen often.

Personally I don't care how you cook, but don't justify eating stuff from a box because it's cheaper....because it's not.

Sooooooo anyway..............

That cake I made? Big Flop. From the density of the cake to the sicken sweet frosting - my 14 yr old wont even eat it.

But I should also add that I was lazy and didn't feel like going to the store for All Purpose Flour so I used what I had on hand - cake flour. Plus I think I baked it too long so it was totally on the dry side.

Now for the taste, it had a great taste, a taste that I can only describe as "fresh ingredient tasting" - different from a box of cake mix.

But I like the texture of a box mix better; it's fluffier. I love fluffy cake. This cake I made from scratch was more of a pound cake which I love but I was expecting a fluffy yellow cake.

So today I'm going to the store and buying more AP Flour so I can try again; going to try a chocolate one this time.

And I can't mix it with chocolate because I have to have a white cake with black decorations.
Sol, I bought "Fondarific", it got a lot of good reviews on Global Sugar Art about how it tasted better than usual and was so easy to handle that beginners could get good results.

AnnieB, I prefer to mix dark chocolate into homemade fondant. In your case, however, I was referring to white chocolate mixed into rolled fondant.

Don't panic. I still believe white chocolate to be the AntiChrist, but when the stuff is kneaded into fondant, it actually improves its texture and taste.

In any event, I'm not familiar with 'Fondarific,' but if it's working for you, then rejoice.
Btw, has Ashley decided on a cake topper yet? If not, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Anyone notice how daintily I sidestepped the political arena?

Sol - Go me.

Shaun, it seems that you like exactly what I detest about cake mix cakes, that spongy texture. However, if you didn't use the ingredients called for in a recipe, I don't think you can complain about the recipe, LOL. I'm going to tell you, though, that made from scratch cakes are more moist and more dense, at least mine are, so they'll never have that same texture. I think it's the chemicals that do that. (grin)

Sol, so you knead white chocolate into the fondant? You melt the white chocolate first and them knead it into your finished homemade fondant?

I don't know if this fondant is going to work well for me, I haven't tried it yet, I hoped you'd have had some experience with it. It's sitting on the kitchen floor, staring at me and daring me to open it. I get that kind of sick feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I look at it, I ought to hide it until it's necessary to use it. Sigh.

Annie

My grandmother could make a dry and crumbly cake from scratch.
She never had a standard measuring cup, in her flour bin was a tea cup with a broken handle and an other in the sugar sack.
She used teaspoons and tablespoons and butter the size of an egg measurements.....so mostly her cakes were never the same twice. If she was short of eggs, she would only use 1 instead of 2...if the hens were laying, she would toss in an extra egg and compensate with something else.

I am amazed when I remember how many of her cakes did turn out perfectly. I don't remember her ever having a cook book and have no idea where she learned to make a yellow cake or a very dark devil's food cake, and if she picked the right spoon from the drawer to measure the baking soda and the milk was sour enough, it was wonderful!
Linda C

Except for my mother, the women in my family have always worked outside the home. They are all scratch bakers. We don't eat fake food. More work hours =less baking.

It is rare in my extended family to have frosting or icing on any baked goodie. Just not our tradition. Too sweet. And yet you would love the taste of anything my little cousins baked, butter, a bit sweet, perhaps nutty or chocolatey or banana or berry pie. I've never seen a layer cake in our houses, except for birthdays, maybe. For Passover, we're sure to have at least one superb flourless cake with nut flour/meal on the abundant dessert table.

Skinny dh swore off desserts about 20 years ago. Except for company, we have no desserts. After company, we toss or give leftover desserts. I do have a couple of boxes of brownies and a yellow cake(sour cream and banana added) for dd to make. Premeasured and not as good as scratch but fun for her to make.

Many 'welfare mothers' don't have usable kitchens and/or ovens for baking.

Lindac, that sounds exactly like my Grandmother. She was a fabulous cook and baker. She made the best bread and rolls, cinnamon rolls, carrot cake and the list goes on and on and she never measured anything. She had a teacup, less the handle in her flour and sugar bins to measure with and that I remember didn't have measuring spoons, she used a teaspoon and a tablespoon.
She made the prettiest pie crusts I have ever seen and could flute the edge so pretty and sand tarts, she made them in a crescent shape and they were all just alike and the same size and it didn't take her long either.
I remember her trying to teach me to make rolls, put some flour in the bowl,,, more than that,,, not that much, that looks just about right. Needless to say, the rolls were perfect but I didn't learn how she made them.

Great memories!

Isn't that funny Linda and Trixie, my Nana was the same. She used a tea cup with a broken handle for flour and sugar and a regular tea spoon and soup spoon for measuring. For liquid measure she used a ladle.

She cooked on a wood stove because she didn't think getting a "fancy" stove" was worth the money.

She made fabulous cakes. I recall one that was a gingery type cake with a hard maple frosting and her cloverleaf rolls, to die for.

After my Granddad died and all the kids were gone she rented the rooms in her house to young men that were working in the mines. I recall the mid day meal when the "men" would come home to be "fed". Always a fabulous hot meal and great desserts...we ate last!

Sure do wish any of us had gotten those recipes from her.

Wow, that must have been universal, my Grandma also used a teacup with a broken handle. Recycling in the finest sense, she certainly wasn't going to throw it away if it could be used for something.

She cooked by touch and by sight, when it "looked like enough" or "felt right" and her baking nearly always came out just fine. I think she had a firm knowledge of what could be substituted for something else, the generation that went through the depression knew how to make something with nearly nothing and how to do without and what would make a passable substitute when one ingredient wasn't available.

As for the woodstove, that's what I learned to cook on. We didn't get a gas stove until I was well into my teens, just after we got indoor plumbing. I've used an outhouse in the middle of the night in a Michigan February and I've washed clothes with an old wringer washer and I've baked in a woodstove. I still remember the coffee pot pushed to the back corner to stay warm, away from the hottest part of the stove, and a pot of beans simmering while Grandma mixed up cornbread.

And for those who don't know, I'm 56, so it wasn't THAT long ago.

Annie

I was thinking of my paternal grandmother last week on the first day of Spring but not for cooking. If sunny, the following Saturday was always the day when my grandfather hauled out and assembled the wooden curtain stretchers with their torturous spikes for blocking the curtains after their spring laundering.

My mother would always send a new box of Band-Aids along with me and it would be practically empty by the time my cousins and I left.

I don't remember my grandmother ever baking a cake. She made only two desserts - lemon sponge pie and rice pudding. Her menu was exactly the same every week, no matter what the season, until she died.

Nice grandma memories. My Russian grandma sort of scared me. And she cooked things I wouldn't eat, often with sauerkraut or cabbage. Chase, you grandma knew her wood stove made better food than any of those newfangled stoves. Mine sits between the microwave and the electric range. We cook on it all winter. I swear food tastes better, and it's like having a giant cast iron burner with unlimited control. Bonus is that it pretty much heats the house.

Re that fondant: My hat's off to all of you who can deal with it. I tried. Once. Disaster. The best I can manage is White Mountain frosting with fresh flowers poked around the base. I'm sure I won't be asked to make a wedding cake IF the time ever comes.

Annie, I'm 57, until January!! LOL

Sol, so you knead white chocolate into the fondant? You melt the white chocolate first and them knead it into your finished homemade fondant?

Annie, adding melted chocolate to fondant will muck it up. And you'll end up with speckled caca. Don't do it.

All I do is knead chocolate clay into homemade fondant. I'll send detailed instructions to avoid hijacking this thread any further.

Ok, I lied. Anyway, I wish I had some advice for you on the newfangled Fondarific. But I'm mostly familiar with Satin Ice. So be brave, and test the new fondant to see whether you like it or not.
If you find it lives up to its name, I'll order some too. I'm much happier buying ready-made fondant, and so is the motor on my KA.

Sol

As I read this, dipping cereal into leftover frosting (homemade, and dyed orange), I gotta agree that boxed cakes are much cheaper. At least for stuff *I* want. I baked a chocolate cake for my 3 year old and with the vanilla buttercream frosting, it took a pound of butter and a cup of cocoa and a lot of powdered sugar which I don't generally have on hand. I probably used about $8 worth of ingredients, at least. But it certainly wasn't hard. And I did have a little frosting left over.

I don't mind boxed mixes because I eat almost everything (see above for example). I think they taste fine. I won't eat that canned frosting though! (We're also trying to avoid the funky oils.)

Brownies are more work than cake. I'd consider a boxed brownie (although for some reason I never do). But around here, buying a box means you ARE going to eat it and if there isn't a box, there's always a chance you'll take the healthy way out and have something better for you.

If we make it too easy, we WILL indulge!

We just aren't cake eaters. Period.
Only the occasional brownie.
Only rarely, pie, usually holidays.

Here, we much prefer other sweet treats. Cookies, muffins, cobblers, etc. That said, I have one recipe and one only that uses a boxed mix. We like it. For that, I keep a box or two on hand.

I have to be one of the least picky eaters on earth, I can count one hand the things I won't eat.
Many things are unimpressive, but I'll eat them.
A few are fantastic, mostly homemade!

To each his/her own and thank goodness for choices!!

I won't even start on the "Taxpayer Funded Welfare Lifestyle".
'Nother thread, 'nother place!

Deanna

Fori, just wondering why you feel that brownies are more work than cake? I consider brownies quick and easy. Mixed in one bowl.

Ann

Cathy, don't worry about it. I know that everyone has their own way of doing things and I know you aren't malicious at all.

At least I don't have to deal with a florist, a caterer, flights, accomodations or foreign languages! Ashley did hire a photographer, but that's her problem.

Social event? ROFL. We don't have "social events" here, and I've never heard anyone refer to any local wedding as a social event. It will be a heck of a good party, though, so if you want to come to Michigan, come on up, I'll have a cranberry juice and limoncello ready for you. You'll be safe, every cop and fire fighter in the county will be here!

Annie

Well, carp, how did THAT happen. I thought I posted this on the Wedding Dress thread.....

Yup, I'm losing it. (grin)

Annie

I'm not that big a cake person but have wanted to do some experimenting with cupcakes to take to work.
I find that it is very hard for me to try to settle on which recipe to try. To the point I'm about ready to break down and run to the store for a box mix.

Recipe's for cake (and other things) are all over the map and almost never have a description of what the result is supposed to be like!
Is it dense and moist? Lighter? More like a muffin? What exactly does the cream cheese/sour cream/extra 2 sticks of butter compared to other recipes/buttermilk/etc. etc. etc. provide in terms of texture or flavor?
Some recipe's have tons of 'basic' ingred and others are very simple. Ratio's vary wildly.

I tried brownie recipe's from Silver Palate, BHG and many other other T&T sources (incl this forum) with results that ranged from uneatable goopy to just dry and flavorless. I settled on the Joy of Cooking Cockaigne recipe although I don't like the 1/8 hard top crust it gets, its a bit much. At least its consistent and pretty good but it took a long time to work my way to it.

I'm a little tired of trying recipe after recipe not to mention the expense and sinfulness of throwing away food.

Most people just say "everyone loves it!" when they suggest a recipe. I'm sorry to be such a whiner but that doesn't really cut it. I have a friend who makes a big batch of pies once a year around the holidays because "everyone loves her pies". They are awful! But either no one tells her or they have nothing else to compare them too.
It can be very subjective and what you are used too.

More descriptions of results in both cookbooks and web recipe's would be so helpful along with how certain ingredients bring about those results.

Given my experience as someone who didn't grow up with recipes that I used for x, I can see why people turned to box mixes. It may not be the best but its consistent and easy.

Well, I can't help you with any other recipes but I can give you this one, my favorite. It was posted here by Pixistix, who went to the Pillsbury BakeOff finals more than once.

It's a very plain, not very sweet and kind of dense cake, a more open crumb than pound cake but moist like that. I love it and it's extremely easy, possibly the easiest cake I've ever stirred up. I baked this for my wedding cake when Elery and I got married:

Hot Milk Cake - Pixistix
Old fashioned, simple, melts in your mouth!
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Beat eggs and sugar well. Combine flour with bk. powder and add to egg mixture along with vanilla. Heat milk and butter together until butter melts; gradually add to batter, beating until well blended.

Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.

I love Colleen's chocolate cake (recipe already posted at link above), it's moist and chocolate-y. It does not have that airy "spongy" texture that cake mix cakes have though, and which I don't like but others do. Have I mentioned I'm strange about texture? LOL

OK, brownies. I'm not a fan of ooey-gooey sticky brownies but I do like them kind of chewy. I use Sherry's (sheshebop) recipe, she tops them with a dark chocolate ganache and they are to die for and I'm not even wild over brownies. The notes are Sherry's.

I first made this recipe because I could use oil and I didn't have a cup of butter and the store here in town was closed for the evening. Now I always use oil.

Sherry's Brownies

1 cup vegetable oil or butter
2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Blend the oil, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add eggs. Beat well with a spoon. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the egg mixture until well blended. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from edges of pan.

To cut them easily, put them in the freezer for an hour or so. Then they cut without falling apart.

Frost or not.

If you want to add nuts, add about 1 cup. this recipe makes 24 brownies. I also add chocolate chips to them to make them extra chocolatey.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about that "crust", so I can't guarantee that these don't, but I never noticed any. Maybe because it was covered with ganache, LOL.

Finally, the only "from scratch" cake that Ashley likes, probably because it has a package of pudding mix and I think it's the chemicals that give it that spongy texture! This is as close to a cake mix texture that I've ever had in a from scratch cake. I think you could use any flavor of pudding mix, but Ashley likes pistachio. It'll be the top layer of her wedding cake. It's a smaller recipe, makes a dozen cupcakes or one 8 or 9 inch layer:

Pistachio Cupcakes

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant pistachio pudding mix
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1-1/4 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; add to dry ingredients and mix until blended.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Yield: 1 dozen.

I hope this helps.

Annie

Annie thank you! A question, when you just say flour is that AP or cake? I noticed in the last recipe you specify, but not the others.

Unless it's specified, "flour" means All Purpose.
Variations are spelled out...as in cake flour, whole wheat flour, bread flour, rye flour etc....

Yes, just all purpose. If I use cake flour, I'll specify that it's cake flour, but occasionally I slip up and copy and paste like that recipe and then it'll say.

If I don't specifically say what kind of flour, it's all purpose.

Now, I think I'm going to go bake something, it snowed here today and the house is a little cool.

Annie

WOW Annie, That is my new brownie recipe. Excellent!

That's almost the same as the recipe I use, when I'm not using melted baker's chocolate, Annie. I omit the baking powder but otherwise it's the same. That's why I couldn't understand the thinking that brownies are more work than scratch cake, it's one bowl and you don't even have to get out the mixer.