If you are use to boxed cake mixes, you will most likely be disappointed with the  texture of a from scratch homemade cake.  With a from scratch cake you will not be able to reproduce that very cottony texture of a commercial box mix.  It that’s what you are use to, you may not like a from scratch cake at first.

So, why you may ask, should you go to the trouble of baking a cake from scratch if it isn’t as good as a cake mix cake?  First, what is good and what isn’t is quite arbitrary.  Me, I grew up with from scratch cakes and I do not like the texture of a box cake.  My granddaughter on the other hand, grew up with box cakes and does not like the texture of a from scratch cake.  She says they’re just sweet bread.

My main reason, personal taste aside, for making from scratch cakes is because I know exactly what is in them, beginning with the fact that I can use unbleached, instead of bleached flour.  Beyond that, I know that my from scratch cake will contain only flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, liquid and flavoring.   In addition to those

ingredients, the average cake mix also contains: partially hydrogenated soybean oil, propylen glycol monoesters, dextrose, cellulose, monoand diglycerides, xanthan gum, artificial flavor, cellulose gum and polysorbate 60, among others.  Me, if I can’t pronounce it, I don’t want to eat it.  Also, I just don’t see that a mix is all that much easier.  You still have to add egg, oil and liquid – so what time have you really saved.

I do however understand that one big saving is in the shopping time it takes to assemble all the ingredients to make a from scratch cake.  Also, if you have a small kitchen and you don’t bake very often, I can see that it may be inconvenient to store the ingredients necessary to bake from scratch.  Now, strange as it may seem, I was

asked by my publisher to write a cake mix cook book.  Before that I had never bought a mix.  Despite the fact that I still prefer to make my cakes from scratch, the book has some good cake ideas and things you can do to dress up a mix.  When writing the book, I bought numerous types and brands of mixes and in my opinion, they are all just about the same so my advice is to buy whatever brand is on sale.

Whether you choose a box mix or a from scratch cake, I strongly urge you to make your own frosting_or_icing.  It is so easy and so much better.  All you need is butter and powdered sugar.

But the main thing is, what’s  a birthday without a cake and one baked at home, whether it’s from scratch or from a box, says “I love you,” much better than a bakery cake.