Let’s be honest.
I love a good chocolate cake.
But when I started making more of our food from scratch, I began wondering something:
Is homemade actually better for us-or am I just making more work for myself?
So, I decided to put it to the test.
This is the beginning of a new series here at Grateful Mess Homestead where I am comparing homemade foods with their store bought counterparts-not just by prices, but by what’s actually in them.
And we’re starting with one of my favorite:
Chocolate Cake
Now, I’m not going to tell you that homemade chocolate cake is a health food.
It’s still cake.
There’s butter. There’s sugar. There’s flour. And yes, I’m going to eat it.
But there’s something different about making it yourself.
When I make a cake from scratch, I know exactly what I’m putting into it.
I can choose the ingredients.
I can decide what goes into the recipe and what doesn’t.
And I’m not relying on a long list of ingredients on a package that I may or may not recognize.
That’s one of the biggest reasons I want to make more food at home.
It’s not necessarily about making everything low-calorie, sugar-free or “healthy”.
It’s about knowing our food.
But What About the Cost?
Here’s where things get interesting.
I’m also going to keep track of what each homemade recipe actually costs me to make.
Because let’s be realistic- homemade isn’t always cheaper. Especially when you are buying quality ingredients and not the cheapest you can find.
Sometimes buying the 4$ cake at the grocery store is going to cost less than the ingredients, electricity and time it takes to make one yourself.
And that’s okay.
I don’t think the valued of homemade food should be measure by price alone.
For this chocolate cake, I’ll be breaking down the actual ingredient costs so we can see what we’re spending to make it at home.
Then we’ll compare that with a similar store-bought cake.
Maybe homemade will win on price. Maybe it won’t.
But price is only part of the story.
So, is Homemade Chocolate Cake Healthier?
I think the better question is:
Can homemade give us more control over what we’re eating?
And the answer is yes.
Homemade doesn’t magically turn cake into a health food.
But when I make it myself, I know what went into it.
And for me, that’s worth something.
This is what I want this series to explore.
Not “homemade is always cheaper.”
Not “store-bought food is bad.”
And definitely not ” you have to make everything from scratch.”
Just real-life comparisons from a real-life homestead.
What does it cost?
What’s actually in it?
And is making it ourselves worth the time and effort?
Let’s find out.
First Up: Homemade Chocolate Cake
I’ll break down the cost of every ingredient, see what this cake actually costs to make, and then compare it to what we’d pay for a similar cake at the grocery store.
Because here at Grateful Mess Homestead, we’re trying to make more things ourselves-not because we’re perfect at it, but because we’re learning that sometimes knowing what’d in your food is worth a little extra work.
What did it cost?
I decided to actually do the math instead of assuming homemade was cheaper. I priced every ingredient that went into the cake and frosting based on what I paid for them. Before we move on, I would like to add that I source the best ingredients I can for the budget we can afford, so I use organic flour and real vanilla. I use organic cane sugar. So, if you were to buy the cheaper options then your cake would be cheaper than mine.
| Ingredient | Amount Used | Cost |
| Flour | 2 cups | $.64 |
| Butter | 1 1/2 cups | $2.25 |
| Sourdough | 1/2 cups | $0 |
| Water | 1 cup | $0 |
| Eggs | 2 | $.27 |
| Sugar | 2 cups | $1.26 |
| Salt | 1 tsp | $.06 |
| Vanilla | 4 tsp | $.71 |
| Cocoa | 1 1/4 cups | $2.55 |
| Milk | 1 cup | $.50 |
| Baking Soda | 2 tsp | $.04 |
| Powdered Sugar | 3 cups | $.74 |
| Heavy Cream | 3 tbsp | $.22 |
Total prices of my homemade cake compared to the most comparable chocolate cakes in grocery stores in my area.
| Homemade | Walmart | Meijer | Kroger | Aldi |
| 9 in-$9.24 | 5 in- $6.42 7 in- 14.98 | 5 in-$7.99 7 in- $14.99 | 6 in- $6.00 | Chocolate creme cake-20oz- $4.95 |
So…is homemade cheaper?
Nope! Well sometimes…
My homemade chocolate cake came in at about $9.24, while the grocery-store chocolate cakes varied in price, as shown in the table above.
But that’s not really the question I was trying to answer.
When I make this cake at home, I know exactly what I’m putting into it. I choose the ingredients, I make the frosting myself, and I don’t have to wonder what’s in the finished cake beyond what I put in the bowl.
Is homemade cake suddenly a health food? Absolutely not. It’s still cake.
But for me, making food from scratch is less about making everything “healthy” and more about having control over what we’re eating.
And that’s what I want to explore with this series.
Is homemade cheaper?
What’s actually in the store-bought version?
And is the extra cost and effort worth it?
Sometimes the answer might be yes. Sometimes it might be no.
But we’re going to do the math and find out.
Next Up: I’m going to take a closer look at the ingredients in the store-bought version and compare them with what went into my homemade chocolate cake.
I wanted to look past the finished cake and see what’s actually in each one.
My homemade chocolate cake is made from simple ingredients I can recognize and measure myself. But how does that compare to a typical grocery-store cake?
Here’s a side-by-side look at the ingredients:
| Homemade 9in chocolate cake ingredient list | Walmart 7 in chocolate cake ingredient list. |
| Flour, butter, sourdough, water, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, cocoa, milk, baking soda, powdered sugar, heavy cream. | SUGAR, WATER, ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR BLEACHED (FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), PALM OIL, SOYBEAN OIL, CANOLA OIL, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, DEXTROSE, INVERT SUGAR, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CARAMEL COLOR, CELLULOSE GUM, CITRIC ACID, CORN STARCH, CORN SYRUP, EGG WHITES, EGG YOLKS, FOOD STARCH-MODIFIED, GLYCERIN, LEAVENING (ALUMINUM SULFATE, BAKING SODA, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE), MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, NATURAL FLAVOR (MILK), NONFAT MILK, PALM KERNEL OIL, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 80, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONO- AND DIESTERS OF FATTY ACIDS, SALT, SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CURLS (SUGAR, UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE, COCOA BUTTER, BUTTEROIL, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL FLAVOR), SODIUM PROPIONATE (PRESERVATIVE), SORBIC ACID (PRESERVATIVE), SORBITAN TRISTEARATE, SOY LECITHIN, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, XANTHAN GUM. |
The difference is pretty interesting when you see everything listed side by side.
I will be doing more of these homemade vs. store-bought comparisons here at Grateful Mess Homestead- looking at the cost, the ingredients, and whether making it ourselves is really worth the extra time and effort.
Because sometimes the mess is worth it.
*Chocolate cake recipe can be found at Sourdough, Recipes, Homesteading and More! – Farmhouse on Boone