I have a confession and a question. I use box cake and brownie mixes. There, I said it. Now, the question is, is it cheating to use box mixes? They certainly save time, and perhaps this is the worst confession of all, but I like them. I'm generally ok with the taste and texture of box mix cakes/browies. But they require absolutely no culinary skill, and who knows what kind of preservatives are in there. So, what's your opinion on box mixes?
The reason I ask is because I try to do straight homemade all the time, at least for my own satisfaction because I like starting from scratch, it's more fun and interesting that way. But I didn't have time this week and had to resort to a box chocolate cake mix. I had a request to make dessert from my mom for her group of ladies, and I had a birthday party. The ladies group was small and I wanted to do something fancier, and the birthday party was large and informal, so something more finger food style was necessary. The ladies group was Thursday night, and the birthday party Friday night. But I have class on Wednesday and Thursday nights, so I needed something that would be fast to put together, and would work for both events. That led to parfaits for the ladies, and cupcakes for the birthday. The parfaits have chocolate Bavarian, then crumbled cake, then strawberry mousse, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. The cupcakes are filled with the strawberry mousse, and frosted with the chocolate Bavarian and chocolate shavings.
Bavarian and Mousse recipes here (substitute 1 cup pureed strawberries for the boysenberries)
To assemble the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake. Fill in the hollow in the cupcake with the mousse. Cut off the bottom of the cone and place back on top of the cupcake. 
Bytheway, I really need to get a better camera. Can you tell which pictures were taken with my old boring digital camera, and which were taken with my dad's fancy scmancy camera?!!!
3 comments:
Yum, they look good, and I think that cake mixes are ok, when you are pressed for time. I used vanilla cake mixes when I am doing lots of cupcakes for a charity sale, no one knows the difference, and I can withstand making lots and lots of them the night before!
I agree it seems a decent camera is a very important aspect of food blogging, I can tell the difference in cameras, but it makes no difference to how yummy the food looks! :)
You are perfectly fine to use boxed mixes. My mom makes wedding cakes and she says that the mixes are way better for stability. And if it bugs you to call it home-made, call it Semi-Home-Made. Like the show on Food Network.
The cupcakes were tasty!
I personally love taking a box mix and 'dressing it up' and making it my own . . . I'm with you though, I think the flavor, texture, etc are really good from most box mixes.
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