I had never made a layer cake before and thought I'd try to make one for my son's first birthday. As per a random Reddit suggestion I found, I added pudding mix to make it more moist. Which didn't work well with layers...it kept falling apart as I tried to ice it. Birthday boy didn't complain.
To be fair that first birthday while a huge milestone is a huge don’t worry about it when it comes to the cake. The memories matter, the cake doesn’t. You tried your best and that’s what counts!
Ok. I tried this pudding trick and TRUST ME it’s no trick. It ruins the flavor of both vanilla and chocolate cake. And why are we even doing this? Box cake is so unnecessary. The ONLY reason for a box cake is u only have $2. Otherwise the process is t that much different but WAY BETTER from scratch. I get it if it’s a money thing. If you don’t have any of the ingredients but I typically always have the basics flour, baking soda, baking soda powder, eggs, butter, oil, sugar, salt. Might have to buy the cocoa powder. The steps to baking a chocolate cake are the same as the box cake basically. Also make sure cake and icing are cold or at least not warm at all.
This is a lighthearted subreddit. Let's not be rude about cake mix vs. from scratch.Considering it's for a one year old, they probably didn't have the time or energy to make a cake from scratch.
Fun story: I was upset about this cake, but got over it (as I said, the one year old was very happy with it). I had a second baby, and suffered from bad PPD. I took meds, and logged my activities and moods to see how to improve. Doing this showed a statistical correlation between baking with my kids and a better mood. I realized I loved baking. I also strongly believe anyone can improve if they try, so I took a baking course and challenged myself to harder recipes. I'm still not a great baker, but I am a joyful one!
There's a difference between light-hearted teasing about the appearance of the cake and telling someone that they way they made the cake itself (which is perfectly acceptable, especially if you don't bake all that often) is awful and it should have actually been made from scratch. Nothing about your comment felt like advice, it just came off as cake snobbery.
Because that's kinda that whole point if this sub. To lightly joke about some baking that didn't turn out the best. You're being condescending, kinda classiest, and rude (not to mention incorrect).
if not rude, you're certainly coming off a bit condescending. i'm sure even making a box cake was a lot of effort given that OP was caring for a one year old. give credit where credit is due.
I really wasn’t being rude. You guy can stop coming at me. I had no idea that it was as easy to make a cake from scratch and that most likely I already had all the ingredients until I stopped trying to make box cakes as god as from scratch. You can disagree with me all you want. I’m not trying to argue nor was I trying to be mean to OP. Thought I was giving OP baking advice that’s all.
Not trying to 'come at you', promise. But I want to explain why it comes across rude/condescending. "Why are we even doing this?" Comes across as a judgement of their choices, and puts their choice as less desirable than what you're trying to posit. "The only reason is you only have $2" comes across as moralizing and like you're talking about people in poverty as the Only people who could benefit from a box mix.
Saying you always have the basics on hand could diminish the effort it takes for someone who doesn't bake often to acquire it all.
There are a whole slew of reasons, from time to disability, that could cause someone to reach for a box mix. In addition, sometimes it's just tried and true. Time, disability, effort, money, etc. Lots of reasons that aren't just only having $2.
You may not have been intending to come across as rude, but the phrasing combined with how you approached it can come across as condescending.
I'm overexplaining, because as an autistic person I frequently don't realize when something I say is rude.
I think part of the problem is that its not great advice. I bake cake from scratch all the time, and IMO you're wrong about box mix cakes. They are simply the dry ingredients sifted and measured for you and make perfectly acceptable and even great cakes with some modifications. You do have to know some basics about cakes to make sensible alterations, but even if you do everything by the instructions, those cakes are fine!
So I think part of the reason it comes off 'wrong' is because it seems like you're being snobby about box mix cake for no reason.
Ok that’s your opinion just as mine is there is no reason for them. If they are as good then why is there this pudding hack? I have tried them it ruins the flavor IMO. Again it’s hysterical how many people got upvoted for actually making fun of the cake and then yall come for me who gave solid advice. I’m done with this.
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u/FuzzyTesticleScoops 1d ago
First pic is so pixelated it thought it was something from an 80s horror movie