Boxed cake vs scratch cake - Why bakers can't beat SCIENCE
Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 тра 2024
- Learn the science of why boxed cake mixed taste so different from cakes made from scratch. Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video! Get two months of Skillshare Premium for FREE by using my link: skl.sh/adamragusea6
Adriana Horton's Oh Honey Baking Co.: ohhoneybaki...
Dr. Rebecca Miller-Regan at Kansas State University: www.grains.k-state.edu/people...
"Something from the Oven" by Laura Shapiro: laurashapirowriter.com/someth... - Навчання та стиль
Q: So are you really saying there's no point in baking a cake from scratch? What if I enjoy baking from scratch, or I like how baking from scratch teaches me things?
A: I am absolutely NOT say there's no point in baking from scratch. I'm saying that, in my view, "because I want to eat a cake that's like the kind I can get from a box" is not a sufficiently good reason to try to imitate it from scratch. "Because it will be fun" is a great reason, so is "because I don't want the kind of cake you get from a box."
Q: Why didn't you talk about ways that people can modify cake mixes to, say, make them less sweet?
A: Because the video was already almost 13 minutes long! But if you want to learn more about that, Dr. Miller recommends Anne Byrn, "The Cake Mix Doctor" - cakemixdoctor.com/
Q: So is all "bleached" flour chlorinated, and does it therefore have the structural properties you were talking about?
A: No. From Dr. Miller - "Bleached cake flour is chlorinated. The chlorine whitens the flour and also changes the functional properties. Bread flour and all-purpose flours that are bleached have been treated with benzoyl peroxide, which simply bleaches out the yellow pigments in the flour to make the flour whiter in color. The benzoyl peroxide has no functional effect in the flour - only aesthetic."
Henlo
@@lucasrincon671 why is Tucker here? Do dogs eat cake?
Is there anything else that people should just leave to companies
I really want to ask a question, but your videos are thorough enough that I never have unanswered questions by the end!
Or maybe that just means I'm unimaginative and uninquisitive.
Anyways, love your work, keep it up!
Hey Adam, not a question about this video but I wanna make your chocolate cake with that marshmallow frosting. However I don't have 2 round oven forms, only one. Can I put the entire batch in that one and just cut it into 2 equal parts?
"Is using box cakes mix cheating?"
Cooking isn't a sport. I don't care.
deep.
oh no the evil cheats that taint the holy sanctity of sports. lol who cares about sports
@@Goriaas people who care about fair play
"If you aint cheating you aint trying." The greatest football coach ever said that
What about in a Food Network challenge?
The Baker lady sounds depressed when tells us boxed cake is way fluffier than her scratch cake :(
If that is the case, she should really try to master her profession a little more.
Honestly, her cake looks sad (even the boxed mix looks sad), i really hope she made it on purpose to illustrate the point of the video. North american bakery in general is kinda sad, their cakes are like a dense tasteless sponge made to hold shape under a mountain of butter frosting or fondant instead of tasting good
Hay dont be mean
I re-read my comment and I understand why you think I sound mean, English is not my first language and sometimes I can't convey my thoughts well, what I mean is that American standard cake is sad, from a pov of someone who's used to fluffy flavorful cakes. I'm not saying that she's a bad baker I'm saying american baking is kinda sad compared to other countries cuisines.
@@nany____ it's true thou, us cakes are more for the looks which is why they mostly go for tasteless pound cake bases, a simple sugar filling and most of the time pound cake top covered with a thick layer of fatty sugary cream. Here in Mexico I have seen many varieties of cake types that are actually tasty (wish they had less sugar thou >.
Adam - “What’s the point of making anything from scratch?”
Me: To not get roasted by my grandmother for making her a boxed cake.
Apparently, only your grandmother is smart enough to realize that a home made cake is far superior to a lame ass box mix.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 my mom if she was a grandmother*
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894
not that deep my guy
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 My grandmother literally cooked things from scratch in/on a cast iron stove most of her life. She was quite happy with boxed cakes when she could. Take your elitist bs and stick it.
Just lie to her. Lying is so easy and underrated, if you get caught lying just lie about it
I have noticed in the past that my scratch cakes end up less moist and with a denser texture than box cakes. Last night I tried an experiment based on this video. I baked a cake and used a mix of heavy cream and water for the oil and moisture in the cake. Milk is already a fat and water emulsion with heavy cream being heavy on the fats. Turned out fantastic, the cake was light and fluffy and retained moisture like a boxed mix, while having the taste flavor control of a scratch cake. I will have to experiment more, but it was the best cake I have ever baked.
Great idea
Yogurt also helps I use it for my pancakes makes them light and moist
please share more on how you did this!
Can you tell us the cream to water ratio? And the ratio of oil to your mixture? Thanks!
So fat is what makes that moist feel on a cake and not water...
You know what they have perfected? Those pictures on cake mix boxes.
That's another video idea, and that's made with things that are not even good sometimes, the cereal milk for example is glue oftentimes because it is whiter and has a better consistency for making photos.
@@CaminoalInti fodd pictures for companies are pretty much always NOT made of real food.
@@Gorbag100 thats because humans are usually so stupid they buy things that dont exist, "because it looks good". Thats why in 2020 we have the technology to make free phones that run on solar...
But we sell $1000 phones that takes pictures... Humans are idiots.
🤓 No kidding.
@@catfan__ you must be stupid to believe you, "pmg", speak for the entire human population. Wtf is this "we" you speak of? You do not speak for everyone. You better knoe your place.
Knowing Cake Scientists exists makes me happy
Exist.
Bruh this guy is everywhere legit.
@@FirstNameLastName-np1rj Me?
JOJO and ONE PUNCH MAN
@@PurplePepper996 I'm surprised to hear that I'm everywhere.
One thing to be aware of is that, while boxed cake companies DO have teams of food scientists working to optimise their products, they're not necessarily optimising for quality - as touched on in the video, they also need to consider shelf-life, and convenience, and these things can pull in the other direction to quality, in certain circumstances. The idea that just because a team of scientists are working on something, it's going to be better, is not necessarily true.
also they factor in cost. the box cake companies want a product that is good enough to keep people buying while being as cheap to produce as possible so theyre not going to have the best ingredients
Low-key arrogance from him going on about it
@@mikeg2046 Yeah, I got that vibe. It's irritating. He had the same thing going when he was telling us why we should never deep fry at home. He acted like one would have to do fries all in one batch, which one would have to stir constantly, making it impossible to make anything to go with them. As if throwing burgers or veggie burgers in a pan or in the oven, flipping once is so hard. 🙄
spot on Tom - there were lots of scientist working for cigarette companies. Quality isn't their main objective - profitability is the most important thing
@@jontrewfrombarry that and lobbyists
My mom is a pastry chef, she has been making cakes for over 30 years. 90% of the time, people have preferred her box cakes to scratch cakes. Personally, I prefer scratch cake to my mom's dismay come birthday time.
then there is me that doesnt like cake and my mom gotta bake a nice apple pie for my birthday
As someone who loves baking/cooking as a hobby. I can't enjoy boxed cake for some reason. Everything from scratch just tastes way better to me.
@@SummeRain783 This argument is actually invalid because in a blind test you would prefer the box cake. Maybe you prefer your cake from a mental point of view but your taste buds would enjoy the boxed one more.
@@tygrr5854 and you know everyone's taste preferences how? There is way more to things than just taste, and even then, one thing brought up in the video is overly sweet tasting would be potentially a put off.
-No intro or outro
-Quality content
-Mild humor
Good job bro, you have earned my sub.
Genuinely curious how you found this video on day one without already bring subscribed.
@@wright96d UA-cam recommendations are weird man. I found out this guy from the cutting board video. I don't even watch these types of videos either.
@@wright96d for me it was the new york style pizza video from way back. Probably got the youtube recommendation from watching chef john, babish, and ysac
My point is that I didn't think the algorithm recommended new videos to rando's, only the ones with a proven click rate.
@@fufunumnum exact same case here. The algorithm made sense recommending this video to me. Maybe not so for the others
I just absolutely love how thoroughly, yet non-antagonaistically all these ideas are interrogated. Everyone wants to be the authority these days, so it's absolutely awesome how many experts are involved in these episodes. Top notch, well worth a sub.
If an expert told you to jump off a bridge you'd do it
when I started baking from scratch I was surprised at how little the ingredients cost, if you do the math, and take away the eggs and oil my scratch cake was less than half the price. My chocolate and orange cakes were much richer than the box versions I had made. (plus I double the amount of cocoa I add)
You factor in the extra time it takes to make it and I don't think it's worth it. Unless you genuinely enjoy making a cake. Me personally I would just do the box
@@powerlifting1012 I find the extra time negligible, how long does it take to measure flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder etc. not long at all really, extra 5 minutes maybe
Would you mind sharing your chocolate and orange cake recipe? Sounds interesting.
@@cv5369 2 cups sugar
1 3/4 flour
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons valilla
1 cup boiling water
rind of one orange
mix dry then add the wet reserving the boiling water to add last 350 degree oven for approx 30 minutes :)
@@jennifergermain7131 yes I agree with that. the part you're talking about that takes 5 minutes is the same as you just making the cake mix. which by the way, saves really well in a Tupperware. I do the same thing with pancakes - make the mix in advance and just add the milk, eggs and oil when I'm ready to make them
Biggest thing? Dough conditioner. Shortening and oils.
Most "from scratch" cakes don't use dough conditioner but thats why it has a different texture.
From someone who has made cakes and sourdough for a living.
Woah this feels like a crossover episode
Picked up one of those "Cake Doctor" books from the early 2000's, library was unloading old books for 25 cents. The Cake Doctor pretty much said the same thing in her book as in this video. We made a scratch cake recently and a doctored up box cake also, I have to say the box cake was moister, denser and overall better, of course it was elevated by doctoring it up.
As a retired award winning Baker and Owner, CHEFPK is correct the extra flour conditioners and Oil or Shortening and soft special flour this makers a huge difference. I still prefer the flavour of Butter so at home I'm a Butter and Free Range egg fan. the CIA, Culinary Institute of America, has a great Pastry, Bread and Cake book called "Baking and Pastry, The Art and The Craft".
That is literally what the video said. You showed up acting like you're delivering this information that's going to not be revealed in the video... but it was in the video. I don't need someone with a living in sourdough to tell me this, it was already told to me in the video you commented on. Gotta poach them views though right?
Very true. All these grocery biscuits cakes and stuff ALL use shortening
dry instant pudding mix has the same (or at least similar) emulsifiers as cake mix. so if you mix a box of instant pudding into your scratch made batter, your able to get something that is structurly as close to the mix stuff as possible, but you're able to control the sugar level and overall taste of the final product.
gotta try this thanks for the tip!!
@@AndyTheWatchdog He also has a video that talks about adding instant pudding mix to box cake on his channel
@@LoneWanderer013 can u point me to this video
@@lenahaziq ua-cam.com/video/4Sjv3LRVubo/v-deo.html
Bless you 🙏 I’ll try it
There's a lot you can do to box cakes to make them so much better too. For chocolate box cake, use whole milk instead of water, add a tbls of cocoa powder and a tsp of salt. For white cakes, add an egg white, tsp of vanilla and salt. The only time I don't use box cakes for orders is when I'm doing muffins, sponge cake (or genoise cake), and pound cake.
It would be interesting to see what a hybrid recipe for the Oreo cake would be, say use a home made chocolate cake and a boxed white cake recipe. This might result in the slightly denser, more fudge-y "cookie layers and a smoother, creamier "filling" layer.
"If you want your cake to be more moist, just add a box of pudding to the mix."
- My mom
my mom says that too, although we usually just do it to our lemon poppy seed muffins
exactly. my mom taught me the same thing. :)
You can actually replace 1/3 of the flour for cornstarch. It makes the cake lighter and fluffier.
Adam has spoken about this trick in one of his videos. (Edit: this one ua-cam.com/video/4Sjv3LRVubo/v-deo.html )
My grandmother added boxed pudding and a bit of sour cream. My favorite over any boxed cake mix! 😋
*Joshua Weissman has left the chat*
Why you gotta do my boy Joshua like that?
Right lmao
Frr lol
@@curbotize hes a dummy. Good cook tho
@poopface Agreed. I refuse to watch his shitvideos, but i would if they weren't shitvideos because he seems to be fairly skilled.
Switching to cake flour made all the difference for me in the texture of my cakes, (unless I want a more dense cake, for example I use all purpose flour for coffee cake).
For anyone who is interested if making a cake from scratch try the reverse creaming method to mix your cake. It helps with structure and texture. Use a cake enhancer (king arthur sells it) it has extra emulsifiers that makes your cakes more tender and stay moist for longer. Also depending on the cake I use a mix of butter, shortening, and/or oil in varying amounts. I hope this helps.
What is the reverse creaming method?
Stop just repeating stuff you read five seconds ago in the comments above you
@@Kloppin4H0rses So you saw a comment from 2 years ago and thought hey I should be a snarky a** and make nonsensical comment.
@@TheLostinTheUnknown way late than it should be and you have probably looked it up by now but it's when you mix the dry ingredients with the butter from the start instead of creaming the sugar and butter first. The idea is to coat the flour with the fat and that helps to decrease gluten development while you make the batter. So you end up with a cake that doesn't dome when baking and has even crumb and smoother texture.
as someone that enjoys baking as a hobby, sometimes i feel like making it from scratch, sometimes i want something fast and easy, is all about the mood. is not like you can cheat in something that ain't a competition
"What's the point in making anything from scratch?"
It's fun.
And also lactose tolerant! Perfect point made.
My response whenever my gma says to just go buy a made cake instead of even baking the damn boxcake lol
Yah, and it's BETTER than the damn box mix.
And typically has better ingredients
you are the type of person that goes to philosophical debates about the meaning of life and say being happy my type of human
My grandmother's cakes were to my tastes, superior to the box cakes available then and the prepared cakes available now too, but the flour she used was very purpose specific. And she had her own chickens and dairy cow so great eggs and cream and butter.
Some cakes available today get the texture right but are far too sweet or use the wrong vanilla, or frosting with those same issues.
Her coconut cakes is the one I really miss.
this video is very informative in terms of explaining the science behind baking from scratch. I bake everything from scratch because I like having control over the amount of sugar I'm using (boxed mixes tend to be too sweet).
One of the best chocolate cake recipes I've ever had is printed on the back of Hershey's cocoa powder boxes. It is very rich, moist, and fudgy compared to dry, relatively bland chocolate box cakes. It's even a pretty easy recipe. Box cakes are still really good for any fluffy kind of cake and are about 10% of the effort to make.
Could you share that with us?
bonnie sensai the Hershey’s cake recipe is a chocolate recipe all over the internet (but not everyone labels it as such) but if you search it online you’ll find it on multiple websites and you’ll see they all have the same ingredients)
I’ve made it several times and Id describe as more gooey that fudge-like. That said, I am better at making reservations than dinner.
@@bonniesensai Just search Hershey's chocolate cake recipe in youtube.
@@ThingsILove2266 isn’t fudge-like and gooey almost the same thing though? Lol
There seems to be an assumption that light and fluffy is somehow superior to a firmer, more substantial cake. Give me substantial any day-especially if it's not oversweet.
Just from seeing her taking a piece of the box cake in the video i'm slightly disgusted, because it reminds me of the times when i ate box cakes. I find them far inferior not only in flavour but texture as well.
You will love Maida Heatter’s New Orleans Chocolate Layer Cake. It’s my family’s go-to birthday cake. It’s a complex recipe with lots of room for error, but when done correctly, it’s the densest, richest, most perfectly balanced chocolate cake. The cake itself is almost bitter, but the pudding-like filling and the whipped cream icing make it divine. The recipe’s thankfully available free online. Good luck if you decide to bake it! I hope you love it!
@@annatighe8629 Sounds ideal. I'll have to give it a try.
Oh look at me I have a sofisticated pallet oh I'm so special.
That's just bread you fool!!
The main thing i love about scratch cooking is that with a basic selection of ingredients I can make most everything from appetizers to desserts. I’m just too lazy to have a different box of ingredients for each item 😂
"What are the odds that you can come up with a better recipe...?"
An important facet to this, the R&D teams working for these companies are targetting a cost effective product that maximized profit, minimizes cost, and produces a "good enough" end result. Will it be easy to produce a "better" recipe? No. Will it be easy to create a recipe that you enjoy more than a boxed mix? Absolutely. Spend a little time, do some research on the science of baking, and you can absolutely make a cake that you will find subjectively better than a mix you get from a box.
exactly! the cost factor is a huge one that adam doesnt even touch!
No offense, but you’re still unlikely to find one that most people find better that has the traits mentioned in the video-i.e. sugary and fluffy.
As Adam points out, there are lots of cake styles that you might not want to use a box mix for, but when you’re trying to make a light fluffy cake, he’s also absolutely right to say there’s a degree of unearned arrogance in thinking you can beat a box mix.
@@ZeteticPhilosopher No the arrogance is responding to a comment you didn’t even read. Taking out the shelf life and penny pinching profit concern means you can make a better cake. He liked the chocolate scratch cake better. Could probably easily find a scratch vanilla he likes better.
Don’t worry, most people don’t understand the point of commercial engineering. You’re not alone
@@asdf09er It seems as though you're projecting, since you clearly did not read my comment. You literally cannot get access to the chemicals contained in a box mix. Hence, if you want to make a cake that is sugary and fluffy, your cake will be less sugary and less fluffy if you make if from scratch than if you use a box mix. Period.
Adam's preference for the scratch cake is irrelevant to my point. You are not going to beat a box mix cake at what it is trying to do. So what? Either use a box mix or do something else.
P.S. I've taken commercial engineering classes. It's not all about profit. Typically customer satisfaction is more important, even in the food industry.
@@ZeteticPhilosopher Do most people enjoy sugary and fluffy cakes more? From my experience, that doesn’t seem true. Most patisseries don’t go for sugary and light, in fact most go for rich flavours and a moister and thicker cake. I feel like what sells out the quickest is one of those very chocolate-y cakes that is like 70% dark chocolate and 30% egg. (There’s always so little of it left when I buy a piece)
The point for me is just fun, I enjoy making things, from drawing, carving, cooking and baking. I enjoy the process of creating.
It's such a good feeling of success, me and my mom made a flan from scratch and it was pretty good! It was our first try and we were so proud lol
Fun Fact:
Most canned and boxed food, in undamaged condition & regulated heat & humidity, can outlive their expiration date.
When a boxed cake mix passes it's expiration date, it's definitely bad; It smells wierd as hell and will taste like chemicals if you try to cook it.
Yes, my friend and I once made a cake from a box that tasted like nasty chemicals and we had no idea why.
NamedKitten ill pass on that
Steve also ate some beef shavings from a can of beef that was over 100 years old...he also nibbled on a piece of hardtack from the civil war era :P
Most canned food can't expire because it's already dead.
Speaking from experience?
After watching this, I can see a possible purpose for making WHITE cake from a box. I think white cake is made for looks, anyway.
But, if your making a cake for flavor, sugar should not be the predominate flavor.
btw: this was VERY interesting!
DARK COCOA should be the predominate flavor in any cake. :face_savoring_food:
@@Megatron995 While i do love me a good chocolate cake there are other flavors that deserve our attention: cheese cake, carrot cake, pineapple upside down cake, lemon Bundt cake.
@@kathyp1563 is bundt cake a flavor. Are bundt cakes made a certain way
@@KD-ou2np Bundt cake is not a particular flavor. It depends on the form or mold the batter is put into. It's very pretty. It's akin to a wreath, but higher. The center is hollow & the diameter of the cake is high. The batter is more dense than a rectangular or layer cake, for multiple reasons. You don't use traditional icing on it either. It's either a glaze or no icing with a fruit sauce over it.
In the winter, I make chocolate Bundt & lemon Bundt. Those two flavors work really well with raspberry sauce made from my batch that I harvested over the summer & froze.
As a baker , I stand by scratch made cakes, you need a good solid recipe ( high ratio ) and mix batter via reverse creaming . This ensures a tender velvety crumb 👍 If you prefer super fluffy less sweet cakes, I suggest chiffon cake recipes 👍
I love when he advertises the sponsor so smoothly.
Like, every other video.
Must've watched a lot of Linus Tech Tips videos to be that good at segueing into the sponsor spot.
I just watched Linus tech tips and just felt things you said and then I come back to this comment. You're Correct.
@@tfernandes113 and speaking of sponsors, today's sponsor is....
TierZoo is the GOAT for smooth sponsorship transitions.
“Highly paid food scientists”
*laughs and cries in science degree*
Coswagrigus chemical engineering baby!
@@andrewp6738 you mean "craft beer brewer"
@@andrewp6738 Worked for Colgate-Palmolive. They want any type of engineer for whatever jobs they had, pertinent to the degree or not.
@@andrewp6738 at least you're not a "sin(x)=x" kind of engineer
It really depends on what you want, there is no ideal cake. But learning how these more industrial ingredients are used and what they can do for you opens a lot of possibilities that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. And just by the way, almost all additives can be bought with little to no hassle.
Came here to learn about cake. Left with an important life lesson about virtue: just because it's difficult to do something doesn't automatically make it virtuous. I'm going to cite this cake example when I explain it to others, thanks!
LCB-trained pro pastry chef here: I strongly disagree with your hypothesis. It is perfectly possible to match - and exceed - the taste/textural results you can get with a mix at home. Professional pastry chefs do it all the time using exactly the same ingredients available to home bakers. It has everything to do with the skill of the baker, and not the fact that commercial food manufacturers use anything exotic. For one thing, I'd be interested to know exactly what sort of cake your baker made, and what kinds of flour and shortening she used. I noticed a block of butter on her bench, and if what she made was a butter-based cake - especially one made with all purpose flour rather than cake flour - then the comparison isn't a fair one. The boxed mix used oil a.k.a. a chiffon cake, and oil will give you a lighter cake than a butter-based recipe will every time, but it'll lack the flavor that butter brings to the mix. Butter will give you a heavier denser cake every time. It all depends on what your desired end result is. Just for the record: there are no cake flours available to commercial manufacturers which are not available to home bakers. Just sayin'.
UNDERRATED COMMENT FOLKS
Can you recommend a chiffon/sponge cake recipe? The recipes I tried don't come out good. They come out tough and bland tasting.
Suzy Fischer this is a perfect example of that one meme of a dude saying “we’re off to the comments to see what the experts think”
10000000000% this. I would never willingly eat such horrible ready-mixed garbage. Either it's made from scratch properly, or forget about it.
Sahn except what Suzy is saying is actually true therefor making the meme not applicable here
Box cakes lack any real flavor though. For example a box carrot cake is just sweet with artificial pumpkin spice flavor, my sister who is by no means an expert made a carrot cake with real carrots that was miles better than the box. What home bakers lack in texture and consistency (though even that is debatable) they more than make up for in flavor, fresh ingredients can’t be matched.
Depends on brand,
Carrot cake with spices and walnuts is my favourite cake. You can decrease the sugar, increase the nonstarch ingredients and get yes not that fluffy and smooth (who cares?) but definitely more nutritious, even a complete dish cake.
They (homemade cakes) are good to go too. To wrap as food for dormitory as mom did for us, or for long way trips. (the ones who are eaten as is, whiteout cream or filling.)
It's heavenly to have a cake nut relative, mine is my cousin 😁.
I think that Adam Ragusea's argument for box cake mix was more for basic white cake than specialty cakes like carrot or pound cake. That said, I agree with you and don't think his argument stands up. I've never had a boxed cake that holds its own compared to a good made-from-scratch cake, including basic white and yellow cake.
In addition to a better tasting final product, by controlling all of the ingredients you use, you can also choose to avoid the preservatives and beached and bromated flour found in box mixes.
you can also just use a boxed mix as a base for your recipe. It's pretty common and you can take advantage of the box mix's stability to add additional ingredients and flavoring agents with less trial and error than you might need for reworking a scratch-made recipe.
I agree there is no comparison really with any from scratch cake and a box cake. Honestly it’s a science learning how to make a great cake from scratch!
Hi! I always used to feel guilty of even thinking of buying a boxed cake mix !!! But after having wasted ingredients and time in trying to make cake from scratch, I have realised that it is not a sin to buy a boxed cake mix ! Thanks for confirming that it’s ok
My mom says that she has made enough pie crusts from scratch to just buy the easy to use frozen ones.
As far as cakes go, we only made them for birthdays and for more important occasions we get them from a local bakery. Otherwise we would make something like an apple pie or raspberry crisp for a sugary dessert around the holidays. So we just use boxed cakes for the consistency when you have 4 birthdays a year to make a cake for. Also convenience, never feel guilty for making something the easy way if it doesn't meaningfully lower quality.
Baking from scratch allows you to play around with the ingredients and flavors. It’s also better because you know how much of each ingredient is going into your cakes. And for most bakers it’s the satisfaction that comes from baking
I don't always make cakes from boxes, but when I really need a cake to turn out well, I make it from a box. I made my wedding cake from about ten boxes of cake mix. Eliminated a lot of factors that could have gone wrong, and had a really great texture and taste.
I also made my wedding cake, but I made it from scratch because I'm celiac and, at the time, they didn't have gluten free box mixes. The best kind of gluten free cake is angel food, so I baked it the day before and slathered it in whipped cream and the guests got cupcakes. The cake wasn't pretty, but I could eat my own wedding cake, and that's all that mattered to me.
If you want consistent results every time, bake by weighing ingredients in grams not by volume (cups, ounces). Professional bakeries always weigh ingredients.
@@jslezak57 eggs are not created equal small/medium/large/xtra large. Eggs go in by weight
I get the whole texture thing, but flavor wise I've never had a box cake that tastes as good.
My favorite vanilla cupcake recepie uses a whole tablespoon of vanilla extract (not artificial vanilla) and it's lovely.
My favorite chocolate cake recepie has melted chocolate in it.
My mom makes an amazing mocha cake with kahlua in the frosting.
Box cakes are fine, but the flavor just isn't as good.
Why not add flavor to the box mixes? Recipes from The Cake Mix Doctor are fantastic.
JODI L PETERSON bc it’s just not the same 😔
@@OhJodi69 it's not just that it doesn't have enough flavor, it also has an off flavor, as someone who didn't grow up eating mixes they taste dead to me most of the time,
so i don't really get why adam is heated on the topic, when that should be pretty clear if he's ever made a decent amount of cakes, which he probably has, i feel like he's just trying to make some other point. This feels like the frying video all over again.
Is he just trying to make the convenience point again or something?
being misled puts a bad taste in my mouth.
OK Kahlua frosting got me- I'm in!
You are 100% correct. Nothing beats a cake from scratch. As far as I’m concerned it’s not up for debate.
In my opinion you can get richer or complex flavors from homemade cakes, they are always worth it. I love making mocha cakes with espresso.
I like denser cakes. And also the crust is always way way better on scratch cakes made in pressure cookers. And also I could add sugar syrup after it cooks to make a more moist but dense cake. Box cake just doesn't taste as good. It's not that they're bad. Its just my taste is very specific and they're a mass produced item.
Adam you're so fucking good at making these "sciency" videos. Your background + your character + interest in science and logic makes your videos honestly one of the best (as far as i know) on youtube.
I had to respond to this one. As a home baker for the past 25 years, you most certainly can match a box cake. But why would you want to? That's like making your own pasta and trying to make something that tastes like Spaghetti O's.....and being disappointed that you cant. The science bragged about in this video is primarily consistency (as long as you can follow directions, you'll get the same results every single time) and shelf stability (preservatives).
A lot of the methods mentioned, such as shortening already in the mix; we do that already at home when making tortillas; you knead and massage the shortening into the flour and make sure it's very consistently distributed before moving on. You can do this with any solid fat from shortening, lard, butter, etc. You can also get most flours, either by ordering "pastry" or "00" flour or the specially sold "cake flour" So you can get that super fine crumb in the cake as you'd normally see from the box cake. Something to note that your video neglected to mention; cake flour also contains less protein (lower gluten) which makes it more delicate and helps with overall texture or crumb structure.
When baking from scratch, you have the ability to control your ingredients. You can pick and choose how your final flavor profile is going to be; whereas with a box, someone did that for you. I wont say that's bad, but if you have a taste for something different or not available in a box - you're on your own.
I love how deep you go into the science of cooking!
I’m going to keep making cakes from scratch,
I’ve never eaten a cake mix and thought, this is the best cake ever.
Agreed. Sure, I’ll eat a cake mix cake, but I much prefer a scratch cake!
You just can't beat knowledge acquired during centuries of experiments, trials and errors by French bakers and fresh ingredients
@@francescoghizzo
So true!!
@@francescoghizzo the entire video explains why you're wrong, try watching it
@@skycaptain95 don't care. those "scientists" paid off by the WEF can kiss my ass
Box recipes are fine to fulfill a quick craving, but when wanting a perfect taste scratch is better. I mostly bake for fun. I would like to improve my baking skills, so ofcourse I'm going to bake from scratch.
For a quick craving I but cake at the bakery🤷♀️.
@@AngelaMerici12 I bake in the microwave at 3am when I get cravings.
@@SobrietyandSolace I wouldn't recommend eating at that time 😂 but that's a good use of a microwave 😏✌️!!
@@AngelaMerici12 so pay 20 dollars? On a cake instead of 3 dollars money is a factor here you dunce
@@SobrietyandSolace I just had a microwave mug cake that was surprisingly decent that I was disturbed.
if you use the reverse creaming method when making a butter based cake, you can get a tender crumb like the cake mix. you just mix your room temp butter directly into your dry ingredients rather than creaming it with the sugar, then add your wet ingredients after you get it to a sandy texture, and beat it for a minute or two.
I love making things from as close to scratch as possible. I’m glad to hear the unfortunate truth that boxed cake may be able to be superior to scratch cake. However, I also don’t give up and see this as a positive, because I am willing to seek out the emulsifiers used in boxed cake to make my own scratch cakes even better!
As a home baker I was very sad at first,but the comment section made me happy again
- Complete control over ingredient quality and source, - Customisable to your taste and preferences.
- no shelf-life requirements, - No additional chemicals with dubious health impacts, - Way less fat and sugar.
- many, many more cake options. - Training of valuable skillset (Don't be dependent on the factory)
now compare a boxed carrot cake set with a real carrot cake instead of these dry american sugar-sponges.
I used to be known around my office as making the best cakes. Everyone was always floored when I'd tell them my base was a box cake mix that I modified. I'm capable of making cakes from scratch-- it's a good skill to learn and it can be fun, but as far as taste, texture, and longevity? Start with that $2 box and add to it.
Adam, these food science spots are really great. Well done video, sir!
My grandma was known as the best baker in the neighborhood and she said that when box mixes came out she never baked a regular cake from scratch again. She taught me how to make all kinds of cookies and her pie crust recipe is incredible but she told me that baking a cake from scratch is not worth the hassle. I've done it literally once in my life and I agree.
You're such an underrated UA-camr, the way you go in depth and the way you incorporate science and inform people is great, best cooking channel on UA-cam imo.
Don't sleep on Internet Shaquille either
"The highly paid food scientists..."
*Food scientists have left the chat*
Yeah, as with every other job market it's the food engineers who are highly paid.
How in the world does someone know if food scientists are highly paid? Relative to what? Maybe they don't make any more money than an average middle class person?
I will always appreciate that you try your best to segue naturally into your ad reads
nobody likes commercials but you do it pretty cleverly and make it bearable
I was taking cake decorating classes when I was living in Houston 8 years ago. I brought a cake in and the teacher asked me if i baked it from scratch . I asked her how she knew . she then told me homemade cakes are denser. I do not use box mixes because i consider it cheating. I like knowing what is in my cakes and cookies. I also like experimenting with different ingredients. For example I recently starting learning baking ratios. I realized cookies do not need eggs. in order to make cookies i need 1 part sugar 2 parts fat and 3 parts flour. Using this i can use oil, butter, lard, shortening or a mixture of these as the fat. I can use brown sugar, white sugar, or confectioners sugar as the sugar and flour is an obvious.
I decided to use this method to bake chocolate chip cookies. The first time i made it with white sugar, flour and butter. It was basically shortbread cookies with chocolate chips. They were tasty but way different that what I am accustomed to. The next time I made it with half white sugar and half brown sugar and they were exactly like how I would picture chocolate chip cookies. If i have a box mix my ability to experiment is limited because i would be concerned on whether i would get the proper result. One determinant of what ingredient i will use is what i have at home. If i have butter that is getting old than i will want to use that first. if i do not have enough butter I might want to use oil instead of going to the supermarket for one item.
I've used bananas in cakes and brownies both to replace eggs (but this does make it pretty dense pretty quick since it's absurdly easy to overdo it) and also just because I had bananas that nearly hit overripe status. They work great in brownies as a sugar sub. The starchier the banana the more it would probably work for that goal. But I really don't like green bananas.
Anyway. I liked brownies with a hint of banana. And that was with a boxed mix (I did check the ingredients because of the way I eat). I think it would end better if I made the cakes or brownies from scratch. Also because an extra bit of coco powder never hurt anybody. :D
You lose moisture when you take out the eggs from cookies and don't replace them with something. I find replacing 2 eggs with 1/2 cup of apple sauce works well with the added benefit that you don't have to worry about undercooking the eggs.
@@snafunet I am interested in making cookies and cakes with as few ingredients and as simple as possible. I hate having to scroll through recipe over recipe which have all kinds of crazy unnecessary ingredients. So far my 50g brown sugar, 50g white sugar, 200 g butter, 300 g flour, salt, anise or vanilla extract and a hand full of chocolate chips is so much better than any other recipe I ever tried.
You don't only make youtube videos.
Every single one of them is a documentary.
Keep it up.
I’m pretty sure he’s a journalist.
I'm pretty
Making stuff from scratch is just..... fun. Taste-wise, making pasta at home is more trouble than it’s worth, but it’s just really enjoyable to make it yourself and to KNOW that you can make it yourself. Some people just don’t get that.
The thing is... home made cake is far better, and not actually all that hard to make. Box cake tastes like shit... and so does pre-made frosting.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 i gotta disagree, Boxed only tastes far worse if you add nothing beyond the recipe the list. It can taste equal to scratch if you use it as a base
You should watch Alex French guy cooking. His new series on pasta carbonara reaches some surprising conclusions about fresh pasta and dried pasta and why they are not interchangeable and one is not better than the other as many of us have been led to believe.
I enjoy the work that goes into baking. I find myself making things that aren’t “regular” cake, and I feel like I can explore flavors that you just don’t find with box cake. I do enjoy making box cake as a quick after dinner dessert with my parents.
I like your videos, and appreciate your even-handed approach to topics.
I've convinced more than one person who has exclusively made box only cakes for 30+ years to switch to scratch baking by making them a scratch cake.
The reality is that, while they can make an amazingly consistent cake with the box mixes, it's a consistently mediocre cake. The ingredients are predictably old and stale. If you're using ingredients that have all been sitting on your shelf for 18-36 months, then your cake will be mediocre too, but if you're making a cake that isn't a boring white cake and use fresh ingredients, the scratch cake's flavor will destroy the box cake.
I agree box cakes are mediocre. I find them to sweet and fluffy. I also prefer denser cakes.
Agreed. I usually buy my cakes from one of the "European" bakeries in my city, but once in a while, when in a pinch or don't feel like spending three times the money, I buy a cake from the bakery of our local grocery store: always obvious they're made from a box mix. Bleh!
Virtue signalling and shaming in one post. You should be on Twitter.
@@TheGlock30owner takes one to know one
TheGlock30owner who are you addressing?
I love your pudding cake recipe! The only downside is now I’m the pudding cake guy and have to make one a week to keep my friends happy.
lol well if you enjoy your friends and keeping them happy, it'll be a breeze Pudding Cake Guy :D
You should try selling it either to your friends or other people you know.
“You can’t recreate that with the scratch cake at all, it’s just impossible”
Just make box cake from scratch, it’s just that easy.
“It’s merely the illusion of virtue.” Worth the price of admission, right there.
Box cake has SOOOOOO much sugar. And I’ve managed to make cakes completely from scratch and they’re moist. It ALL has to do with the type of flour you use. You want nice moist, fluffy cake? Do NOT use all purpose flour for cake. Use cake flour instead. Makes a HUGE difference.
My view is that there's a value in learning to make things from scratch (or fixing things yourself). It's not always the thing to do, but I believe it makes you grow as a person and increases your self esteem.
It might not always turn out as goid or better than what you can buy, but you might learn something, and it just feels better knowing that you made that thing.
For some things it can also be nice to know it's been done properly, and not by someone who has to do it at the lowest cost/as quickly as possible.
The last three minutes are so interesting (well, the part before the ad), it's a point of view that i never really considered but i totally agree with it
Why make from scratch?:
1) Self reliance/resilience (if you can make your favorite stuff from scratch, no need to worry about any emergency or business decision/failing stopping you)
2) Creative/experimental freedom (innovation even for the fun of it)
3) Having a relationship and understanding of what you eat and the environmental/ethical costs
4) To test your self (some people like doing things not because they are easy but because they are hard)
5) Learning cooking entirely/ if your teaching the next generation in the kitchen, it’s fun so some may not want to shorten the recipe and rush the group experience. Or if your learning for yourself eventually you may want to know and try things that don’t involve pre-made stuff like exotic ingredients for example.
6) special needs (perhaps a very common ingredient is allergenic and your experimenting and searching for substitute)
There are others I’m sure but worthy causes none the less.
These are great, I'll def be considering a couple of these in the future, #4 is one of my favourites! I personally use this as one of my reasons, individual quality control of ingredients. For example, imitation vanilla extract, vs real vanilla extract, or even more bougie; scraping vanilla off the beans or using vanilla paste. Bean and paste will add tiny black flecks throughout, a nice nice visual touch to cakes or ice creams, also helps in identifying good ice creams at stores.
Good on you! I’m glad you found enjoyment And Purpose in doing it. We need more people in this world with your level of commitment and eye for detail.
Can't make my flour from scratch, I have failed...
you're teaching*
@DaddyGirl did you even watch the video?
The thing is my goal in baking is not always to have the perfect texture, I enjoy the process of baking more than eating the cake. I enjoy measuring things up! I do want it to be slower, and it feels good! If I want to bake from box, I would rather buy it baked. Also, we can all agree that the boxed cake is less healthy, at least for the extra sugar.
I have been, on the advice of a friend, attempting to go more intuitive with my cooking. And that little experiment is going great...but I must admit, I still have my science-y side that wants to know the chemical why of things. Such as "Why does this one thing work, and not another?" Or mythbusting questions that challenge common perceptions but also dig at any possible truth behind some of the old school ideas that were in cookery way back before I was born.
Sooo, in the midst of my intuitive explorations, I have found this channel. I've watched a couple videos already without subbing, but this one had me subbing. 😁
"What's the point of making anything from scratch"
Satisfaction
I love you
Even if some foods/desserts have an easier way to make them I'll always choose to make my meals from scratch simply because I love cooking and baking and the entire process brings me joy!!
I like how easy and delicious boxed cake mix are but the feeling of accomplishment and pride in making a good cake from scratch is worth it imo
i have no idea when and how exactly i found your channel but i'm enjoying your content and your voice.
Gonna make dem pizza once!
Unfortunatelly i'm not into cakes since my oven doesn't work well while baking anything but once i got something better i'll rewatch this and probably make my own cake using your knowledge :p
Thank you for your work!
Great video! Answers thr question posed in a direct way, with scientific explanation. I wish others would make these the objectives of their videos. Thanks!
Home bakers can make something delicious and real-looking (not always great, I know) and a treat given how cheap and tasteless cakes from supermarket bakeries are. A box cake mix may produce a consistent product, but the cake has a distinctive box-cake mix taste (and, you're right, often too much sugar).
yumm, another cardboard cake just like dad used to buy.
Something I never actually thought of is that they also use the sugar as a skeleton for the cake to make it able to support more weight, so sugar is basically like cake rebar...
Unfortunately Box cake is exactly the type of cake I don't like.
Cake from a box is awful. Thankfully for me they're uncommon in Ireland (where I'm from and live) everyone either bakes from scratch or buys ready made cakes. Brownies from a box are solid though. Not as good as from scratch, but decent for what they are.
@@Rose-jz6sx I like cake from a box
@@Rose-jz6sx I will admit alot of women use to do a ton of scratch making back in the day
@@zynifi sometimes it alright with me but I don't like the taste as much
@@zynifi that's great though, I hate that I don't like it I want to like all cakes!
I dont even bake, but i love the well put together educational content with expert commentary. Great youtube videos.
I’ve had all sorts of homemade cakes, and ones from really good bakeries, cakes served at weddings, etc... but man oh man my absolute favorite is a box of Duncan Hines white cake mix. With almond extract added to the batter.
When I feel guilty about choosing efficiency over sacrifice I think: money(and everything bought with them) are my slaves, not
the opposite
is this an excuse to cheat and not study?
Yes
“Win if you can,
loose if you must
always cheat.”
-my history teacher
Lauren Is a weeb said an underpaid american stressed teacher
I hope you are joking on the cheating part, cause if not imagine if you have to have a surgery and the surgeon didn't study nor attended the practises... yeah good luck with that, and that's just one example.
@@BombaJead Surgeons "cheat" their statistics by selecting the area they work in and the individuals they are willing to operate on. They do it to maximize the number of successful surgeries and try to guarantee their spot as head of surgery at a major hospital down the line in their career. I guess its less about cheating and more about recognizing life is a game, and playing.
Adam, you said the the past that you had to unlearn things Alton Brown taught about cooking. How does that apply to models made from pipe cleaners?
I think models made from pipe cleaners might be one of the great take-aways from Alton Brown.
@@MHChrono That and sock puppets
What exactly did he unlearn from Alton brown?
@@battokizu He makes a reference every now and again. Watch the knife sharpening video Adam did a while back.
It’s sad but absolutely delicious, my grandma has been baking cakes for a living for 30 years now and she has always used betty crocker cake mix, everyone thinks she bakes them from scratch but the only thing of them homemade is the butter cream frosting she makes for them
I like the topic of "the Illusion of Virtue". Your videos are very very informative and I love all of them!!!
Adam: I’m going on a diet
Also Adam: *Makes video where he makes 2 cakes*
Cheat day?
Yeah on my cheat day I eat 2 whole cakes
He makes the videos for us cake-eaters
@@spongebobsquarepants2175 only 2? Weak
"Baking soda dosnt make bubbles, it merele makes CO2" that dosn't make sense. While CO2 is somewhat soluble, making CO2 makes bubbles. You cannot make CO2 and not make bubbles. You just cant
Ya you're right but beating finely dispersed air bubbles into the batter should still help as it probably creates something like a nucleation site for the CO2 to form a bubble creating a nicer texture.
@@morristgh Absolutely. I'm not critisizing the method he is promoting. I'm just surprised by what he said because physics is part of my daily life and stuff
It's more a funny oopsie than anything else. A big one, but still, people myself included are better educated in cakeology thanks to this vid
Oh yeah. That's why fresh bread with yeast (which creates co2) bubbles up and getting bigger even if you vacuum seal it.
But SCIENCEEE
I think her point was that you need to whip air into the mixture to create a lighter batter. Only then is the baking powder able to leaven the cake. Otherwise the batter is too thick, and the cake comes out dense and gummy. (That's kinda similar to that nucleation comment, but I think "nucleation" is more of an analogy than the actual process going on here.)
I mainly used to get these little bags of cake mix, I don't know why it came in bags but it was cheaper to buy the bag vs buying a specific box mix. You could turn that bag into any cake you wanted. Mostly I bought them to turn into cake mix that I ate raw.
It’s amazing how many different avenues of life you can go down. An expert on cakes is interesting af.
I found a cake recipe this year that is a lot more effort than any box cake, but it is SO good. Made it for my wife's birthday this summer and it was so good my daughter gave up her birthday cheesecake this month for the triple-layer monster. I have no problem with box cake mixes. But there's great satisfaction in getting a light, fluffy cake from scratch! It's like magic, only real.
"What are the odds that you'll do better than the Conagra scientists?"
Decently high because I don't have the same economizing constraints that they do. Spending five more cents per cake for using a more optimum mixture for my cake isn't anywhere near as big of a deal for someone who is making a couple of cakes a year versus CA who would be out more money than you or I will ever see while not seeing an increase in sales by increasing their cost per box by a nickle each.
So, not a matter of knowing more than the experts, but merely having slightly different goals.
Damn, well said. Completely undid his whole argument.
He mentions shelf life himself but acts as if having to consider that doesn't constraint the food scientists working in the industry. Shelf life, production scaling, price effiency, personal taste vs majority of customers' preference, aesthetics that can be ignored at home but not if you wanna sell something ... there's a lot of commercial constraints without which food scientist could create better cakes for my personal taste.
So he really makes a terrible argument here, just claiming they're the experts, they gotta know better.
Someone replied trying to somehow make this about capitalism versus collectivism, but they're a fool because absent profit motive there would still be a rationing mechanism in place that necessarily results in one person making a one off of something having different constraints from someone trying to make that same thing at large scale.
Ok, but alterations that would cause them to spend 5 cents more per cake, when buying their ingredients in bulk, and industrializing the process, would require you to spend significantly more money, and far more time than the 2.5 hours tops that it takes to drive to walmart, get a cake for $5, drive back, do the prepwork, and get it in the oven.
@@tzaphkielconficturus7136 Sure, but that wasn't the claim made.
That ad transition was insanely smooth
The fact this was recommended to me after watching Dive’s podcast with Sam Kim and Ashley talking about baking using pre-mixed boxes lol
*Try fresh carrot cake* with walnuts and banana.
No commercial dry package can beat that !
Yuck.
@@GeorgeMonet man its really good and I'm picky
I believe you. I think the box cake superiority really only holds up with angel food or any light airy cakes. If you're making a chocolate, carrot, or any other kind of rich dense cake, scratch is probably the way to go
Agreed, there are scratch cakes that taste better.
@@GeorgeMonet As I grew up in the 60's/70's in our house Carrot Cake was not a treat, it was punishment. Even as an adult I see it that way. If it isn't Chocolate it isn't cake as far as I'm concerned. You can't pay me to eat Carrot Cake.
have made many cakes from the box and they turn out perfect every time, easy peasy just follow instructions and whip it good
the thicker less fluffy cake looks much better. box cakes are FAR too sugary. When I bake, it's not uncommon for me to HALVE the sugar (sometimes I've reduced it even further without ill effect) and it never turns out badly. Boxes take that level of control away.
The philosophy of self-denial is an interesting and complex topic. I'm glad you brought it into your video. It seems to me to be one of the most complex and substantial topics, as it relates such extreme behaviors as aestheticism on the one hand, and compulsive self-destructive behaviors on the other.
I never had a cake from box that was even half as good as one from scratch
Find someone who can bake.
jiojio hgipji maybe ur the problem
Because I and my friends bake better cakes then that ones that are from the box or bcs I can’t find good brand of chemical cakes?
@@Mr1111kuba every cake is chemicals you walking meat bag of chemicals
I am pretty sure you know what I meent there are a lot of chemical stabilizators and what not in those boxes and I just enjoy baked goods from a family recepy much more then any other “sound of cortisol level droping”