says Yogi Bear through a mouth stuffed w/ cake and smeared w/ icing stolen from yet another pic-i-nic basket.
Doug, hunny, it was Smokey but you're allowed.
oh, I know...
just seems Smokey is a bit to serious to care about cakes.....
but Yogi....well, is there any pic-i-nic basket he didn't like????
Mike1394 Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 785
Location: Michigan
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:41 am
jkalman wrote:
Oooooooh Mike... you are baaaaad. Need to be spanked with a spatula..
Oh I can GUARENTEE this thread is NOT going that way. Hehehehehe
Mike
cocobean Frequent Member
Joined: Sep 27, 2007
Posts: 393
Location: South Jordan, Utah
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:49 am
My two cents. Sorry I haven't read all of the replies with this topic. But, a oouple of responses I have if someone asks about my cake. I tell them that a lot of the time I start out with a box cake mix but then I turn it into a supper enhanced mix where I add a lot of my own ingredients like: sour cream, pudding, butter, extra flour, extra sugar extra flavoring mabybe spices etc. so by the time I am done they wouldn't recognize it as any box mix that they have ever had!!! The response is usually, oohhh do you share your recipes. I just smile! I have a lot of secrets that have taken me YEARS to learn! Of course it's different if one of you asks. I do refer a lot of people to cc!
littlecake Forum Fanatic
Joined: Sep 18, 2006
Posts: 1390
Location: the fine line between genuis and insanity
Birthday: Nov 21
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:54 am
"donning my flame retardant underwear"....
when i was gonna add frappacino type drinks to my shop, many of the formulas had guar gum and xanthan gum in them.
not wanting to kill my customers....so they'd come back and buy more stuff....i looked these things up.
guar gum is made from guar beans
and if i remember right....xanthan gum was made by a fermenting process ...made with basically sugar.
someone smarter than me prolly knows more about this...but that made it less scarey to me.
txkat Forum Fanatic
Joined: Aug 14, 2006
Posts: 1162
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:26 am
Throwing a tub of sour cream into a cake mix and calling it "scratch" or " homemade" is like adding milk to kraft mac and cheese and calling it homemade fettucini alfredo.
If scratch bakers get get "uppity" it's because they're pushed into it by the "enhancers" talking about how much better their cake is than ours. My cakes aren't dry. they don't crumble, we carve them all the time, and BTW, we use all organic ingredients ( except cake flour, and we use the unbleached King Arthur for that). Our milk and butter comes from a farm about 25 miles from here. Our eggs come from a different farm about 15 miles in the other direction. I know the guy that imports my vanilla beans personally. We don't use corn syrup, shortening, or preservatives of any kind. It makes a difference.
The college kids who work for me ( and college kids will generally eat anything) tell me all the time that they can't eat Coldstone anymore, now that they've had our homemade gelato. They don't like the cookies at Mrs. Fields anymore etc. etc.
Once you've had good homemade, you can't go back to scratch. Just like Italian boys don't eat Ragu, cause they grew up on Mama's sauce. Same thing...once you've been to Paris etc.
The point is do what you want, or what you like. The majority of the American food industry is based on selling us food with dubious ingredients and convincing us it is delicious. It's a successful model. You can make money, but can I tell you how proud I am when I can look someone straight in the eye and say " Everything in this shop is made from scratch every day. It's awesome.
jkalman Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 3635
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Birthday: Oct 28 Gallery Supporter Member
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:32 am
Yes.. most of the emulsifiers and gums are derived from natural sources. I don't find them scary.. that's not why I avoid cake mixes. I just don't like the texture and flavor of mix cakes. Propylene glycol is a tad scary as it is used in many things including pesticides, deodorants, and can be used as anti-freeze in your car. I'm sure it's in trace amounts.. but still.. I tend to try to avoid things like that if I can even if the FDA has stated it is generally safe for use as a direct food additive. I'm sure that the mixes could do just fine without it. Though I have never said once that people who use mixes are horrible. Quite the opposite.. I am more of a do your own thing and be proud of it sort of a person. I am a proud scratch baker.. but I don't knock those who aren't..
Oh and Mike.. I would never spank you.. perhaps your wife would though.. if you were provoking a bunch of ornery cake people. :p
moreCakePlz Forum Addict
Joined: Dec 28, 2007
Posts: 638
Location: New Orleans
Birthday: Dec 27
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:33 am
littlecake wrote:
"donning my flame retardant underwear"....
when i was gonna add frappacino type drinks to my shop, many of the formulas had guar gum and xanthan gum in them.
not wanting to kill my customers....so they'd come back and buy more stuff....i looked these things up.
guar gum is made from guar beans
and if i remember right....xanthan gum was made by a fermenting process ...made with basically sugar.
someone smarter than me prolly knows more about this...but that made it less scarey to me.
Not smarter, just quoting for the book “How Baking Works" by Paula Figoni.
Guar gum is from the beans of the plant Cyamopsis tetragonoloba that grows in India and Pakistan. Guar gum is used as a thickener in a broad range of products, including cream cheese and sour cream. It is also used in frozen foods, such as ice cream and frozen pasteurized egg whites, to prevent ice crystal growth and freezer damage.
Xanthan gum is produced when the microorganism Xanthomonas campestris undergoes fermentation. Xanthan gum thickens without feeling thick and heavy, so it is commonly used in salad dressing to keep ingredients suspended.
"How Baking Works" is a great book if you want to learn how each ingredient affects the process.
Potential client: “Do you bake from scratch?”
Debi: “You couldn’t afford me if I baked from scratch.”
I’ve told them “I use the same premeasured mixes used by most bakeries and food establishments in town.”
I just can NOT understand why people feel guilty about using mixes. Ever shop in GFS? See those big 5-lb boxes of cake mix? You think they’re selling those to housewives? Heck no! They are selling them to bakeries and restaurants and any other business who wants to make a cake!
Ever eat at Applebee’s, Olive Garden, or any other restaurant? You think they make all of that from scratch? Heck no!!! Have you noticed all the new “smaller portion” meals that are being offered now? You think everyone came up with the same “new” idea at the same time? Heck no!! GFS revealed those products at their food show a few months ago! So all of those places are ordering those frozen-not-made-from-scratch items for sale in their restaurant.
Most of the nat’l hamburger chains don’t even fry their hamburgers on site anymore … they arrive at the restaurant already cooked. And you’re feeling “guilty” about using a mix?????
k8memphis wrote:
I wished I had asked her how the stigma about cake mixes began? It is the oddest thing on the planet!.
Because back in the pioneer days, a woman was MEASURED on her culinary skills. A woman who couldn’t make a pie crust just wouldn’t be able to “ketch a MAN!” A woman who was GOOD at this stuff was considered the Queen of the Ball, uh, kitchen. As the “new and improved” models came in, it somewhat threatened the “status” of the local women who were the champion pie crust makers …. Because now EVERYONE could make a good pie crust and they were no longer Queen of the Ball. How did they fight this threat to their self-perceived status? By making snotty little comments such as, “Oh, she baked that from a MIX!”
milissasmom wrote:
i KNOW for a fact is that there are TONS of professional establishments that use BOX mixes for tons of things (even Pancakes, waffles etc)!
I particularly liked one Food Channel show where they were in some mom-n-pop diner, and the owners were bragging on how they made everything from scratch! ….. as they stood in front of a shelving unit with a couple boxes of Aunt Jemima pancake mix sitting on it!!
johnson6ofus wrote:
I have ZERO guilt for boxes--- those companies do NOTHING but perfect their "pre-measured" ingredients- and I take advantage of it! …..I don't grind my own cinnamon, grow my own strawberries, or churn my own butter--- but I use boxes, and I consider myself a scratch baker. Just how far do you need to go, to be "scratch"? I don't use the "side of the box" added ingredients, and THAT makes it MINE. ))
When I get a bride who asks “Do you use fresh or frozen?” (regarding catering), I respond with “I don’t grow my own corn or kill my own chicken, so what are you looking for?”
AMEN!!!! I just did a cake for a party that I actually went to this past weekend and this question came up (after they devoured their first half of cake, they were able to mumble it out as they continued to shove their faces with it). I operate by the Ohio Cottage Foods laws and it's required for me to put the ingredients on my labels and I DO put "pre-measured commercial base" as my first ingredient with their ingredients in paranthasis after it. I have no problem telling people I use box mix, as I know my cakes taste different than their box mix cakes do. The funny thing about the question this time was that the hostess of the party chimed right in and said "who cares ....it tastes great, looks great and I didn't have to do it!" Isn't that really what people are looking for?
mija10417 Junior Member
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 45
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:14 pm
Ok, I stopped reading at page 7. I just wanted to add my two cents that you should be honest if you use box or not. My friend's daughter is deathly allergic to red dye which is in ALL cake mixes. Even white! A lot of kids these days are becoming allergic to preservatives and artifical stuff so please be honest if they ask. There is no reason to be ashamed of using box mixes!
k8memphis Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 21, 2005
Posts: 721
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:20 pm
mija10417 wrote:
...My friend's daughter is deathly allergic to red dye which is in ALL cake mixes. Even white! A lot of kids these days are becoming allergic to preservatives and artifical stuff so please be honest if they ask. There is no reason to be ashamed of using box mixes!
Red dye in white cake mix? How could it be white?
It would at least be pink.
It's not on the label.
So they just cleverly sneak it in there and don't list it and conceal the fact that it's red.
Bastards!
alicegop Forum Addict
Joined: May 03, 2006
Posts: 984
Location: Fresno, CA
Birthday: Oct 06
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:45 pm
johnson6ofus wrote:
I don't grind my own cinnamon, grow my own strawberries, or churn my own butter--- but I use boxes, and I consider myself a scratch baker. Just how far do you need to go, to be "scratch"? I don't use the "side of the box" added ingredients, and THAT makes it MINE. ))
Someone on here has a quote along the lines of "if you want to make an apple pie from scratch you first have to create the universe" by that smart scientist guy.
jkalman Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 3635
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Birthday: Oct 28 Gallery Supporter Member
Posted:
Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:07 am
I think some white cake mixes could have a red dye in them.. blue too. Because violet in very small amounts will counter act any yellow that might be in the ingredients.
I mean people do it all the time with their buttercream.. just as a teeny touch of violet and you'll see it turn whiter.. I have seen that advice many many times.
Not stating fact because I haven't read every white cake mix box, but it could be true.
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Need to be spanked with a spatula.. 
Sorry I haven't read all of the replies with this topic. But, a oouple of responses I have if someone asks about my cake. I tell them that a lot of the time I start out with a box cake mix but then I turn it into a supper enhanced mix where I add a lot of my own ingredients like: sour cream, pudding, butter, extra flour, extra sugar extra flavoring mabybe spices etc. so by the time I am done they wouldn't recognize it as any box mix that they have ever had!!! The response is usually, oohhh do you share your recipes. I just smile! 
I have a lot of secrets that have taken me YEARS to learn! Of course it's different if one of you asks. I do refer a lot of people to cc! 
