Processed Foods Experiments: boxed cake
Sep. 23rd, 2020 07:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutIn general, I do not like to buy or use boxed cake, pancake, etc. mixes. My reasons are twofold: I am allergic to milk products and I am sodium sensitive (I bloat)(my blood pressure, thus far, is fine, thank you very much for caring). Also, it is honestly just not that hard to make the equivalents from scratch.
However, I have used them a lot — they are how I started baking. And I have done some pretty ridiculous things with boxed mixes. Since I grew up using Bisquick, it was not too much of a stretch to look at pancake mix and think, that could be a cake. However, I had never taken the reverse step: Can I Make Pancakes from Box Cake Mix?
Short answer, of course I can.
Slightly longer answer, in addition to yeah, definitely grease the pan:
(1) Use English Muffin rings and you get little mini cakes.
(2) Keep the range temp low — I use 4 to cook a lot of stuff, but these cannot go above 3 and need to be dropped to 2 after flipping.
(3) Assuming you use the rings, you will need a little longer to cook, and use a lid.
A bit more about what I did: I did NOT follow the cake mix directions. I was using Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil’s Food, and it calls for eggs and water and oil. Ha ha ha ha no. I used water. I use water when I make pancake mix, because if I planned on using eggs, I would have used flour in the first place. I mixed to a medium thickness (where thin gets you crepes and thick is edging onto being a dough).
TL;DR: open the cake mix box, decant it into a resealable bag or container. Scoop out however much you want to use. Mix at 1:1 or slightly less water, depending on how thin you like your pancake. Use rings if you want an actual cake. This thing is prone to burning (suuuuugggggaaaarrrr), so cook it low and slow and use a lid to avoid drying it out.
I tried putting fluff onto the resulting cake, but the cake is pretty fragile. Hershey’s chocolate syrup is probably the right choice here, unless you are really creative, or willing to commit to actual icing or buttercream or WTF.
However, I have used them a lot — they are how I started baking. And I have done some pretty ridiculous things with boxed mixes. Since I grew up using Bisquick, it was not too much of a stretch to look at pancake mix and think, that could be a cake. However, I had never taken the reverse step: Can I Make Pancakes from Box Cake Mix?
Short answer, of course I can.
Slightly longer answer, in addition to yeah, definitely grease the pan:
(1) Use English Muffin rings and you get little mini cakes.
(2) Keep the range temp low — I use 4 to cook a lot of stuff, but these cannot go above 3 and need to be dropped to 2 after flipping.
(3) Assuming you use the rings, you will need a little longer to cook, and use a lid.
A bit more about what I did: I did NOT follow the cake mix directions. I was using Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil’s Food, and it calls for eggs and water and oil. Ha ha ha ha no. I used water. I use water when I make pancake mix, because if I planned on using eggs, I would have used flour in the first place. I mixed to a medium thickness (where thin gets you crepes and thick is edging onto being a dough).
TL;DR: open the cake mix box, decant it into a resealable bag or container. Scoop out however much you want to use. Mix at 1:1 or slightly less water, depending on how thin you like your pancake. Use rings if you want an actual cake. This thing is prone to burning (suuuuugggggaaaarrrr), so cook it low and slow and use a lid to avoid drying it out.
I tried putting fluff onto the resulting cake, but the cake is pretty fragile. Hershey’s chocolate syrup is probably the right choice here, unless you are really creative, or willing to commit to actual icing or buttercream or WTF.