Good Taste: Boxed mix is better

Every year on my sister’s birthday, I interrogate her to figure out what kind of cake I should make and, every year, she asks for the same thing: boxed white cake filled with strawberries and whipped cream. Every year, this decadent cake reminds me of a universal law: Boxed cake mix is better.

Of all the vanilla cakes in the world, none can ever compete with Betty Crocker’s. The just-barely crunchy exterior gives way to the moist crumb, defying physics by gaining color without becoming dry.

 Boxed cake mix was first invented in the 1930s due to molasses surpluses, but sales of these mixes skyrocketed after World War II. As families reunited and celebrated together again, cake became more important than ever. Though its popularity has ebbed and flowed since then, boxed cake mix has remained a household fixture ever since.

The popularity of boxed cake mix is indisputable. Nearly 186 million Americans used boxed cake mix in 2020 alone. Despite its success, most bakers and foodies alike treat boxed cake mix with disdain, as if bakers who use these mixes are not bakers at all.

To bake a cake from scratch requires an endless list of materials and ingredients as well as a considerable amount of time and knowledge. Most cake recipes require the brave baker to acquire eight to 10 ingredients and expensive products such as stand mixers and cake levelers before they begin their task.

It’s not enough to show up with all the necessary tools. While recipes offer much-needed guidance, the baker must undertake the burden of figuring out how soft the butter needs to be, how pale and fluffy the creamed butter-sugarmixture must be or how set the cake must be before it’s pulled from the oven.

It takes an endless list of ingredients, materials, time and knowledge to make a cake from scratch that will rival your local bakery.

Boxed cake mix takes a hobby with a nearly insurmountable barrier to entry and makes it accessible to anyone. This invention streamlines the number of ingredients and necessary resources and removes any of the uncertainty from the process of making a cake. All it takes is three household ingredients, a functional oven, a pan and a mix to make something delicious.

Rather than appreciating the way boxed cake mix increases access to the joys of baking, we spend time telling people that they don’t have a place in the baking community because they didn’t work hard enough on their baked goods.

In a capitalist framework, we are taught value is directly proportional to rarity. We are constantly hoping for invitations to the most exclusive parties or experiences because we immediately assume that they are the most worthwhile. 

It is the reason Billy MacFarland convinced hordes of consumers to purchase tickets to Fyre Fest, his exclusive music festival, and spring for pricey VIP packages, even as there was no proof the experience was worth the cost. It is the reason Supreme, an apparel company with weekly limited clothing drops, sells out of their goods minutes after they release. Exclusivity becomes the only way to consider ourselves a part of the upper echelon. 

Gatekeeping the joy of baking allows from-scratch-bakers to convince themselves that they are part of a special group. By looking down upon those who make cake from a mix, these from-scratch-bakers view their baked goods as higher in value.

We seem to forget that joy and celebration are not finite resources. Food is sustenance, but cake is love, joy, connection and celebration. We bake cakes to celebrate our most important milestones, from birthdays to new jobs to anniversaries. Regardless of how it is made, cake takes a party and turns it into a celebration. If the purpose of baking is to unite communities and spread joy, boxed-mix cake achieves that goal just as successfully as any other.

 Though the change appears insignificant, reimagining baking communities gives us the opportunity to imagine a more accessible world. It is time we change the narrative. Rather than upholding exclusive communities gatekept by antiquated biases, we must imagine a world where inclusivity is not just an idea but a guiding principle. This might be as simple as finding joy in making a boxed cake.

Reena Somani is a senior writing about food and its social implications. Her column, “Good Taste,” runs every other Tuesday.