Sorry, but boxed cake mix beats my from-scratch cakes every time and I am done pretending otherwise
I know this goes against everything this community stands for. Last month I baked two cakes for my nephew's birthday party in Erie. One was from scratch, the recipe I have been tweaking for 3 years. The other was a $1.25 box of Duncan Hines. I did a blind taste test with 14 people at the party. Nine picked the box. Three could not tell the difference. Two picked mine, and one of those was my mom.
The scratch cake took me 2 hours and about $11 in butter and vanilla. The box took 25 minutes and just needed eggs and oil. Everyone said the box one was moister and had a better crumb.
I am not saying scratch baking is pointless. I still bake bread and cookies from scratch. But for cake, the mix companies have figured something out that I cannot beat in my own kitchen, and I am tired of acting like that is a moral failure. If your scratch cake wins every time, tell me your recipe. What is your trick, and how much did it cost?
I did the same test at a cookout last summer and the box mix won 8 to 4 lol. My from-scratch cakes always come out a little dry no matter what I try, and nobody at a party cares where the cake came from anyway.