Are you sure a teaspoon of vanilla costs $0.54?

It's a slam dunk for me in favor of homemade, since I can use unbleached flour and natural sugar, and avoid preservatives or other additives and additional processing and box waste.

My increasingly extreme paranoia of food additives is causing me to basically make everything from scratch (I even whipped up freaking hamburger buns last night). Boxed cakes are a wee bit more convenient, but the chemical additives frighten the hell out of me.

I tend to use the cake mixes...but i add my own flavors/zest to add something special. I want to start making my own recipes with less sugar and gluten free. But because of time, i lean towards the cake mixes.

Eh, I always tell people that the brownies that come from a boxed mix are always 10 times better than the ones I make from scratch...because unfortunately it's true...

I tend to make things from scratch for one basic reason: ingredient control. Box mixes are made to be fast and cheap (for you and the manufacturer) so they're not going to be looking out for your health or the quality of the ingredients. It's a chemical fun house of artificial colors, trans fats (regardless of what the nutrition facts claim) and who knows what else.

Long story short, I try to limit my consumption of box mixes but from a flavor point of view, they do a good job.

I always buy box mixes and then jazz them up. My favorite and easiest way is by adding 1 pint of any flavor ice cream to any flavor cake. Not only does it add a little extra flavor but it also creates a super moist and fluffy cake (which the boxed mixes usually lack)! I simply soften the ice cream beforehand and then after I've mixed the cake according to the box directions, I mix in the softened ice cream and pop it into the oven. So easy but the variety of flavors is endless and the moistness is unheard of!

If I don't have ice cream on hand or I'm just not "feeling it", I'll use more egg whites vs. whole eggs to up the fluffiness and sometimes use different liquids...so instead of water I'll use coca cola or a fruit juice or tea or coffee. And instead of vegetable oil, I'll use hazelnut oil, sunflower oil, etc. The possibilities are endless!

I like the taste of a box cake mix from time to time, probably due to having eaten so many o them growing up. But prepackaged frosting always tastes like chemicals to me, so I always make that.

Homemade all the way! Why waste the calories on something that is just 'alright'? Dirtying a few extra dishes is well worth it when you impress the heck out of people with a real, genuine, homemade cake.

@Dana - On Peapod, a 2 oz bottle of vanilla extract goes for $7.49. That's about 12 teaspoons, so...eesh, it's actually $0.63 per teaspoon!

Not sure where my math got off when I tallied everything up - sorry! (Aha! I think I typed $6.49 into my calculator by mistake. Phew. Not going crazy.)

Not to mention frosting - a 'tub' (doesn't that sound appetizing!) vs. whipping up a lovely batch of homemade (nothing beats 7-minute frosting!)

I guess I just have an aversion to boxed cake mixes because to me, when you're making something like a cake for somebody, you can put much more love into it when it's carefully made from scratch as opposed to dumping in a box of this and a packet of that. And you can really taste that. And my dad's mom always served us boxed-mix cake like it was something special and it always tasted like sugared cardboard, but mom's mom served us divine, light and perfect cake that we knew she had put a bunch of love into.

well, this is America and if someone wants to use boxed cake mix then dammit they sure can. personally i haven't used a boxed mix in over 10 years. it literally just doesn't come up as an option for me because my own basic cake recipes taste better. plus i'm a control freak and like to know exactly what is going into (most of) the food i eat.

i second the commentor who said this: why waste the calories on something that is just 'alright'. amen.

How is this even a question? Have you read the ingredients on box mixes? Gak.

Yes boxes are easier, but if the question is which is *better* this is a no-brainer.

This is basically the exact same as the question on yay or nay to cake mix at all from a few days ago. Homemade cake mix is just essentially a cake you're not baking right then.

Cake mixes have their place. For my hubby's birthday at home? No way. For a church event or kids cupcakes at school, why not.

There are just times when you're less invested in the perfection of the cake in terms of flavor and ingredients, and for those events cake mixes are perfect.

The best thing about them is that you don't have to worry about whether you have all the ingredients in the proper state before setting off to bake one. There's no worry about whether you used the last of the baking sode to scour the inside of your oven, whether you have vanilla or not, or whether your lemons are too old to use. You just check the back of the box and think to yourself... I can probably stand to pick up an extra 6 pack of egs, just in case. Since I have a hubby who has a tendency to drink the last of the milk and not tell me for days, this makes a big difference for me. Cause nothing stops my gastrono-mentum faster than not having the right ingredients on hand.

box mix. i rarely bake, so otherwise i just have bags of flour and baking powder that i never use.

Yikes. Peapod vanilla is expensive! I understand you had to do it here for control purposes, but this is one area where buying in bulk really helps. By my calculations, a 16 oz bottle of Penzey's vanilla at $31.95 (which is pretty high quality, IMO) would put the cost at $0.33 per teaspoon, almost half of whatever brand Peapod is selling.

A big factor for me is that I so very rarely use flour or sugar or baking powder, and it doesn't make sense to me to spend the money and storage space on the ingredients.

You do not know cooking and still want to show off fine dishes. Thats where companies cashing on. I prefer buying a cake from a good bakery to buying a boxed mix. The flexibility and creativity of home made mix is not worth compromising for anything less.

I should point out that as someone who abhors using a food processor (no dishwasher = a pain and a half to clean), making the home-made cake mix will take longer. Creaming butter and sugar can be a bit time-consuming when done by hand. That said, I'd still do it. I like the taste of home-made better than box mixes.

Nothing against either option. I think the article said it - there is a time and place for both... in my opinion.

Boxed mixes always taste waaay more sugary than I can stand. I prefer making a cake from scratch.

Brownies, never made them before and am not a big brownie eater. Again, I've had them when someone buys them made and makes them from a mix. And again, too sweet.

Chocolate chip cookies, I love making from scratch. Always tastes better--unless you absolutely love the exaggerated sweetness. Even when you purchase baked choc. chip cookies, they are sooo sweet!

I can't stand it. When things are over-sugared it leaves a bad taste and breath in my mouth. Baked goods, juices, cocktails. (I hate the breath on someone who's had too many cocktails.)

I make it myself and add enough sugar.

Not trying to be nit-picky, but since were being specific about cost, why not?

If baking powder is a pantry staple, and thus $0.00, then so is flour IMO. Also, a source like pea pod is going to be inherently cheaper in this like box cake mixes then perishable like butter, eggs and milk. So I'd say the homemade is even cheaper than listed.

Having said all that, I'd prefer to eat homemade, but I'm not really big on cake either way, unless its Black Forest cake, yum.

>>A few years back, we did an experiment timing mixing up a bowl of boxed cake mix verses making it from scratch. You can read the complete results here, but at the end of the day, the two took almost exactly the same time: a little over five minutes.

haha, obviously you have not seen me bake. Also, I think clean-up should be taken in consideration. But, anyway, the only boxed mix I tend to go back to is for brownies. I still can't find a recipe for homemade brownies that I am satisfied with.

My daughter has been begging for a strawberry cake, and you know what? You cannot make a hot pink strawberry cake from scratch. It's a chemical concoction only available in box mix.

But I read ingredients. And I cannot bring myself to do it. There's no way she's eating that outta MY kitchen. So thanks for the strawberry milk from scratch recipe! Kiddo, I can make you anything but strawberry cake.

(and wasn't there a hellish recipe featured here that called for adding a box of strawberry Jello to the box mix?)

Duncan Hines, substitute the water with Buttermilk. Moister, sweeter, awesomer.

I've tried Arrowhead Mills Organic chocolate cake mix and like it a lot. It's not as deep dark chocolatey as my favorite Hershey's Collector Cocoa cake recipe, but for a quick, fool-proof box mix it was very, very good and the texture was great. The absence of additives and chemicals was a plus for me too. Even though it's more expensive (mix around $4) than the regular box mix, and probably more expensive than a non-organic homemade cake, I thought it was worth it.

I love cake.. and whilst I grew up on boxed cake mixes, I vastly prefer homemade!!

Cmcinnyc, if you want a homemade, all natural strawberry cake, check out Smitten Kitchen's Pink Lady Cake recipe here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/10/pink-lady-cake/

It looks delicious and while you can add some food colouring to it, you don't really need to.

Ehh we don't eat cake enough to justify the time taken to learn how to make it consistently well and to stock ingredients in the pantry.. I bake cakes maybe 4-5 times a year?

for my wedding, we made cupcakes instead of having a traditional wedding cake (my bachelorette party was more of a cupcake frosting party!), and everything was made from scratch--three kinds of cupcakes, three kinds of frosting--except for one, my absolute favorite: yellow cake with storebought chocolate frosting. it's just what i always requested for my birthday as a child and no matter how many recipes i try, i can never find a homemade equivalent. the tastebuds want what they want!

I have no issue with cake mix, but I don't use it -- I like baking, and it's less fun with a mix.

I love baking for scratch and if it's for me I never use a mix but I have noticed that a lot of people who are used to mixes don't think it tastes "right" if it's not from a mix. Especially with yellow cake. So do I bake from scratch or a mix? Depends on the audience.

For me, the boxed mix is for those times I just want to enjoy a cake. As for homemade, its more of a satisfaction knowing that I made it that just make the experience of eating it that much better. So in the end it depends on how I feel; do I feel ambitious to create something, or do I just want to enjoy it.

I feel like the point is that boxed mix tastes "acceptable"--if you think it is a lot easier, go ahead and use it. Unfortunately, canned frosting, to me, tastes completely unacceptable, despite its significant time advantage of opening a lid vs. any type of homemade frosting (though ganache is simple enough, without that much active time).

I grew up with cake mix (my Mum doesn't like to cook) and except for one singular cake mix I didn't realise you could have moist cakes. All dry and crumbly. Ick. Homemade all the way

If you absolutely must use a cake mix, substitute 3 Tablespoons of butter for the oil. It makes a big difference. Boxed sugar chemicals is not a treat in my book, but hey.

Cmcinnyc, is this what you were talking about? It looks like a fairly delicious revamp of hideous pinklyness:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/roundup-food-blogs/strawberry-dream-cake-good-eats-a-weekly-roundup-from-serious-eats-145447

The only ingredient in the homemade version that isn't a pantry staple at my house is the milk. By the logic used to ignore the cost of other pantry staples, my per serving cost is only $.03.

I think I'm better off without the box...

My Great Grandmother was one of the best damn cooks ever, made everything from scratch, but swore by boxed brownie mix. I have to agree with her - that's one that I just can't give up. Plus you can easily add your own little twist to it, and Ghirardelli makes a foodgasmic dark chocolate mix. Cake, yes. I'd MUCH prefer from scratch. I like a cake with a little denser texture rather than that fluffy foam crap from the store.

Cmcinnyc, I don't know about hot pink but sweetapolita.com has a pretty cool pink strawberry cake which uses jello and strawberries, and tastes delicious its here: http://sweetapolita.com/2011/01/neapolitan-5-layer-birthday-cake-with-strawberry-frosting/