Betty Crocker - I Thought I Knew You!

Let me just begin this by saying that I've been making boxed cake mixes for over 35 years now. (Yes, I do use boxed cake mixes. I think they taste better. I never use canned frosting, though.) I've had great success over the years making cakes.

So when I made Kimberly's birthday cake in September, I was expecting it to turn out. Imagine my surprise when I turned the cake out of the pans and the bottom stayed in the pans! I was not expecting that! Fortunately I was able to salvage the bottom pieces and reconstruct and frost the cake. It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever made, but it still tasted good!

Fast forward to the end of October when I made Scott's birthday cake. I decided to read the instructions more carefully. To my surprise the instructions only said to grease the pans. There was no mention of flouring the pans. I have never made a cake where the instructions didn't say to grease and flour the pans. I even looked at a Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix to see if it was just the white cake mix that had changed, but no, the instructions on both boxes were the same.

Recalling the cake fiasco of Kimberly's birthday, I followed the instructions (although a little skeptically I might add) and just greased the pans. Sure enough, the cake came right out with no sticking.

When did Betty make this change? What did she do to the cake mix that warranted this change? And why wasn't it written in big bold letters on the front of the box!! I do know that Duncan Hines still requires greasing and flouring, so it's not an industry wide change.

I have to say, now that I know, I may stick to Betty Crocker cake mixes. I have always hated flouring the cake pans so it's nice not to have to!