[Psyonic]

I am very suspicious this is a Just-So story. This BBC article seems to agree (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20171027-the-magic-cakes-...). Also interestingly credits the marketing aspect to Ernest Dichter instead of Bernays.

Quote: In later years, many would portray this as a pivotal moment in the history of cake mixes, the inflection point of a dramatic upward curve.

The truth is, though, that the cake companies already knew about the egg problem. In fact, as early as 1933 Duff had introduced a mix that had bakers add eggs themselves. “The housewife and the purchasing public in general seem to prefer fresh eggs and hence the use of dried or powdered eggs is somewhat of a handicap from a psychological standpoint,” reads the patent application (read more on Duff's cake patents in this lovely Bon Appetit story about cake mix). And actually, the mixes worked better that way. “The fact was one of the reasons cake mixes didn't taste good was they tasted like dried eggs,” says Shapiro. The companies performed surveys and asked women which version they would buy – the results were contradictory – and in the end, they just did as they pleased.