Farmers Market Watch, Aug. 30: Just like Martha used to make

Leave it to Martha Stewart to sell a supermarket staple at six times the price of Betty Crocker.

Last update: August 30, 2007 - 12:54 AM

Leave it to Martha Stewart to sell a supermarket staple at six times the price of Betty Crocker. That was my first thought after picking up a $12 cake mix at Macy's, which I ducked into last Thursday after a quick noon-hour sprint through the Nicollet Mall farmers market. The store's nifty new cookware and bakeware collection that bears Stewart's formidable name and design imprint also features vanilla, lemon and chocolate cake mixes, and I couldn't resist.

"This had better be good," I thought as I signed my name to the bill. Silly me. Later, as I preheated the oven and dug out a pair of 9-inch baking pans, I realized that the odds of failure were exceedingly slim, given I was working with all the ingredients of cake success -- a half-pound of butter, four eggs, nearly two cups of milk -- not to mention a formula (cleverly boxed in the shape of a cake slice) good enough to bear Ms. Stewart's seal of approval.

I was not disappointed. The cake, which came together relatively fast, baked up tender, ultra-moist and divinely chocolately, and the directions for an easy-to-make ganache worked like a charm. "This was a mix?" exclaimed my friend. "I don't believe it."

Thank you, Martha. That compliment alone was more than worth the price.

Martha Stewart Collection, available at Macy's and macys.com.

RICK NELSON