Betty Crocker Vanilla Cupcakes – yes…really

I have stood accused of food elitism on a number of occasions. Previously I have seen no reason to ever purchase let alone bake from a box. To be frank, it hardly takes any more effort to bake a proper cake from scratch so why would you bother?

I recently while visiting my dear old Dad came into possession of a box of Betty Crocker vanilla cupcake mix with ready made frosting. I mentioned my little sister Sarah & I might do a spot of baking & it was forcefully shoved into my life with a degree of enthusiasm I found difficult to protest.  Dad, subtlety is not one of your charms.

To say I was cynical would have been a gross understatement. It might just have killed me to follow the directions on the box completely so I replaced the water with lemonade & added some vanilla bean paste for extra flavour, with that done I was certain I still wouldn’t enjoy them.

Alas, they weren’t poison. I really wanted to hate them, I am stubborn like that. They had a moist, tender crumb & fluffed up wonderfully. My only gripe is with the frosting – you get 12 cupcakes from a box & barely enough frosting to scrape over 11 cupcakes. Ideally there would be at least 25% more frosting to make them look like the serving suggestion on the box. Overall they were yummy, there I have said it..I liked them…I ate 3!

Sarah I decorated with vigour & consumed without guilt.

I probably wouldn’t ever bake from a box again without coercion but I finally understand the appeal: fail proofing. There really isn’t a lot that can go wrong with a box of cake mix & with the busy lives we lead nowadays I can understand the market for foolproof gratification, and your kids honestly won’t know the difference.

See!? Look at that face, that right there friends is happiness.