Made me a bit mad----

[Chefmom]

I have made this recipe and it is good. Hershey's cocoa is readily available as well. I stock cocoa en masse in my pantry.

http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/4754/Black-Magic-Cake.aspx

 

[THEFAN]

Just like me and my breadmaker. I'm a breadman now. Perfect evertime and no work at all. The butcher the baker the candle stick maker. All have been streamlined for the fast modern life. ARGH!!! I still make bread by hand sometimes. So I am guilty too.

 

[hwillm1977]

I have never understood mixes for cakes or muffins etc. It's just all the dry ingredients, packaged in a pretty box, that costs more than the individual ingredients would. It doesn't really save any time because you still have to add milk, oil, eggs whatever.

It's all just marketing, rather than actual "time saving".

Maybe that's a good idea for a farmer's market booth... 'from scratch baking' made easy

 

[curly_kate]

DH got a copy of the "Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook" amid a bunch of other stuff when his grandmother died. I LOVE that book!!! All of the recipes are really from scratch, and the funny thing is, I almost always have all the ingredients here when I bake the recipes. I would actually need to go to the store to buy the pre-packaged mix! I heard/read something a while ago (might have been something from Michael Pollan) about how the food industry worked VERY HARD in the 50s to convince mothers that they needed to buy the pre-packaged stuff because up to that point, SAHMs considered it insulting to say that they shouldn't cook from scratch for their family. Another example of marketers pretending to make life easier when it's really about selling more stuff.

 

[me&thegals]

Don't you find it interesting that we are now a generation of people thinking that starting with a boxed cake is making from "scratch"? I realize people on here don't think so but you talk to the average person and they do.

Yikes! Yes, I saw SIL on FB commenting on having to make pumpkin bread for her son like it was a pretty big endeavor--and it was from a box, too. Not judging her, but it is interesting where these skills have gone.

Moolie--Looks like an excellent recipe, thanks! Cake is the ONE thing I sometimes get from a box. I can't make a moist cake (unless it has beets or carrots, and the kids get weary of that ) from scratch to save my life.

 

[Marianne]

Doesn't a pudding mix added to the cake make it moist? There's that dang box again...

I have a friend that when she says that she made a cake, brownies, or whatever, she always adds, 'Well, not like you'.

 

[me&thegals]

Doesn't a pudding mix added to the cake make it moist? There's that dang box again...

I have a friend that when she says that she made a cake, brownies, or whatever, she always adds, 'Well, not like you'.

No kidding I have to bite my tongue to not be annoying, as in: This is our wheat, our eggs, our cousin's milk, our butter made from that cream! Not doing our own sugar yet, but we have honey If it weren't for salt, sugar, baking soda, and spices, some of our baked goods would be incredibly local!

 

[FarmerChick]

I never could make a moist cake---until I pull it out a tad early. overbaking the thing results in dry. when I pull it out about 6-7 minutes before any alloted receipe time, 100% of the time it is moist. Now I set a timer for early because I put things in the oven and walk away, never to return and that results in alot of burned cakes HAHA

Hubby always said my cakes were dry. not anymore

 

[moolie]

Moolie--Looks like an excellent recipe, thanks! Cake is the ONE thing I sometimes get from a box. I can't make a moist cake (unless it has beets or carrots, and the kids get weary of that ) from scratch to save my life.

This one is moist, but a little heavy because it's a tad fudgey--add an extra half a cup of flour if you want it a bit lighter.

 

[DianeS]

I have never understood mixes for cakes or muffins etc. It's just all the dry ingredients, packaged in a pretty box, that costs more than the individual ingredients would. It doesn't really save any time because you still have to add milk, oil, eggs whatever.

It's all just marketing, rather than actual "time saving".

Maybe that's a good idea for a farmer's market booth... 'from scratch baking' made easy

It's an idea that sells well at craft fairs where I used to live. Mason jars of Potato Soup mix, or Hot Chocolate mix, or even Salsa mix. All sorts of things like that. All the dry ingredients in a jar with a pretty lid and attached gift card, with instructions to heat some water (or milk, depending), and add the contents of the jar - Poof! you have "home made" whatever. (Sometimes the ingredients are mixed, sometimes they're layered for a prettier "look".)

I admit I keep a couple of those soup mixes in the house for quick meals. At least I know the ingredients are "real", just dehydrated. Not all chemically like most of the things in the grocery store. (Is "chemically" a word? If not, it is now!)