#GlutenFree Mixes

Today, actually tomorrow is Bubby's 5th birthday. Since Hubby was home, off work today, we celebrated with a little celebration which included cake and pizza. Having a toddler on a gluten free diet, changes a lot of our options when it comes to birthdays, take out, heck eating out in general. I'm adjusting my cooking skills accordingly, and getting pretty good at finding a bargain at our nearest Krogers, they usually have a larger selection composed to our local grocer, I bet if Mr. Hooper were our grocer he'd have exactly we want. (kudos to you if you even know who Mr. Hooper is.) Today marks the first time I've made a Gluten Free cake from a boxed mix. I've done pretty well converting my recipes to gluten free and mixing up my own combination of flours. My Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake is pretty dang Amazing (I'll share that recipe later on PROMISE!) I picked up Pamela's Gluten Free Brownie Mix, along with several other different brands three weeks ago.

(Ignore my dingy stove top)

Along with directions to make several variation of brownies, there were two or three cake variations too. I chose to make Pamela's Decadent Cake, sorry the photo is blurry, it was the best shot I could get with a screaming toddler hanging onto my leg. This called for two eggs, 1/2 cup oil which I replaced with 1/2 apple sauce, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 3/4 cup milk. I have found that when making cakes with the majority of gluten free flours (I have come to prefer a combo of coconut flour and white rice flour) I like to replace the eggs with equal amounts of egg whites beaten until light peaks form (not sure how to refer o it other than how my grandmothers taught me) and one egg yolk. I beat one yolk into the batter, then in a separate bowl beat my egg whites then folded them into the batter. I "floured" the cake pan, I chose to use a bundt pan, with a sifted mixture of cocoa powder and corn starch.

After baking the cake, taking from the pan, and letting it cool I iced it with a cream cheese icing, you can find GF icing just about anywhere, I think Duncan Hines had started labeling their icing as GF now so, there ya go. Topped it with a few strawberries, and BAM! 

This was just a quick fix cake that had a soft velvety texture, a warm chocolate taste that seemed to melt in your mouth. It wasn't dry as I had experienced with other GF mixes, and most importantly BooBaa, loved it as did my birthday Boy! I have to say Pamela's has a good quality mix, with tons of options from just the one. Also this cake wasn't too light, and would be great for layering and towers.