Posted by Jennifer Sendrow
We celebrated Terri's birthday on Whole Living today in high style! First actress Alicia Silverstone joined us to talk about her new book, The Kind Diet. We've loved her since Clueless, but her dedication to animal rights and protecting the environment left us even more impressed.
What's a birthday without a cake...or three? I set up a taste test for
Terri so we could find out if there's a big difference between a
conventional box cake, an all-natural box cake, and a cake made from
scratch. She tasted all three without knowing which one was which.
The cakes all looked similar once they were baked, though when I was
making them it was easy to tell the batters apart. The conventional mix
by Duncan Hines contained artificial
color that made the batter very yellow and the texture was totally
smooth. The natural mix by Naturally Nora was white coming out of the box,
gaining color with the addition of egg yolks, and it was very easy to
pour once mixed. The Martha Stewart recipe for basic yellow cake produced a batter that was buttery yellow and thick. All three tasted
pretty good when I licked the spoon!
DUNCAN HINES CAKE: Terri correctly guessed that this sponge-like, sweet cake was the
conventional mix because it was so flavorful. Though some other tasters
loved it, it was Terri's least favorite.
NATURALLY NORA CAKE: The all-natural mix confused some tasters who swore it was the homemade
cake, but Terri guessed correctly based on its totally uniform texture.
She deemed it second best, and declared it well worth eating.
MARTHA'S BASIC YELLOW CAKE: Terri's favorite - and remember, she was tasting blind - was the Martha
cake made from scratch. It had a dense crumb and a buttery flavor she
liked best. The bottom line: an all-natural mix is the next best thing,
but nothing beats homemade! Do you agree?
From: Mike Staebler | 10/12/09 at 3:18 pm
Sounds right to me. But who has time to make from scratch. Naturually Nora's is first rate.
From: Martha Fan | 10/13/09 at 10:24 am
What a smart idea to pit natural vs. mainstream vs. scratch. Nice to know there is a natural alternative for when I don't have time for Martha's great recipes. Thanks!
From: Meg D'Incecco | 10/14/09 at 1:38 pm
Yes! Naturally Nora's is a great option when you only have time for a box cake. Really tasty stuff!
From: Naturally Nora: The All-Natural Cake Mix that Saved My Cake Pops | The Family Kitchen | 1/7/11 at 1:16 pm
[...] and frosting mixes are totally delicious (being voted “closest to homemade” by the Martha Stewart Radio staff) and completely all natural with no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or hydrogenated [...]