Hacker News Reader

Comment by phil21 | Hacker News Reader

Cake mixes almost always come ahead in blind taste tests. Very few bakers short of folks with a lot of volume are doing stuff from scratch.

It may or may not be healthier, but the subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

Frosting is a different topic - totally agree there, but I haven't seen any blind taste tests on that one.

The professional bakers around me who do a dozen cakes a day or whatnot are all pre-made mixes, maybe some small modifications to the mix, and from-scratch frostings. I'm not sure I could even find a local spot with cakes made from scratch - at least in the traditional sense. The spots making 200 cakes a day perhaps, but those are going to look a lot more like the mixes you buy from Sysco or whatnot.

View on HN

Don't neglect the cultural component when considering taste tests. I've heard there are many americans who actually prefer american chocolate. To me it tastes like sugary beeswax with a hint of sock.

The milk in American chocolate is spoiled.

Fair. I am definitely speaking of US consumers.

I wonder what is the proportion of that according to countries. In France, there's a label "fait maison" that's supposed to limit how much the baker or restaurateur rely on pre made mix. But besides this if a professional baker uses a premade mix, how do they differentiate themselves (but then I guess from my experience in the US some shops mostly compete on decoration and not taste)

> Cake mixes almost always come ahead in blind taste tests.

Could be a "New Coke"[1] thing, where people just like the one with more sugar. There's a reason food companies pack the stuff into everything - it (usually) works.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

> It may or may not be healthier, but the subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

The masses sustain Hostess by buying enough of their atrocious boxed "cakes" and cookies. I really wouldn't trust their taste buds.

If your argument is, "if making cakes for the masses, boxed is fine," sure, I don't disagree. My argument is that I hang out with folks that do care about that kind of thing and basically never go to the middle aisles of a grocery store - that crowd will appreciate baked with straightforward ingredients. Flour, sugar, actual cocoa powder, yeast, whatever.

> subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

You will be surprised to learn that brands have very differently tasting products developed for different markets. Often even under the same name.

> Often even under the same name

This is an issue with Kellogg's cereal and Lay's potato chips in China. They purport to be available. But they're not the same product.

I'm not sure why this is supposed to be a good idea; it entirely defeats the purpose of branding.

> The professional bakers around me who do a dozen cakes a day or whatnot are all pre-made mixes, maybe some small modifications to the mix, and from-scratch frostings. I'm not sure I could even find a local spot with cakes made from scratch - at least in the traditional sense. The spots making 200 cakes a day perhaps, but those are going to look a lot more like the mixes you buy from Sysco or whatnot.

95% of bakeries are using a box mix and a packet of jello pudding. That's the secret.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com