Meet the Author: Anne Byrn - The Cake Mix Doctor

Anne Byrn
author of: "The Cake Mix Doctor
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In this interview with Anne Byrn:

Introduction
How the book came about
Anne's favorite recipes
Stocking the pantry
How the "cake mix doctor" developed her treatments
FREE recipe:
Strawberry Cake
with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Sue:
Lemon bundt cake, chocolate cake, Mississippi Mud cake, Caramel cake can all be yours in just minutes!! You can bake these delicious cakes from boxed cake mixes and enjoy that wonderful home-made taste, slice after slice.

You might think you are dreaming but you're not. The Cake Mix Doctor written by Anne Byrn is a book filled with scrumptious recipes for cakes, cookies, and even tiramisu all coming from your grocery boxed cake mix. Anne shares with us her secrets for "doctoring" or dressing up cake mixes, whether using canned fruits or other items from your pantry, so that they have that from "scratch" taste without all the mess and time.

When I saw this book I couldn't wait to bake. I got hungry just flipping through the pages. The first thing I did after looking at The Cake Mix Doctor was to rummage through my own pantry for a cake mix. Lo and behold I had one of Anne's staples, a box of white cake mix. Then I looked through her book and found my dessert for that night, Grandma's Coconut Icebox Cake. In a manner of minutes, I went from box to oven. And then in the time you can say, "The doctor is in!" my cake was frosted and chilling in my refrigerator. I thought I might have to put an armed guard at my refrigerator's door to keep my daughters out of there!

Well, the whole family loved Anne's recipe and it was hard to get a slice for myself! It was moist, tender and delicious. Now, forgive me because I have to make another run to the grocery store for more cake mix...

Thanks so much Anne for chatting with me . I'm a huge dessert fan and your book, The Cake Mix Doctor, just jumped out at me.

How the book came about

Sue:
First of all I LOVE your book.
The Cake Mix Doctor- it's delicious! What a wonderful idea for folks with little time to bake to still be able to create home-made tasting cakes from a boxed cake mix. How did you become a food writer and did anyone in particular influence your passion? Where did the idea of your book come from?

Anne:
I became a food writer
only after I had been bitten by the newspaper bug. I was editor of my high school newspaper and interned at Nashville's evening paper when I was in high school. Yet, I was born a foodie into a typical Southern family where holidays were food-centered events, where birthdays were sacred and the choice of cake was paramount to the occasion.

My mother influenced my passion for cooking,
as she was and still is a great cook of fresh vegetables, hot breads and yes, cakes. I knew many years ago that I wanted to combine the love of newspaper writing with studying more about food science and cooking. I was graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.S. degree in home economics and journalism in 1978 and went to work three months later at The Atlanta Journal as a rookie food writer. Fortunately, through the years, I was able to travel and attend cooking schools, even taking a three-month leave in 1984 to attend La Varenne in Paris. I became food editor of both The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution a year later and would stay in that job until 1993 when I married an old sweetheart and moved to England. We lived in England for a year, until John was transferred to Nashville, TN., which ironically is my hometown.

How the book started....
I wrote part-time for The Tennessean, Nashville's morning newspaper for four years while raising small children. It was during this time that the idea for the book came about. I wrote a story in June 1998 on how to bake cakes quickly by doctoring up a cake mix. I shared old family recipes that I had carried with me for years but never published. Cakes like the Darn Good Chocolate Cake and Apricot Nectar Cake, and then I asked readers to send me their favorite recipes to print in a sequel. That week I received nearly 500 recipes from readers for banana cakes and chocolate cherry cakes and chocolate chips cakes. I was overwhelmed. But I quickly realized that doctoring up a cake mix was how many people baked. It was fast, it was easy, and the results were impressive. The rest, as they say, is history. About 20 of those reader cakes are in my cookbook. The remaining recipes are cakes I created by tinkering with mixes and all sorts of pantry ingredients.

Anne's favorite recipes

Sue:
You have so many great recipes here. What is your favorite and why?

Anne:
Anne:
That's a tough question.
Much depends on my mood and the occasion, but I guess if I must single out one cake it is the Banana Cake with Quick Caramel Frosting. That cake recipe came to me from one of the newspaper readers. I tinkered with the frosting a bit, and ended up using my version. What you have is an incredibly moist cake that begins with a yellow mix, adds mashed ripe bananas, a little brown sugar, cinnamon, eggs, oil and water. Then, you frost the cake with a warm, easy caramel frosting made in a saucepan on top of the stove in a couple of minutes. And while the frosting is still warm, you sprinkle on lightly toasted and lightly salted pecans. The combination of those toasted, crunchy and salty pecans with the sweet and hard frosting and the soft, moist banana cake is angelic. That cake will open doors for you.

Stocking the pantry

Sue:
You did a terrific job of describing to your readers how to simply keep a well-stocked pantry as a good way to be ready to bake at any time. What do you have in your pantry and what do you run out of most frequently?

Anne:
Right now I have vanilla and almond extracts, peanut butter, instant pudding mix, chocolate chips, white chocolate, unsweetened cocoa powder, nuts, buttermilk, orange juice, oranges, lemons, bananas and frozen coconut. I probably run out of buttermilk, vanilla, orange juice and chocolate chips most often.

How the "cake mix doctor" developed her treatments

Sue:
The theory behind The Cake Mix Doctor is to use handy yet flavorful ingredients to enhance boxed cake mixes to make a dessert which has that "from scratch" taste. How did you come to these "therapies" in your doctoring : )?

Anne:
By rolling up my sleeves, preheating the oven and plugging in the mixer. I was a from-scratch girl before this project. Although with three children I was using mixes for their school cakes and cupcakes. I tinkered with a white mix, adding whole eggs for more color and moisture. I substituted buttermilk in the chocolate cake mix recipes because I knew buttermilk and chocolate were great partners. I tell readers not to follow package directions literally but to use them as a framework for what is needed. For example, if the layer cake needs three eggs, 1 1/3 cups water and 1/3 cup oil, use three eggs and the 1/3 cup oil, but don't add water! Add orange juice to a yellow cake mix for fabulous orange cupcakes. Once you begin doctoring you'll become more confident, adding fruits for flavor and moistness, adding sour cream or yogurt for richness. Doctoring a cake is great fun, which is why this book has done so well. I tell food snobs that baking isn't about the recipe, it's about the moment. It's showing children how to bake, it's whipping up a fast cake even if you think you're too busy. And if I can keep one cook a day from buying a supermarket cake, then the Cake Mix Doctor is happy.

Anne:
Strawberry Cake
with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe excerpted from THE CAKE MIX DOCTOR �1999 by Anne Byrn
Used by permission of Workman Publishing, All Rights reserved

see this FREE recipe

Comments

Easy recipes that are delicious
From: Catherine from Chandler, AZ
I am a cook by profession and so when I saw the book on the shelves I was really intrigued. I took it home and started baking. Not only are the recipes easy to follow but they are really delicious. I bought the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor when it came out and am also very pleased with it. After two cakes I set a goal to make each and everyone of the cakes in both books. These cakes are far superior to anything that I have tasted that was made from scratch. I love the books.

Interested in Anne Byrn's book?
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Original Book | New Chocolate Cake Doctor

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Thank you! - - Sue

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