I
am a scratch baking snob. I have
grown up baking without any boxed mixes, so I never understood the reason to
use them. But I need to know the
other side of the story. Why do
people continue to use boxed mixes?
Little did I know, but one of my good friends is a boxed mix connoisseur. Let me introduce you to Maura
Keech. Maura is a culinary arts
students at Drexel University and also a wife and mother to four children. While she loves to cook, baking is not
her strong suit. So when she wants
to bake, she uses boxed mixes and she doesn’t try to hide it. After talking to
Maura, I discovered that price and convenience plays a huge part in the reason
for using boxed mixes. Below is a
transcript of the conversation between Maura and I.
Why do you use boxed
mixes?
“I’m
not a baker. I use them one,
because it’s convenient and they always turn out. They are really easy to use. Even my 10-year-old can read the directions and bake a
cake. Most of the time you just
need water and eggs, which if you have the box, you always have water and eggs
and a little bit of oil. The
prices are also another reason I use them. They are cheap; you can usually get them on sale. ACME normally has them 10 for $10.”
Do you have a
favorite brand? Or do you find
them all consistent?
“My
favorite angel food cake is the America’s Choice store brand. Brownies, I think we like Betty Crocker
the best. Cake mixes, I think, are
pretty consistent. I tried
different brownie and angel food cake mixes and I just like the way they turned
out the best.”
Have you ever tried
to bake from scratch?
“I
tried to make a cake.”
How did that turn
out?
“Very
cumbersome, it was really cumbersome.
You have a lot of different ingredients and steps. It didn’t bake or taste as well as the
boxed mix. It was lumpy and didn’t
rise as well.”
Do you have the
ingredients to bake at home?
“I
do. I have baking powder, baking
soda, and flour on hand to bake.”
So it’s not that you
don’t have the ingredients? It’s convenient.
“It
is. 9 times out of 10, I’m making
something it’s like oh crap, I got to bake a cake for tonight or the kids need
something for school.”
Have you ever
compared the boxed mix to a scratch recipe?
“I
made the angel food cake in a baking class. I actually like the boxed cake better. It was lighter and had a better
flavor.”
Do you “doctor” the
box mixes you use? If so, what do
you make?
“Yes,
I do. Sometimes I will add
applesauce instead of oil to make a spice or apple cake. I also use cream cheese to make
cheesecake brownies.”
So you are more or
less improving the boxed mix but adding your own ingredients? That makes you more of a scratch baker,
right?
“Absolutely,
I make it creamier with the cream cheese.
It also changes the flavor of the mix completely by adding your own
ingredients. Adding applesauce
instead of oil can also make it healthier for you. So yeah, I guess I am a semi-scratch baker.”
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