If I'm making the basic cake (white, yellow, chocolate, etc.) I always sift the powder mix first. I use applesauce instead of oil and I always add vanilla no matter what flavor cake I'm making. If I use the whole egg (I usually use the whites only), I beat the whites separately from the yolk before adding anything else. I've been told that my cakes have the texture of wedding cakes. Now as for variations I have added peanut butter and chocolate (a personal favorite) to a white cake, sour cream to a chocolate cake, strawberries to a white cake (omit water) and I am currently making pumpkin bars from a spice cake mix (which led me to your site because I was looking for a way to turn a white cake into a spice cake so I can double it). Use four eggs instead of three, add a can of pumpkin and a quarter of a cup of applesauce (or oil if you prefer), omit water. Bake as directed on the box.

This one always turns out good: STRAWBERRY JELL-O POUND CAKE 1 box strawberry cake mix 1 pkg. strawberry Jell-O 3/4 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix Empty cake mix into bowl. Put Jell-O in a measuring cup and fill to 1 cup with boiling water. Add 3/4 cup of liquid to cake mix. Reserve 1/4 cup for glaze. Add remaining ingredients to cake mix. Beat on low speed until mixture is blended then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake in tube pan for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Glaze: 1/4 cup Jell-O (from above) 1 cup confectionersâ sugar Add the 1/4 cup of Jell-O to 1 cup confectionersâ sugar. Mix well and spoon on warm cake.

Basic Yellow Pound Cake - Anne Byrn, The Cake Doctor A cross between a Twinkie (sans cream filling) and a Sara Lee Pound Cake but better Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan Flour for dusting the pan 1 package (18.25 ozs) plain yellow cake mix 1 package (3.4 ozs) instant vanilla pudding mix 1 cup whole milk 1 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, safflower, corn, soybean or sunflower 4 large eggs 1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325��F. Lightly mist 1 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside. 2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven. 3. Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 58 to 60 minutes for a tube pan. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that the cake is right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes or more. Frost. 4. Store this cake, unfrosted, covered in aluminum foil, at room temperature, for up to 4 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Scratch baking isn't inconsistent when done by the same baker with the same ingredients, tools and oven. When someone who really doesn't know how to bake well has inconsistent results it's usually because the ingredients weren't handled correctly or measured properly, and the baker doesn't know the oven well enough to know the correct settings for that particular oven. I don't get the mix "doctoring" part if it's more than throw in a few raspberries or a box of pudding mix. The basics, the flour, sugar and baking powder, are the easy part! At least once you've mastered measuring. ryseryse_2004, I read once that cake mixes require the addition of milk and eggs so that the person making it will feel like it's really baking rather than magic box factory stuff. I haven't made a mix since I was old enough to measure, however, so this is just a guess: There have been a lot of changes in how fats are handled for factory made foods. It'll be the fats that create the "chemical" taste that Annie mentioned, and which are most likely to vary. They're also the first things to get rancid and therefore are what most require stabilizers and preservatives, which also have gone through changes. That may very well be your difference. They'll also have an effect on texture, and potentially even dryness. Annie and Maddielee bring up a good point. Plain old frosted cake is kind of out of style. It could be they're engineering the cake mixes to be dryer than they used to be in order to stand up to the very wet fillings, soaks, ganaches, cremes and toppings that are so in.