Do Americans really use packet cake mix as much as recipes suggest?

[breatheslowly]

I keep on seeing recipes that involve packet cake mix. I know you can buy it here, but I am not aware of anyone using it here in the UK. Do Americans really use it?

Expat
One of my friends was ranting on fb the other day about having tried yet another crap Mary berry recipe

scone does he use moulds in the pan or cut them to size/shape after?

got to be stork if I use butter in a recipe I usually reduce the quantity

lots of soups etc have suggestions on the pack or can about what lovely casseroles they make!

never tried it

And:

number 5

Aro He pours the shapes in. It's just Mickey's face: a round shape for the face and then two smaller round shapes for the ears.

www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Mickey-Mouse-Pancake

We do have some pancake molds (leaves, etc.) but don't use them often.

I don't know about all Americans, but when I used to Go to coffee mornings with expats a lot of the American women talked about which brands where available here and what they had to order through which ever source it was.

Once I had a moment when a newbie (American) brought a cake and another American woman casualy said 'oh, it's very dry'. While I was thinking OMG what did she just say??? the first woman said 'yes, but the instruccións didn't say to add any oil'

I also made friends with an American woman who wouldn't touch anything prepackaged or precooked with a barge polé.

For fluffy pancakes, I use this recipe here.

I am an American, an avid baker and user of Pinterest and I frequently offend myself by muttering anti-Americanisms in response to the food content on there. And, also, seriously, who is serving jello shots outside of college house party?

The only time I use a cake mix is to make an applesauce cake my grandmother used to make and since I can't get proper American style applesauce in the UK it is in no way a time saver. My grandmother was a avid bake from a packet cook, but I think that was a bit if a generational thing. She liked the ease of it, but she still knew how to cook from scratch. Her pancakes used pancake mix, but also had about 17 other ingredients so I'm not really sure what the point of it was.

Isn't baking about the baking though? The actual process? I love baking, cannot remember the last time I bought a packet mix.

If all you're going to do is add an egg or water, why not just buy a cake?

To be fair, you cannot compare the quality of packet mixes you find on shelves in the Uk to the varieties available in the U.S. Every mix I've tried here has been dry and miserable. I am not a baker and every effort to make something from scratch has been a massive flop. Mixes are fail safe!

I find Betty Crocker in all her boxy, tinny goodness to be quite tasty because its packed with corn syrup and vegetable shortening

scones - can you answer the (entirely unrelated) question about what is different in American pancakes from what I would call drop scones or scotch pancakes? There is something fundamental, because DS, DH and I all find that we can eat about half of one American pancake (and have sat in diners staring in wonder at people eating whole stacks), whereas DS and I could easily eat half a dozen scotch pancakes each.

And baking powder or a splash of club soda will make lovely, puffy pancakes although I also prefer Aunt Jemima's buttermilk mixes

why not just buy a cake?

Well, I do this too. Publix (our supermarket) cakes are great. But baking does make the house smell good.

stealth I really don't know the answer. Practice, maybe. American pancakes are very filling and drop scones are very similar (I think our pancakes derived from those through Scottish immigrants and also from something similar in Dutch cuisine; we just made them bigger.) I can eat a pile of both.

Pancake /drop scone

size?

Sittingbull I am not sure how you are defining a "good cake" or where you are in the States, but I know several people including my closest friend who make all manner of cakes from scratch and we don't live in a goumet-ish type area of the country at all.

My (American) SIL showed us the Mickey pancake trick, and we do it sometimes (but with drop scones) - my DC also like it when I make a huge frying pan sized drop scone.

still can't eat American pancakes. Maybe it's the buttermilk

Arohaitis Yes, pancakes are bigger but we do have something called silver dollar pancakes that are similar in size to drop scones.

DH doesn't use buttermilk in his pancakes, just regular milk.

More confused by the minute. My default drop scone recipe is by Pooh Bear, as channelled by Katie Stewart in this book.

The Pioneer Woman doesn't normally use cake mix in her blog. But most of the other blogs I read do.

Sittingbull - since you mentioned it, how do you make pumpkin purée from raw pumpkin? I anticipate having quite a lot of raw pumpkin soon and all the recipes I have found start with tinned purée.

I've made pumpkin puree just by chopping up a pumpkin, roasting until soft as you would with butternut squash or sweet potato, then whacking it in the blender along with some brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and clives. I've no idea if that's how you're meant to do it, but my American friend said it tasted right!