Do you use cake mixes? You need to know.....

....that the weight of a box of many of the cake mixes has decreased from 18.25 ounces to 15.25 ounces. This means that if you need to use a cake mix to make a dessert, you may not get the results you're used to getting. People have been complaining that the batter for their desserts are now too liquid-y and are not baking properly or otherwise not what they're used to. According to the manufacturers, you now need to add 1/2 cup of mix from a second box of cake mix to your first box in order to get the results you need.

I think it's a crock. So now, if I want to make a Honey Bun Cake for dear Richard (the recipe calls for a box of white cake mix), I have to buy two boxes and add 1/2 cup of mix to the first box? Forget it.

I was at the store yesterday morning and Pillsbury has reduced their cake mix weights to 15.25 ounces. So did Betty Crocker Supermoist. I don't know about Duncan Hines.

But it's all just a huge racket and I'm tired of the whole thing. Just thought I'd mention it because they were very sneaky about it. I know people who didn't know about it and wondered why their cakes weren't rising properly.

I noticed that with a lot of things......it seems to have started with ice cream. Rather than raising the price, they put less ice cream in the carton, then reduced the carton size. Now they don't care and are charging more for 1.25 litres of ice cream than they did for 2 litres which is really strange, since the same companies still sell 4 litres for less than what used to be 2. Cereals are the same as is jam, jelly, and dozens of other products.

I realize that it's happening to all kinds of products. But I felt this was worth a heads-up, particularly because if people don't know and try to use a new cake mix, they're not going to get the same results and it's not just a waste of the mix, but also all of the other ingredients as well. Frustrates the heck of me!

so that's why my sisters birthday cake seemed so.. small!

Yes, this has happened to orange juice, ice cream and numerous other items.  Check all the brands you can find.  You could find one that has not been changed.  I found ice cream Piggly Wiggly brand that has not been changed.
 

I can understand "downsizing" products. Fine. But why didn't they change the instructions for mixing? To say you have to buy another box and add some of that is just crazy. . .you buy one box of cake mix to make one cake, period. They're going to lose business over that, I think.

Blue Bell ice cream is still a half-gallon.  It is kinda pricey, but worth the extra money for extra ice cream.

I could be wrong but some cookbook recipes call for a cake mix...not the directions for making a cake on the box.  Since they downsized the portion in the box, the cookbook recipe is no longer valid and one has to buy more to get the same ingredient.  Did that make sense?  I had a hard time explaining that.
 

That's what I was trying to say, Zohdee....thanks.

The Honey Bun cake that Rick likes so much calls for one 18.25 oz vanilla or yellow cake mix. It calls for different measurements, too, like four eggs, 3/4 cup of vegetable oil, 8 ounces sour cream, etc. Since they only have 15.25 oz in the new boxes of cake mix, that's going to throw my cake off completely because it's missing those extra 3 ounces of cake mix/dry ingredients. The cake batter will have more liquid and won't rise as high in a 13 x 9 inch pan. So now, had I not seen that, I would have been out the money for my cake mix AND all of my ingredients. And I would have been wondering what I did wrong to my cake. That's the point I was trying to make.

I realize that everything is being reduced. But 8 ounces of OJ is still 8 ounces. A cake mix isn't the same weight and that can really mess up some of those recipes that simply call for one 18.25 ounces of cake mix. Unless, of course, you want to take 1/2 cup of so of another cake mix and add it to your recipe, too. And then I guess you could save the remaining cake mix for another use....and add 1/2 cup to that mix when you need to bake another cake. But I still think it's a crock.

This is a sore subject with me. I absolutely hate that companies are downsizing their products. And I also do recipes that call for a box of cake mix. I follow recipes from Hungry Girl - she's big on using boxes of cake mix with a couple other ingredients, to make items that are friendly to weight watching. She addressed this in an e-mail back in July, and she's adjusting her recipes accordingly.... but it's a big pain in the butt that this even has to be done.

Sort of off-topic, but I'm a big fan of the sugar-free Jello pudding snacks. Being a member of Weight Watchers, one of those little pudding snacks is very low in points. But now they've come out with the 4-pack instead of the 6-pack. The little container is smaller, so, you get less pudding, and even though you think you're paying less, because it's 4, instead of 6 - the unit price of the 4-pack is more. Extremely sneaky, and they've lost a customer. I now will make my own, with a box of Jello instant, sugar-free, fat free pudding, and skip the "convenient" snack pack.

End of rant.

nanner said:

Sort of off-topic, but I'm a big fan of the sugar-free Jello pudding snacks. Being a member of Weight Watchers, one of those little pudding snacks is very low in points. But now they've come out with the 4-pack instead of the 6-pack. The little container is smaller, so, you get less pudding, and even though you think you're paying less, because it's 4, instead of 6 - the unit price of the 4-pack is more. Extremely sneaky, and they've lost a customer. I now will make my own, with a box of Jello instant, sugar-free, fat free pudding, and skip the "convenient" snack pack.
End of rant.

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Yes, I was (WAS) a fan of the sugar-free Jello puddings, too. And now that they came out with the 4-pack, they can kiss me goodbye as a customer, too. I'm done.

Tell me about the 4 cups!!  Last I looked there were FIVE days in a week.  I pack pudding or more often jello but now I have to buy more with a smaller cup.
 

Winchester said:

....that the weight of a box of many of the cake mixes has decreased from 18.25 ounces to 15.25 ounces. This means that if you need to use a cake mix to make a dessert, you may not get the results you're used to getting. People have been complaining that the batter for their desserts are now too liquid-y and are not baking properly or otherwise not what they're used to. According to the manufacturers, you now need to add 1/2 cup of mix from a second box of cake mix to your first box in order to get the results you need.

I think it's a crock. So now, if I want to make a Honey Bun Cake for dear Richard (the recipe calls for a box of white cake mix), I have to buy two boxes and add 1/2 cup of mix to the first box? Forget it.

I was at the store yesterday morning and Pillsbury has reduced their cake mix weights to 15.25 ounces. So did Betty Crocker Supermoist. I don't know about Duncan Hines.

But it's all just a huge racket and I'm tired of the whole thing. Just thought I'd mention it because they were very sneaky about it. I know people who didn't know about it and wondered why their cakes weren't rising properly.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up! i have been wondering why my last few birthday cakes did not take as much time as they were supposed to to cook.......the oven is new, so it can't be faulty.  Also they seemed smaller..............now I know they are

sk_pacer said:

I noticed that with a lot of things......it seems to have started with ice cream. Rather than raising the price, they put less ice cream in the carton, then reduced the carton size. Now they don't care and are charging more for 1.25 litres of ice cream than they did for 2 litres which is really strange, since the same companies still sell 4 litres for less than what used to be 2. Cereals are the same as is jam, jelly, and dozens of other products.

Click to expand...

I've noticed too.........and it's really frustrating, since ?I'm feeding a family of 5 the last thing we need is to have package sizes shrunk on us. it now takes 2 cartons of ice cream to feed people ice cream for dessert, so we have to pay more for the privelidge.....same with things ike hamburger helper/kraft dinner-2 boxes to feed them, and not always enough to go around. I've about given up buying bxed anything and now  i get whole chickens and ham. cheaper in the long run anyway, by the time i multiply boxes

Thanks for letting us know! I also use a few recipes that call for a cake mix.

Thanks for the heads up!...i just made a bundt cake (Betty Crocker) & darn near had a coronary!  the cake was about 1/2 the size it used to be.

I thought maybe it had a lot to do with our weather, but what u tell me makes more sense...Stupid Stupid companies!...again thanks

jan smith

texas

sk_pacer said:

I noticed that with a lot of things......it seems to have started with ice cream. Rather than raising the price, they put less ice cream in the carton, then reduced the carton size.

Click to expand...

A lot of cartons remain the same size and the only tell tale evidence is the number on the outside of the package and of course what you see when you open the box.

This is not only food stuff related, but also other things like cosmetics.  Some years ago I bought a spray bottle of skin toner from Adrian Arpel. Very expensive!  The bottle was the size of a standard bottle of shampoo.  It was several weeks before I noticed that there was a tiny hole in the bottom of the bottle and I looked into it.  Color me flabbergasted when I saw a metal container inside the large plastic bottle that was about 1/4 or less than the size of the bottle I was holding.  They hid a small spray can inside a larger plastic bottle to give the illusion you were getting a lot of product.

Winchester said:

....that the weight of a box of many of the cake mixes has decreased from 18.25 ounces to 15.25 ounces. This means that if you need to use a cake mix to make a dessert, you may not get the results you're used to getting. People have been complaining that the batter for their desserts are now too liquid-y and are not baking properly or otherwise not what they're used to. According to the manufacturers, you now need to add 1/2 cup of mix from a second box of cake mix to your first box in order to get the results you need.

I think it's a crock. So now, if I want to make a Honey Bun Cake for dear Richard (the recipe calls for a box of white cake mix), I have to buy two boxes and add 1/2 cup of mix to the first box? Forget it.

I was at the store yesterday morning and Pillsbury has reduced their cake mix weights to 15.25 ounces. So did Betty Crocker Supermoist. I don't know about Duncan Hines.

But it's all just a huge racket and I'm tired of the whole thing. Just thought I'd mention it because they were very sneaky about it. I know people who didn't know about it and wondered why their cakes weren't rising properly.

Click to expand...

Yep. This has been happening for months. If you have a recipe calling for the 18.25oz mix, add 6 tablespoons of flour to the 15.25oz box to make up the dif. I've tried it and it works. However, if I'm going to start hauling out the measuring spoons and flour; I may as well make the cake from scratch. I've called all 3 of the companies that make the mixes and they acted surprised by my call. I've purchased my last cake mix. I'll be making them from scratch from now on.

Well, making a cake from scratch is one solution. The other solution takes a little time at first, but then, no more problems.

One can take the old recipe and the amounts of added ingredients needed according to the instructions on the box and count everything as 100 percent. Then figure out the new amount of mix percentage wise and adjust the other necessary ingredients accordingly. Pain in the neck at first but after that, problem solved.

I can't help it, but by ruining recipes, I really think they just want to sell more cake mix. Of course, we can outsmart them, LOL.

I just buy a cake from the bakery
 

So that's what's going on! I'm not a cake fan but our daughter loves to bake, and the last time she made cupcakes from a mix (for a bake sale) they seemed really small. I'll pass along the info, thanks!

p.s. Professionally bakers use mixes all the time - they usually have their own methods of "doctoring" them up.