Back in the day, the baker who resorted to a cake mix might hide the empty box to avoid exposure. Still, an unnaturally bright yellow layer or slightly chemical aftertaste gave it away.
In 1999, Anne Byrn — author of 15 books, Atlanta Journal-Constitution food editor, graduate of La Varenne and other prestigious French culinary schools — changed everything. Her “Cake Mix Doctor” followed by “The Cake Mix Doctor Returns” challenged the perception by adding assorted ingredients to mixes, resulting in cakes good enough to pass for scratch. Now a gorgeous third installment, “A New Take on Cake: 175 Beautiful, Doable Cake Mix Recipes for Bundts, Layers, Slabs, Cookies and More!” reinforces her premise.
Anne Byrn will greet bakers and skeptics at The Country Bookshop in downtown Southern Pines …
The photographs alone justify the price.
Since photos aren’t edible, Byrn drives through the South from her home in Nashville to meet and greet the unconvinced. She will spread the word —aided by samples — at The Country Bookshop at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1.
One bite and doubters usually leave convinced.
Byrn is also a spokeswoman for American foodways: “Times have changed,” she says. “At first I took a lot of flak from hoity-toity food writers. But I was living the (contemporary) life — three children under 10, my mother living with us.” As a restaurant reviewer she loved authentic gourmet dishes, but acknowledged complicated home baking wasn’t realistic. In Europe, the town bakery offering affordable cakes means the home cook needn’t bother. Here, the situation differs, especially when a family-sized professional cake can cost $20.
“This new generation of Americans grew up with cake mixes,” albeit to their granny’s chagrin, Byrn says. However, “I’m feeling, for whatever reason, now people are giving cake mixes a pass.”
Don’t, especially if enhanced with homemade frosting, or used as the basis for classics like coconut layer, fudgy chocolate, pineapple upside down. Remember 7-Up Pound Cake? Gooey Butter Cake? Better Than Sex Cake? They are back, along with a Sour Cream Cheesecake, a Roasted Strawberry Upside-down Cake, and her personal favorite, Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake.
With a nod to current sensibilities, Byrn concocted a vegan chocolate tangerine cake, an Earl Grey tea loaf, a brown sugar grapefruit cake, a gluten-free pumpkin spice, a Reese’s peanut butter cake, even baby cakes baked in 6-inch pans, for small households.
Assembling Byrn’s mix-based recipes may be quick and easy. Creating them requires time and patience, in good supply during the pandemic.
“I mess around with ingredients like butter and buttermilk,” she says.
Experience helps a baker predict outcome just by reading the recipe. Science plays a role. Byrn gets advice from Martha Bowden, whom she met through their daughters’ ballet class.
“She’s a science teacher, very detail-oriented,” Byrn says.
Byrn has also kept ingredients accessible and baking tools simple. Most bakers have either a hand or stand mixer, but many recipes can be assembled in ordinary bowl, with a wooden spoon.
The occasional flop becomes a learning experience. Successes are frozen or given away. Cakes make friends.
Producing 200-plus perfect specimens for those dreamy photographs could not have been easy. Nor is driving to book events, which spur sales. “(The travel) is worth it,” Byrn says. “It’s important to be seen, to get feedback which is a source of inspiration.” Byrn sees her market as young cooks, even entry-level 10-12-year-olds who appreciate ingredients like Nutella. Ironically, COVID-19 has benefited baking book sales which, as reported in “Bake” magazine, were up 42 percent in 2021 when flour and sugar sold out at supermarkets.
Besides identifying a market and adding personal touches, Byrn has justified cake mixes not per se but as the starting point for something special. This proposition not only mitigates the stigma, but … takes the cake. The ultimate test: Will a book glorifying cake mixes, no matter how beautiful, convince Santa?
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