Vintage cake recipes v. smaller box cake mixes ---- what's the fix?

[grasswire]

My family has enjoyed a particular recipe from the 70s thoroughly. It's a sherry cake, and it uses a box of yellow cake mix to start.

Well, cake mixes used to be 17 ounces in size, and they are no longer. So the proportions are off for the other ingredients, and the cake does not turn out its lovely lovely self. I have tried cutting the liquids a bit -- the sherry and the oil and one less egg. Still doesn't turn out right.

Some people suggest using two boxes and measuring out of one the amount of oz that would make the same amount of mix that used to be in the box. Other people say that doesn't work; that the formula has been somehow changed.

Has anyone solved this problem? Thanks in advance.

[murielm99]

1. Try it with the two boxes.

If it doesn't work, start looking for a replacement recipe.

I am sorry this is happening to you. Bummer.

[dem in texas]

2. Keep Trying

I have several old recipes that start with a cake mix and find that the ingredients in the mixes change over a period of time. Look at the portions of flour, eggs, fat and liquid in a 1,2,3 cake recipe and use it as guideline for making adjustments. Measure how much dry you have (by the cup) and compare to the cake flour in the cake recipe. Same for liquid and eggs. If the cake seemed dry and crumbly, add another egg or some more fat, this will add moisture and help the cake hold together. If you just add more water, the cake will be apt to crack.


My favorite cake from a mix is a white sheet cake that I ice with vanilla cream cheese frosting and top with lots of finely chopped coconut. I start with Betty Crocker white cake mix, add two egg whites and one whole egg, some almond and vanilla extract. I add 1/4 cup oil and 3/4 of stick of softened butter. Same amount of liquid (water) called for on box. This makes a moist flavorful cake. I don't know if it would work as a layer cake as I always make it as a sheet cake. I always use the Betty Crocker cake mix and have adjusted it several times as the ingredients in the cake mix seem to change every once in a while.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. Have you considered making your own yellow cake?

It's quite easy. Any cookbook with recipes for desserts will tell you how, or you can go to the internets. I just looked, and found multiple recipes for sherry cake on the internet, and I'm sure you can adapt one of them.

[grasswire]

4. yea, I am an expert baker.

I just want the exact same results that we have always enjoyed.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

9. Actually, I do understand

There's a casserole my wife likes, and I got the recipe from her mother. It calls for a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup -- I once made my own mushroom béchamel instead of the canned soup, and my wife insisted that I go back to using the canned. It's what she is used to.

She also prefers Kraft or Hellman's mayonnaise from the jar over my home-made mayo. Again, it's what she is used to.

[Major Nikon]

10. It's a bit difficult to exactly duplicate box cakes

They use ingredients that are a bit difficult to find retail.

I think there's still a few 17oz mixes out there. Here's one by Pillsbury.

http://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/white-cake-1587

[northoftheborder]

5. Similar problem with boxes pie crust----

I can make pie crust from scratch. However, for decades, the next best thing when time was of essence was Pillsbury's boxed pie crust mix. The last few boxes I've tried have been total failures. Hardly enough mix to make one crust, never mind two. And it was so dry - like it didn't have enough butter (or whatever they put in it for the oil). The formula and amount has been completely changed. So, the next best thing now is the crusts from the refrigerated case. But if I want a really good crust, I'm going with from scratch from now on.

[dem in texas]

6. Same for me

A bout five years back, I started buying those refrigerated pie crusts which are skimpy and crack so easy. I decided to go back to making pie crust from scratch, and found Ina Garten's recipe for easy pie crust which is made in the food processor. So easy, a lovely crust and plenty large enough for the biggest pie dish.

[grasswire]

7. one tip

Scratch really is best. But I've heard that Trader Joe's pie crust from their freezer case is much better than any other prepared crust. For those times.

[northoftheborder]

12. Thanks for the tip.

[Freddie]

8. Add 6 tablespoons flour

To the "new improved" cake mix and proceed with the recipe as usual, per Cake Mix Doctor site. I've done this and it works. No need if using the cake mix for a cobbler or dump cake.

[SheilaT]

11. I would suspect that over the years

exactly what goes in to the boxed mix has changed. It would be interesting to find an old box and do a comparison of the ingredients.

I do a fair amount of baking, always from scratch, and I simply cannot abide a cake made with a mix. They have a very "chemical" taste to me.

A while back, while I was still working, I periodically made a cake, or cookies, or brownies and brought them in to share with my co-workers. I could tell how few people ever had anything like that made from scratch, by the degree to which people swooned over my stuff. I find that even goods from a bakery seem to be made from mixes, because they simply aren't as good as mine. Again, they have that slightly off taste that makes me suspect a commercial mix.