I wouldn't have guessed that Ina Garten was a cake-mix kind of gal, but I suppose that once you have your own line of boxed mixes, your perspective probably changes somewhat. Ina's Barefoot Contessa mix line includes brownie and cake mixes, frostings, fillings and even a pie crust mix. The mixes aren't entirely new, but this is the first time that I've seen so many of them, so perhaps their original distribution was limited to a few specialty stores.
The appeal of Ina's recipes is that she manages to make them look better, as well as more indulgent, than anything you could get at a bakery. The fact that her famous coconut cupcakes are now in a box... makes them lose a little something, especially since they claim to come with a cream cheese frosting mix, to which you have to add cream cheese.
Products like sauces and preserves make sense, since even if Ina isn't in the kitchen making them by hand, you can feel confident that it is her recipe. But to convert one of her cakes into a mix really looses the homemade appeal, which is what made Ina a success in the first place.
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Morbid thoughts? Have a cookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-06-2006 @ 8:09AM
Tara said...
Have you tried them? I'm curious to see what the ingredients are and how much of it is food science.
I guess I can understand the concept, people see how indulgent her recipes are and think they can get the same effect at home if they buy her mix, but the thing is, its probably just the same thing as Betty Crocker in a jazzed up box.
I also find it interesting you add cream cheese to the cream cheese frosting... whats in the frosting mix then... just sugar and artificial flavorings?
Reply
11-06-2006 @ 9:38AM
Carolyn said...
I saw these this weekend in my local Fresh Market. These are pricey--the coconut cupcake mix was around $10. Sorry, but I can make a batch of these for far less than $10 at home with stuff I have at home. I am going to pass for now...
Reply
11-06-2006 @ 10:16AM
Kt said...
I too was disappointed when I saw her mixes (first at Crate & Barrel, no less.) I don't see the point in having all these cookbooks and then going ahead and simplifying everything to the point of making boxed cake mixes. Not that she asked my opinion, lol. Her Web site btw has the list of ingredients for the mixes. Here's the list for the coconut cupcakes: Packet 1: Sugar, malted wheat flour, buttermilk, natural flavors, salt, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate), baking soda. Packet 2: Sweetened coconut (coconut flakes with min. 100PPM residual SO2), sugar, water, propylene glycol and salt. Packet 3: Sugar, natural flavor.
Reply
11-06-2006 @ 10:24AM
Kathy Maister said...
I love all of the Barefoot Contessa recipes because they work every time. I was amazed at the range of products she has come out with. A $10. cupcake mix is a steep price to pay but not everyone has a well stocked pantry. If you are just starting to cook perhaps having a really good box mix may well inspire you to actually startcooking. (It would be fun to do a taste test comparing her cupcake recipe to her box mix!) Cheers!
Reply
11-06-2006 @ 11:40AM
Jennifer said...
I recently tried out her Outrageous Brownie mix and was not disappointed. I should really try out the homemade version, too, for comparison.
Reply
11-06-2006 @ 12:48PM
Carrie said...
I don't have anything to say about Barefoot Contessa's products (other than that I have seen them at A Southern Season, a local specialty foods store). However, if you're really looking to use cake mix but have more "gourmet" results, consider checking out any of the books by the Cake mix doctor. Most involve adding only a few additional ingredients to your basic cake mix, so it's still much more convenient than measuring out all the dry ingredients. Every recipe I've tried so far is delicious.
Reply
11-06-2006 @ 1:53PM
Kate said...
Carrie is right ... some of the adaptations in the Cakemix Doctor are truly wonderful. Her caramel frosting, for instance, on a doctored buttermilk cake is fantastic, and isn't remotely like a cake mix -- which incidentally, I don't think are all that terrible. They are reliable and always moist -- which I can't always say about bakery cakes. Why is it so many great looking "gourmet cakes" are hard and dry? Yuck.
Reply
12-22-2006 @ 5:58PM
John Kasperowicz said...
I tried Barefoot Contessa preserves thinking that there were gourmet quality. Wrong. Absolute garbage. Strawberry preserves were super thin without flavor. The blood orange marmalade was puree put in a jar. Rasberry preserve had cinnamon added that ruined the taste of product. Barefoot Contessa should be ashamed to put her name on this line of products.
Reply