Product: Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix – $4.49+
So…I made a mistake.
It happens. What this meant though was I’ve actually sampled Betty Crocker’s Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix how it was intended, and then dressed up in a complex recipe, at the request of my roommate for her birthday. You know what that means? Double the cake. And that isn’t always a bad thing.
What I learned from this experience, however, is to read through the directions on a recipe first…otherwise you end up with two cakes when you only need one.
Moral of the story aside, so far, my gluten-free mixes from Betty Crocker have hit it out of the ballpark. I love the brownies, the chocolate chip cookies and the devil’s food cake. The only mix I still had in my pantry to try was the yellow cake, and my roommate requested a gluten-free lemon chiffon cake for her birthday. I set out to do that, and messed up by starting to make a yellow cake with the mix, instead of doing it how my recipe asked…which is not per box instructions or with healthy substitutes I throw in.
So…my first cake batter attempt with this mix was successful, just not what I needed. So, I sent the birthday girl out to the store to buy a new box (aggravating when you’re on a budget, as these are not cheap!), while I tried to figure out what to do with the batter I now had. I hated to throw it away, so in the spirit of her birthday, I baked it up the regular way, then melted down some chocolate chips and poured it over the top for a light icing, then brought it to work to share. More than half the cake ended up in the garbage there anyway, sadly, but…I tried. Everyone who actually did sample a piece loved it, but it kind of was ignored when other goodies were brought in to celebrate March Madness or something. Ah well…you can’t say I didn’t try. And it does make me feel good when those who did eat it, complimented me on it. *fist pump*
Here is what I love about Betty Crocker’s gluten-free cake mixes – they bake up beautifully. Light. Fluffy. Delicious. I didn’t realize this until last night when I was working on another cake recipe and used a different brand of gluten-free cake mix…only to have it not bake up as well as Betty Crocker’s. So, my new cake is this flat little layer cake, where as the layers I created for the cake using Betty Crocker’s gluten-free mixes were fluffy and amazing. Honestly, until I baked this other cake last night, I wouldn’t have raved this much about it, but the cake mix from Betty Crocker definitely is superior to the one I chose to use in my new cake.
The gluten-free yellow cake mix not only bakes up beautifully, but it is delicious too. For the second cake, I mixed in quite a bit of flavor, as it was a Gluten-Free Lemon Chiffon Cake. In went lemon zest, freshly squeezed lemon juice, orange juice, and other ingredients, and nothing changed. What emerged were two delightfully fluffy, and very yummy smelling, citrus-scented yellow cake rounds. They came out of the pans clean, they cooled to perfection. And, when layered and iced, held up to everything. Nothing crumbled or fell apart.
I couldn’t rave any more about how amazing Betty Crocker’s Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix is. It honestly has impressed me, especially now that I could easily see how well it did against another brand. I was so happy with the way the cake(s) turned out and loved the flavors and texture of each one. When Betty Crocker stepped into the gluten-free baking world (due to a couple of employees having to go gluten-free), it was done right and to perfection.
I am, yet again, another very happy consumer and baker.
Thank you, Betty Crocker, for putting delicious cakes back on the menu.
The Celiathlete 