Calling all home bakers - do you use packet mixes or do you prefer baking from scratch?
We’ve taken a look at a range of banana bread packet mixes and pitted regular brands against more fancy celebrity brands (as well as our own recipe). Our video shows how they stack up for price.
Are you surprised by the price mark-up?
We also put them to the taste test, and found the homemade banana bread won hands down (see our article for full results).
Does this surprise you?
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on these banana bread packet mixes, and cake packet mixes more generally. Do you think they’re a great way to encourage people to bake at home? Or are they contributing to a decline in baking and cooking skills?
I’ve never made a packet mix cake, I’ve always done baking from scratch using home grown ingredients where possible, such as chook or duck eggs, fruit etc, and I also bake most of the bread we eat from scratch, starting with my jar of sourdough.
I honestly can’t see any point in packet cake mixes, it’s all easy enough to do (mum taught me the basics as a teenager), and I have control of what goes into the mix, rather than what some manufacturer has decided on.
We used to make some packet cake mixes, but found most has a base flavour across all cake types and didn’t find them special…they tasted like packet cakes. The standard flavour used in packet mixes from memory has slight vanilla undertones. They also are sweeter than we would prefer.
We now make all our cakes from scratch, including banana bread. The secret to a good banana bread is using overripe bananas…the ones which look a lost cause and mushy inside. These bananas are sweet and have a more intense flavour. These bananas also allow amount of added sugar to be reduced to near nothing, without compromising taste.
We also found packets convenience no different to making our own…as there is the same amount of clean up. …and measuring out base ingredients possibly takes a few minutes more.
We plan to stick to cakes from scratch in the future. Baking from scratch is also good for getting children’s involvement, and increase their understanding of what goes into different foods.
In regards to store bought bar cakes some are real shockers i have found whilst others are quite good. I have bought a store baked banana bread but when i looked on the packet it didn’t actually have real banana in it. that is misleading advertising if you ask me so i never buy that again. I do agree making a cake or slice yourself is so much better than a packet mix or baked version.
I have used them for a while, but stopped. It wasn’t faster, it didn’t taste better and it had a whole heap of added unnessesary ingredients.
Home made the whole way no packets now.
I am even Marvin my own self raising flour by ushering bicarbonate and tartar. Less chemicals than the baking powder!!ad works better. I found an old Mrs Beaton’s cook book and this is what she does, the old school way. Too much processed foods for ‘convenience’ add more chemicals that our body doesn’t need.
There are so many numbers in thevingredients of packet mixes that you would need a science lab to duplicate it! Home made, from scratch, at le as t you know what youcare eating!
I prefer to bake from scratch . Some years ago I did a stint in marketing at one of the big players in the packet cake and pudding industry . I have no problems with the manufacturing procedures , if weevil was found in the flour the whole production line shut down , was cleaned and all produce from that run discarded . The problem I had was the dehydrated egg , milk , the preservatives added etc . As far as I’m concerned " FRESH IS BEST "
I always bake my bread from scratch (sourdogh light rye). That gives me the choice of ingredience and spices, which I everytime change a little. That way I get always some new flavour and nevber get bored of my bread. Rago
I like the packet mix of ALDI brand of Brownies, it is certainly very chocolate and moist. Most things we make and bake at home from biscuits to cakes, and other desserts such as Pav. Every Christmas we bake between 20 and 30 Christmas Cakes and around 12 Plum Puddings for family and friends. Generally we prefer home made but will use some packet mixes that have shown good results. Most packet mixes are the bland sameness of flavour, over sweet and overly crumbly of texture. We also like to make our own pikelets, and pancakes which tend to be better to turn (and stick less to the pan) and have a Sydney harbour or maybe Australian Bight size of flavour compared to any store made or mix.
The other problem with cake mixes, which all taste the same, is they advise you to use oil not butter. Sorry, only butter makes cakes taste right! Keep the oil for muffins.
I can taste a packet mix cake from 10 paces, I would prefer to go without. I’m not a baker, but on the rare occasion I bake a cake, it’s home made. If I absolutely had to make a packet mix cake, it would be a Betty Crockers. My grandchildren like to bake and this is the only brand I consider almost acceptable.
I agree 100% with everything you said, its sad to see people who think a packet cake is a cake, I have never tasted one I liked. Just takes time and love!
However, I’m coeliac and I do think that the packet mixes can be an easy alternative for gluten free baking, which can be quite finicky and sometimes the flours (unless you’re using cornflour) can be quite expensive.
When my children were very small I occasionally used to buy packet mixes as it was easy for them to help to make them. When they grew old enough, I taught them both to bake from scratch. The results are immeasurably better and you know exactly what is in them. Today I was rewarded when I came home to find a homemade birthday cake baked for me by my 19 year old son in the fridge. I am looking forward to a piece when he comes home from uni tonight.
Years ago I made a couple of cake mixes (but never banana bread). For many years though, I have baked only from scratch. At least I know what is in my cake and the flavour and texture are much better.
I saw a product range last weekend where to use your example would have been labeled “flavour inspired by Banana Bread”. You can guess which words were most legible and what ingredient was missing.
Just guessing, would that be labeling regulations that minimise ‘red tape’ and restrictions to help maximise profitability?
Since an ingredient list is shown the regulators are happy as long as that list is fairly accurate on average. Whether or not something is ‘honestly’ labeled is secondary to the product being upfront and the real content is ‘transparent’. "Transparency’ for the consumer to do their own due dilligence is the focus of government, not consumer protection or regulation. What is ‘honest’ seems to vary amongst pollies, and thus regulators, and often appears to be infuenced mostly by those being regulated and wanting the lightest possible ‘touch.’
We bake at home a lot, largely out of necessity as all three of my kids are allergic to eggs, and one is allergic to dairy, so most baked goodies you can buy aren’t an option for us. But they also enjoy the process (and the result). I hope that one day I get surprised by a cake from one of them too
