Cake FAIL!

Pillsbury put out a Supreme Collection Red Velvet cake mix. I made it today. The cake itself is OK, BUT the cream cheese filling didn't sink into the middle and stayed mostly on top. It was difficult to get the cake out of the pan and the exposed part of the filling is rock hard, now on the bottom of the cake. I iced it anyway and we will eat around the hard stuff.

When I went to the Pillsbury site that particular mix isn't shown in the product listings nor is it found at all when I did a site search. No wonder.

Yes, I followed the directions EXACTLY.  I'm not in the mood to file a complaint, but was hoping it would look like the front of the box picture. Disappointed today. Very disappointed.

I found this in a review!! It wasn't ME!!
"The cake mix was a fairly standard cake mix that had a bright red color to it even before some liquids were added. The filling mix was dry and made with powdered cream cheese, which is what made it shelf-stable enough to be packaged with a cake mix, and you simply needed to add water and vegetable oil to it to rehydrate it and make it a little creamier.  To put it together, you simply poured the prepared cake mix into your bundt pan and added the filling in a ring on top of the batter. The magic of getting the filling into the center of the cake happens in the oven.

Unfortunately, my filling didn’t quite end up in the center of my cake. I used a tube pan, which is usually a great substitute for a standard bundt pan and has the same baking times, and my filling sank all the way to the bottom of my cake during baking. It did, however, stay in the cake and I had no problem turning it out of the pan and keeping the filling in place – I just didn’t get quite the same dramatic look that was pictured on the box. I’m willing to admit that it might not have sunk quite as far if I had used a bundt pan, although the box gives many suggestions for alternative pans and my results with the tube pan do make me question how well the filling will center itself in any shape pan."

This is MY cake. My filling didn't sink at all!
It stayed on top which is now the bottom.

click on image to view larger

The big piece is for Patty who mailed to me a box of books from Ohio.  She knew my need to read!