I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw that Betty Crocker had come out with gluten-free cake mixes. I grew up helping my dad make birthday cakes in the kitchen. When my first child turned one, I wanted to make him his first birthday cake the way my dad always made cakes for us. But if I was going to go through all the trouble of baking and frosting the cake, I wanted to be able to eat it too! I can’t remember which gluten-free cake mix I used at the time (that was two years ago), but it was only ok. The taste was fine, but it was a little dry and crumbly. For my son’s second birthday, I tried another gluten-free cake mix, and was still only mildly satisfied (again I can’t remember which mix I used).
I jumped at the chance to use Betty Crocker’s cake mixes and I was not disappointed! Back in April, I made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (at my son’s request) for his third birthday, using their chocolate cake mix. I then made their yellow cake with a strawberry icing, for my daughter’s first birthday back in June. And just last week I used their yellow cake mix to make carrot cake cupcakes (at my husband’s request) for his birthday.
The cakes (and cupcakes) turned out to be consistently moist and yummy. I am so happy that an American institution can be brought into gluten-free households, too. It took a company with tried and true baking experience to get the cake mix right. Thanks Betty Crocker!
Here are a couple of snap shots of my kids’ birthday cakes from a couple of months ago. I will post the carrot cake cupcakes picture tomorrow.
gluten-free chocolate cake with chocolate frosting
gluten-free yellow cake with strawberry frosting
