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Post by krisinmi on Mar 25, 2019 20:12:23 GMT
I'm hoping someone here can give me some insight before I go with trial and error and end up eating more baked goods than I need.
The situation: I have come into possession of 20-30 pounds each of white cake mix, devil's food cake mix and cake doughnut mix (the donor told DH they were "a couple bags of cake flour" and then dumped three partially used 50# bags in the back of his truck.)
The question: each bag has instructions for a commercial sized batch--10# mix plus 10 cups water plus 6 cups oil kind of thing. How do I translate this to make a normal home kitchen sized batch of doughnuts, cake, cupcakes?
I've tried Google with no results. The mixes all ready contain egg, otherwise I would just add up the dry ingredients on my typical from scratch recipe and try it with that much of the mix and carry on with the wet ingredients as usual.
I guess the alternative is to by a box of cake mix, dump it into a measuring cup and see what it comes out to. Although I'm all ready on overkill with this "gift" of 'cake flour'.
Anybody have a box of "just add water and oil" cake mix and is willing to measure out the mix for me? 😊
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Post by feather on Mar 25, 2019 20:54:14 GMT
According to Duncan Hines, an 18.25 oz box of cake mix equals approximately 2 1/4 cups of dry mix. beyondfrosting.com/2017/04/20/cake-mix-guide/Betty Crocker: 1 ¼ cup water, ½ cup vegetable oil and 3 large eggs Pillsbury: 1 cup water, ½ cup vegetable oil and 3 large eggs Duncan Hines: 1 cup water 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 3 large eggs I'd probably wing it. 2 and 1/2 cups mix (with eggs), 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil, 1 cup water (or more if needed). Good luck! |
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Post by krisinmi on Mar 25, 2019 21:43:17 GMT
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Post by krisinmi on Mar 28, 2019 19:31:30 GMT
I thought I would share the results of trial #1 if anyone is interested.
Going with 2 1/2 cups devil's food cake mix to 1/3 cup of oil and 1 cup of water, I attempted cupcakes.
Results: yield only 15 cupcakes (does a box of cake mix still make 24 or has that gone down?).
Baked 18 minutes at 350 degrees, they came out with very good texture. So, a success!
However, the devil's food cake mix and the cake doughnut mix I was given are sharing a large plastic tote. For how long, I don't know. But my devil's food cupcakes don't taste very chocolate. They taste more like cake style doughnuts!!
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Post by krisinmi on Mar 31, 2019 22:42:36 GMT
Trial #2: using the same ratio of 2 1/2 cups mix to 1/3 cup oil and 1 cup water, I made a 9"x13" sheet cake with the white cake mix. Baked 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
It came out great. Slightly thinner than my normal sheet cake in same pan (but that could be the difference between my normal scratch recipe and what a box of cake mix would make; it's literally been decades since I bought boxed mix). The texture and moistness were perfect.
I frosted it with maple frosting (used my normal vanilla frosting recipe and substituted maple syrup for the vanilla extract and milk). Yum yum!
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Post by feather on Mar 31, 2019 22:57:42 GMT
Have your cake and eat it too!  What a great hobby to have! Making and eating cake. |
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Post by krisinmi on Mar 31, 2019 23:17:47 GMT
Have your cake and eat it too! What a great hobby to have! Making and eating cake. Except I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last summer! I've been doing these test batches so I can pass the mix on to family and friends who will use it as long as I give them foolproof recipe with it. |
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Post by krisinmi on Apr 4, 2019 22:40:43 GMT
Trial #3: deciphering doughnut mix.
I'll leave out the suspense and just say this attempt was a huge FAIL.
My mistake was following (more or less) the handwritten recipe on the bag of doughnut mix. I thought it was for cider doughnuts since it called for cider, nutmeg and cinnamon to be added to 4 cups of the mix. I figured I would just substitute water for the cider since a) I have neither cider nor apple juice, and b) I'm trying to figure out liquid to dry mix ratio so that I can distribute this mix too to family and friends.
Well, I didn't end up with doughnut dough following the handwritten quantities. It was really runny. So I added more mix, a cup at a time until it looked closer to what rollable cutable dough looks like. Then I covered it and left it to rise.
Which didn't make it less gooey. At which point I decided that whomever wrote on the bag must have been making muffins, *not* doughnuts.
Now my batter, with 3 extra cups of mix, was too thick for muffins. I could have added more liquid to thin it back down, but I really didn't feel like baking oh, six dozen muffins or so.
So I dumped the whole sticky mess out at the coop for my chickens to enjoy.
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Post by feather on Apr 4, 2019 22:46:52 GMT
krisinmi, you are such a powerhouse trying to make these mixes work! You go girl!
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Post by krisinmi on Apr 5, 2019 20:48:14 GMT
Trial #4: doughnut mix 2nd attempt. After much researching of cake doughnut recipes last night, I made a second attempt this afternoon using the cake doughnut mix. Since this measured the mix by weight--like the bulk recipes of a bakery--I thought it was worth a shot. Translating down a larger recipe of mix to water, I came up with 1 1/3 pounds of mix to 1 cup water. Using my cheapy kitchen scale, this weight came out to about 3 2/3 cups of mix. Well, I'm getting closer. Still a bit sticky but I was at least able to cut it with my (antique found at a rummage sale) doughnut cutter and fry it up. Edible, for sure.  I'd like to give it another try and just up the mix to an even 4 cups to 1 cup water. I think that will hopefully take care of the stickiness issue without making the cooked product too dry. If that works, it's to new homes the rest of this mix goes and the huge plastic tote the bag is in leaves my kitchen! It takes up a lot of space. |
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Post by feather on Apr 5, 2019 20:52:43 GMT
I wish your donuts lived closer to me. |
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Post by ohiodreamer on Apr 10, 2019 23:36:58 GMT
How old are the mixes? The baking powder in them might be old. So if things are flat you might want to add some extra. The baking powder in the mixes is what ”goes first”. Grandma always added extra if the mix was past the best by date.
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Post by krisinmi on Apr 11, 2019 0:11:27 GMT
ohiodreamer, they aren't very old. Not sure how long they've been opened, but all the bags have a label on them from being ordered (DH has a friend whose wife briefly had a little cafe) and the date is 8/9/18.
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Post by midtnmama on Apr 11, 2019 2:23:05 GMT
How old are the mixes? The baking powder in them might be old. So if things are flat you might want to add some extra. The baking powder in the mixes is what ”goes first”. Grandma always added extra if the mix was past the best by date. Ohiodreamer: that is something I need to remember. Thanks! krisinmi, What a bounty and what self-control you have as well as generosity. Years ago, I found a great cake recipe and brownie recipe from scratch. I posted it several times on the old forum. My computer crashed and I no longer have those recipes. I discovered that making these recipes from scratch were not really much more effort than opening a box. |
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Post by krisinmi on Apr 20, 2019 19:35:08 GMT
I gave up on the doughnut mix. Made a third attempt with adjustments. Worked a little better, but after taste testing freshly made and a day later, DH and I came to the consensus that I have made doughnuts from scratch in the past that were 1) much tastier and 2) way easier to make than using this mix. We also decided that if I, the seasoned cook/Baker had so much difficulty with this mix that it would be really not useful for anyone we knew. So the chickens got to eat a bunch of doughnut mix rather than it being passed along to any family members or friends.
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Post by midtnmama on Apr 24, 2019 12:12:14 GMT
Kris: Baking powder and soda lose their ooomph over time. I wonder if you should have added some to your mix.
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I'd like to give it another try and just up the mix to an even 4 cups to 1 cup water. I think that will hopefully take care of the stickiness issue without making the cooked product too dry.
