Comments on: The making of a mix: A chocolate frosting quest for kids

By: Ann

Ann — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:59:40 +0000

I stumbled across this fascinating post while searching your website for a mocha frosting recipe. For years, my brother’s wife has been looking for a successful mochae frosting recipe for his birthday cake with no luck. Could she possibly use KA Expresso Powder in the fudge frosting recipe (above) and have good mocha frosting? If not, how could she make a mocha buttercream frosting using the KA Expresso Powder? I will purchase some for her if you think it would solve her dilemma. Thank you very much!

Thank you for this thoughtful inquiry. I think the Espresso Powder will add the right zing to these recipes to give the mocha taste you are seeking. There is also an espresso frosting recipe with our sourdough chocolate cake recipe. Irene at KAF

By: Amber

Amber — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:41:43 +0000

Great post, love the behind-the-scenes details. I would’ve given up after Try No. 3!
Re: dairy allergies. My daughter had a anaphylasis-level dairy allergy her first three years. For cake, I used King Arthur products and an out-of-this-world chocolate vegan cake recipe from “The Vegan Lunchbox.” I made this far more chocolately using KAF’s extra-dark cocoa as my stealth ingredient, substituting about 1/3 of called-for cocoa. This is still our go-to chocolate cake and kids love it, though with KAF black cocoa and dark-chocolate frosting (recipe also in book) it is very big with adults.

[Can you tell I love KAF’s black cocoa??]

By: Theresa

Theresa — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:53:21 +0000

I love the mixes: cakes, scones, frostings, specialty items, all of them. Thank you for making such great ones. I haven’t had one I didn’t like.

However, I especially love the “grown-up/not necessarily-kid-version” of the chocolate-fudge frosting mix. And while I will always be a loyal and avid fan (living down the street from KAF instills this), I would love to know if there is a make-at-home-from-scratch recipe of this frosting? I recently indulged in your chocolate sale, so with a well stocked chocolate pantry, I am eager to try a scratch version. With love and chips. T

Dear Theresa: This cooked fudge frosting is the closest one I know to the consistency of what Andrea was working with. If you catch it at the right point (lukewarm), you can whip it and frost (quickly). As a poured frosting it makes this amazing slab of fudgy chocolate on things. mmmmmm….. Susan

By: Soozq

Soozq — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:53:09 +0000

I have your KAF salt rising yeast and I look dauntingly at the 2 page, 3 day instructions and am dragging my feet. Is there a mix for SRbread yet? I have the toaster, butter and knife ready.

I am sorry but we do not have a mix. While it would be wonderful if it was as easy as a mix–for those who are not intimidated by the lengthy process–there awaits a wonder loaf of bread at the end. Joan@bakershotline

By: SUSAN DAWSON

SUSAN DAWSON — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:26:42 +0000

I am a avid fan of King Arthur, and since my neighbor up the hill from me has four children ages 10 down to 2, I sometimes give King Arthur products for holiday gifts and birthdays. My grandchildren are grown now so it isi fun to give a busy mom a fun mix. I loved cooking as a child, and both my grandmothrs were good cooks–especially the Norwegian one. She taught me how to make a smashing banana cream pie! Cooking and gardening are great hobbies for kids. Nothing beats eating your own handiwork. Keep up the great work. Your recipes are the best.

By: skeptic7

skeptic7 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:16:54 +0000

This was a really great article. Its wonderful finding out how you develop and test those recipes. Brandon looks like he is taking the testing really seriously. I like the pictures of the grain room. Can you describe more about how they make flour and stuff into mixes?
We start with the same size recipe that you’d make at home, and then we scale it up for a test batch (say, 10 times). If the test batches come back tasting like our original, we go for a production run. We have something called the “mix module”, a computer program which expresses the amounts of each ingredients in weights, and as a percentage of the total weight of the batch. If we decide to make 500 mixes, the mix module will tell us how many pounds of flour, sugar, leavening, flavoring, and add any other ingredients need to go into the big silver hopper you see way up high in the grain room. The ingredients get mixed together by these machines, and then they’re gravity fed by weight into the bags or boxes we’ve had printed. Once the bags are sealed, the boxes go down a line where they are closed, dated and sealed. From there they get gathered together on pallets or in cartons to go to grocery stores or to our backstock, where we take them as we need them to fill orders. Susan

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:52:37 +0000

King Arhtur Bakers are King and Queens of the typical family of today. Never enough time to do it from scratch. Your mixes are fantastic, simple and get rave reviews from all. I would love to be part of your team when I semi retire.
Keep up the good work. Your classes and instructors are fabulous people too.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:31:53 +0000

Thank you for a very interesting blog. I had no idea about how your mixes are formulated. I am a from scratch baker but I do have some of your mixes on hand for when there is not enough time to make something from scratch and you are right, your mixes are fabulous and now I know how they got to be that awesome. It has given me a new appreciation of King Arthur’s test kitchen staff and as a previous comment stated, you all are very human, make the same mistakes we do and use most of the same equpment that a home baker would use. Please relay a “BIG” Thank You to all of King Arthur’s employee/owners, what you do is appreciated by this home baker.

By: Melinda Jones

Melinda Jones — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:36:54 +0000

I have loved all the mixes and recipes I have tried. I understand the cost factor but I agreed with a comment written earlier. This person stated the beehive cake pan is still too expensive and I agree. I would love to purchase it but with this economy my priorities have shifted elsewhere. I always have rave reviews from baking with your mixes and feel the cost could be offset by word of mouth generating more business for your company.
The beehive pan is currently on sale for $32.95. Mary @ KAF

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:28:50 +0000

I found this very interesting. I always bake from scratch, but there is nothing wrong about using good mixes. I think I like the challenge of “scratch”. Love the flour. Can I buy KAF in Ontario? At this time our flour isn’t available in Canada, but we do ship to individuals there. Mary @ KAF