Monday is my son's 25th birthday! C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E! A quarter of a century old. Wow!
Anyways, I baked the cake part of his cake yesterday. (Did that ever smell fantastic!) I had moments at the store, standing in the baking aisle, thinking, "should I buy a mix or bake from scratch?" Now, you're thinking, "well of course she'd bake it from scratch." But that choice was/is not so easy for me.
I have a confession to make. I actually like the texture of a cake mix more than a scratch cake. My mom didn't bake cakes from scratch. She always used mixes. So in my mind, "nothin' says lovin' like cake from a mix!" Or maybe it's the fluffiness of a mix that I like. So isn't that odd, that I, someone who loves to bake, likes mix cakes better?
I did wind up baking from scratch. What sealed the deal for me was the "sale" price of the mixes -- $2.00. I know there's been inflation and all, but since when do 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, a bit of vanilla, dry milk, salt and baking powder amount to $2.00? Oh yeah, you have to pay for the colorful box. But I wasn't in the market for a colorful box, just needed the mix.
I estimated that the cost of those basic ingredients, using my usual sale prices, was around 65c to 70c. For me, the better deal was to bake from scratch. For you, your basic supply prices might be higher and the sales on the mixes might be better, giving you a different equation.
After baking, I wrapped the layers, while just barely warm (to seal in the moisture) in plastic wrap. I'll ice and decorate the cake tomorrow (no purple dinosaurs here, just chocolate shell trim and a nice Happy Birthday message). I like to add a glaze between the layers and on the top surface, to add moisture to scratch cakes. And frosting very early in the day that I need it, allows moisture from the icing and glaze to penetrate the layers. (Plus I'm not frantically putting the last of the icing on while the whole family waits!)
But back to my original question, are you scratch or mix? Are there any mixes/prepared foods that you prefer to the homemade version?
And speaking of cakes, what do you make of the Twinkie frenzy?
On Ebay yesterday afternoon, a box of 100 Twinkies was selling for over $300!!! That's over $3 per Twinkie! Some folks just get caught up in this sort of frenzy.
I remember when the Coca Cola Co. announced they were retiring traditional Coca Cola and replacing it with New Coke. People bought up decade-sized stashes of the old Coke, at an outrageous mark-up. And what happened? The New Coke basically went away and back came the old Coca Cola.
So, for those folks thinking they'll retire on this box of Twinkie "investment", perhaps they'd be better served by reading some of these personal finance blogs, and save the old-fashioned way for their retirement.
