Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix a dream to bake

Product: Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten-Free Dreams Yellow Cake Mix – $5.99+

Thanks to a Manager’s Special at my local grocery store, I was able to pick up a couple of gluten-free cake/brownie/pancake  mixes on super-duper sale (aka: a price I could afford!) from Cherrybrook Kitchen.  I have used a few of their mixes before and have always enjoyed the results.  So being able to give their Gluten-Free Dreams Yellow Cake Mix a try was a dream come true.  I was already excited about the prospect of the type of cake this mix could yield.

Well, as it was a yellow cake mix…and I had every other necessary ingredient in the pantry and fridge…I gave an option to my roommate.  I could bake it up as-is…and we could top it off with melted chocolate or something.  OR I could possibly be persuaded to bake up her absolute favorite cake I have ever made for her…a gluten-free lemon chiffon cake, which, yes, uses a box of yellow cake mix.

Given the option, she chose to go with her favorite cake (I had pretty much expected that!), so this beautiful box of yellow cake mix was about to become a lemony work of food porn…er…art.

The only snag being that the recipe I have for this cake calls for 15 ounces of cake mix…and the Cherrybrook Kitchen boxes have 16.4 ounces.  No big deal for me, however, as I have a fantastic kitchen scale and I simply got out a bowl, zeroed out the weight, and poured until I hit 15 ounces.  I rolled up the remainder of the mix to make into a cake mug one day soon.

Following the instructions for my recipe, not on the box, to bake up this cake, I set to it, adding the necessary ingredients (orange juice, eggs, lemon zest, etc) to the batter and whipping it all up in my Kitchen-Aid mixer.  I poured it into cake pans that had been dusted with gluten-free all-purpose flour, and then tucked the pans into a warm oven to bake.

The last time I baked this cake, I used the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix…and it was fantastic.  It cooked up to perfection the first time.  With Cherrybrook Kitchen, I had to let the cake pans remain in the oven longer than the recipe called for in order to get them to that light golden brown on top and where the top would spring back when I pressed carefully on it.  No problem with that though.  As long as it cooked through.  The pans were removed from the oven and left to cool.  The recipe says for 5 minutes, but the last time I attempted to make a layer cake, I turned out the cake and it crumbled…so I let it go a little longer before telling myself that, eventually, the cakes had to come out of the pans.  Mustering up whatever conviction I needed, I finally hauled myself into the kitchen, ran a knife around the edges, and turned the cake layers out of the pans.

SUCCESS!!  No cake crumbling this time.  Each layer popped out perfectly and beautifully.  Nothing stuck to the pan.  Nothing was left behind.  Just two perfect cake layers which would now remain on wire racks to cool the rest of the way while I prepared the lemon curd (gluten-free variety) and the icing for the cake.

With that task done, I now set out to do the fun part…assemble the cake.  One layer went down and then got coated with a warm layer of lemon curd.  Then, the other layer was placed on top of it.  I iced it with the prepared whipped lemon icing and called it done.  It was late…too late for cake…so it would have to wait until after dinner the following night to be sampled.

Yesterday was the grand unveiling.  I actually sliced into it that morning to take a slice to my teammate at the office.  She loves to try the gluten-free foods that I make, because she’s a baker and interested in dealing with people with food allergies, and wants to see what can be done with gluten-free foods so that they don’t taste gluten-free.  She loved this cake.  Loved it.  And that made me really happy and proud to have made it and shared it.

But after dinner that night…it was my turn.  I sliced two more slices from the cake (which I am getting 12 slices out of)…one for myself and one for the roommate.  As I mentioned before, this is the roomie’s favorite cake now…so…as I went back to plate my piece, I returned to find hers already half gone.  She said she was trying really hard not to just devour it…and she was definitely succeeding.

So, how does the version of the cake made with Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Gluten Free Dreams Yellow Cake Mix compare to that of the one I had made previously with Betty Crocker’s Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix?  It stands up quite well to its predecessor.  Honestly.  I asked my roomie her opinion, as this is her most favorite cake EVER and she said she felt the Cherrybrook Kitchen cake mix was a bit dryer than Betty Crocker’s…but it was still good.  She might be right.  While this cake wasn’t dry at all, I do believe that Betty Crocker had the edge on moistness when prepared in this manner.  However, this is not a knock to Cherrybrook Kitchen.  I can say this because the three of us who have eaten slices of this cake have all agreed that it is delicious.  The cake wasn’t fall-apart dry.  It was still moist and packed with amazing citrus flavor.  It worked perfectly in this recipe…even with me having to measure out a certain weight of mix to make it in the first place.

Cherrybrook Kitchen makes fantastic gluten-free products.  I have yet to find one that I don’t like.  While this was prepared in a nontraditional manner, the Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix is a definite addition to the pantry in the future.  I loved the taste and the texture.  I found it to be a great mix to use for this recipe.  Very impressed with the finished product and totally taking slices of it to Columbus with me on Friday to share with my friend Jenn!

Cherrybrook Kitchen is a great place to turn for gluten-free/wheat-free mixes in a pinch.  They are a bit pricey, but most gluten-free mixes on the market are.  If you find a good sale…stock up.  That’s my best advice.  The variety of mixes that I have been able to try have been awesome and I look forward to trying the rest of their products in their lineup very soon.

Yeah…color me impressed.