My father would have never tolerated that . . . he had to have dessert every day. I still remember the first time I visited him at work: Hershey’s kisses in one desk drawer, chocolate bars in another, a package of cookies in the third. Silly me, I thought the drawers would be filled with office supplies 
At least I know I come by my sweet tooth honestly.
I’ve made cakes from scratch, but from a convenience\cleanup standpoint I generally stick to boxed. Though I agree home made frosting is best. Brownies, on the other hand, are simple enough and don’t require special flour, etc. In fact I just made a batch of my one-bowl brownies two days ago. It was snowing and the gooey chocolateness made me feel warm.
