Q.: My hubby seems to think there is some ingredient you can add to outdated (cake) mixes to get them to puff up by adding it to the batter. I’m an old cook and I can’t think of what it could be.
Can you help me settle this argument?
— Sharon Jacobs, Tallmadge
A.: Lisa, settler of marital disputes, at your service.
Your husband is thinking of baking powder.
One of the reasons there is a “best by” date on cake mixes is because the manufacturer knows the age of the ingredients inside, when they will expire and when they will perform at their best.
There is nothing harmful about using an outdated cake mix, but it may not taste as good as you want it to, or may not raise the way you would like it to. (This also will depend on how old the mix is. Is it a month past expiration, or two years?)
The leaveners baking powder and baking soda have a finite shelf life after which they may not perform their job of raising a cake and most certainly won’t perform it as well as their fresh counterparts.
Lots of home cooks believe, as your husband does, that you can just add a teaspoon of fresh baking powder to the mix. While this may fix the problem of getting the cake to raise, it won’t necessarily fix the problem of the cake tasting old or flat, and the addition of baking powder can contribute to an off taste.
Cake mix manufacturers don’t recommend adding baking powder to salvage an old mix.
Here’s my advice: a cake mix costs about $2, even less if you find a good sale. Most call for two or three eggs and oil or butter, which together probably cost close to $1.
I’m not sure it’s wise to gamble a dollar’s worth of good ingredients, when you can spend another dollar or two on a fresh mix for better results.
Ask your husband if he’s a betting man.