About to embrace the mixes

When my older son was a preschooler, his friend Mikey used to come over and bake with us. He went home one day and told his mom that Steve's mother was so cool that she could make a cake without a box.

 I've always loved baking and it's a good way to pass the time.  So using a cake mix to save time really defeated the purpose.  I mostly bake pie and yeast breads for my husband.  I hardly need a recipe for these and they're pretty difficult to mess up.  I like a cookie or a piece of cake when I want something sweet.  These require more finesse in the preparation.  I try to memorize as many recipes as I can or write them out in large letters. Sometimes I keep a  special magnifier at hand in the kitchen and also have my husband measure things.  Even still I have many disasters and need to do something different at this point.

 I know that a large section  of the baking aisle are mixes of all kinds.  I think they're probably just what I need at this time.  Something with   few ingredients.  So the next time I'm at the grocery store, I'm going to have my husband read the labels and find out just what's offered.

 

I did have one cake mix that I used for quite a few years.  When my second son was about six, he went to a birthday party and fell in love with the cake.  I asked the mom for the recipe and she told me it was a Betty Crocker cherry cake mix.   She used a can of cherry pie filling for between the layers.  The can of pie filling had very few cherries and was mostly thickener.  She covered it all with a can of pre-made frosting.  The whole thing was neon pink and bursting with artificial flavoring and coloring.  But every year I bought that cake mix for Scott's birthday.

 When he was in his 30s, they stopped making the mix.  I dreaded telling him that it was unavailable after all those years.  He said, “Don't worry, Mom.  I really didn't like that cake mix  anymore anyway.”  ally didn't like that cake mix  anymore anyway.”  

      

 

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