Page 22 - Chocolate Cake Doctor

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What’s in a Cake Mix?

he manufacturers might like you to Undoctored, they deliver the least “cake
Tbelieve that cake mixes are some great mix taste” of all, no matter what brand.
mystery and that their recipes are closely All you need to add to a cake mix is
guarded corporate secrets, but they’re not liquid (water or buttermilk, for example),
that complicated. vegetable oil (this varies from 2 table -
1
They are like any other baking mix in spoons to ⁄2 cup or more), and eggs. The
that they contain flour, sugar, and the number of eggs affects the texture and
leavening needed to make the cake rise. appearance of the cake. One-egg batters
In addition, they contain shortening, will yield a dry and tender cake, perfect
emulsifiers, flavorings such as chocolate, for pressing into the bottom of a spring -
and colorings. The shortening makes the form pan as the base for a cheesecake.
cake tender, the chocolate is for flavor and Two-egg batters make dense sheet cakes,
color, and the emulsifiers make the cake three-egg batters are just right for spongy
moist. Emulsifiers bind the fat and the layer cakes, and four-egg batters turn
liquid together; soy lecithin is the most into those sturdy and well-formed Bundt
common emulsifier. and pound cakes.
Mixes also contain flavorings like You will, of course, want to add more to
vanillin, which is an artificial vanilla a cake mix, and that is why you’re reading
flavoring, thought by many to be the this book! On these pages I will show you
source of “cake mix taste,” an aftertaste how to incorporate mashed ripe bananas
you get from cake mix. Yellow cake mixes and other fruit, sour cream, chopped
suffer the most from “cake mix taste,” I nuts, brewed coffee, and a pantry of other
think, and they contain a heavy hand of ready ingredients into chocolate cake mix
artificial colorings, too. Chocolate mixes, batters to turn them into your signature
on the other hand, are less cluttered. desserts.

the brownies according to the package 2. READY THE OVEN
directions (no doctoring) and sample • Temperature: Oven temperature
them. Then choose the brand you like is the variable that I just cannot help you
best, and use that one in the recipes fea- with, although I wish I could. No matter
tured here. how carefully you follow my recipes, if