gluten free cake mixes - & GF forum/board?

14 years ago

Has anyone had experience with any of the gluten free cake mixes? I was thinking about taking a vanilla or yellow cake mix & making a spice cake from it.

I've also thought about trying for a red velvet by adding 2 Tablespoons of cocoa and subbing a bottle of red food coloring for part of the water.

The brands of gluten-free mixes available locally are Pamela's, Gluten Free Pantry, Bob's Red Mill, Cherry Brook Kitchens, 365 (W Foods store brand) & Namaste.

And one more question - can you recommend any good online sources for g-f baking info?

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Comments (15)

beanthere_dunthat
14 years ago
Liz -
I've never used it myself, but a neighbor told me about this site when we were coordinating baked goods for a class that had some GF kids in it. (Link below) Two of her kids are on gluten-free diets. Also, she said Land-o-Lakes has some GF recipes on their site that have turned out well for her.

Here is a link that might be useful: GF Baking
bons
14 years ago
No need for a mix. If you want to try and bake without a mix I have a recipe for a gluten-free cake that is very easy, and can be made as a yellow cake or a chocolate cake (or cupcakes). It's delish, and has a 'sponge-cake' texture. I frost it or just serve it with whipped cream and fruit.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. xanthan gum
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups white sugar
2/3 cup mayonnaise (I use Canola Mayo)
1 cup milk
2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
1 Tbs lemon or orange zest, Optional

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and rice flour two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.
2. Mix the white rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum together and set aside.
3. Mix the eggs, sugar, and mayonnaise until fluffy. Add the flour mixture, milk and vanilla and mix well. Spread batter into the prepared pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Cakes are done when they spring back when lightly touched or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool completely then frost, if desired.
To make chocolate cake add 1/2 cup cocoa and 1/4c extra sugar. Can make cupcakes - about 20 - bake for about 14 minutes.

Xanthan Gum is expensive, but goes a long way, so not bad if you do a lot of GF baking.

Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Cupcake version here
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Thanks grainlady. I love the quick replies on this forum! The Betty Crocker mix starts with a german chocolate cake, which I think is a bit too much chocalate for my taste. I see that the KA yellow cake mix gets good reviews. I may try that one. My library has that book! I rarely bake, and have often wondered about the different brands of flour mixes.
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talley_sue_nyc- I think baked goods can be part of a balanced diet, and they don't need to be fattening - it's how much and how often..... I've believed it as a certified nutrition instructor as well as a homemaker. On the down side, not many of the gluten-free recipes give you nutrition information, so you have to do some detective work yourself to figure it out. What kinds of things would you like to make, and what are some of the brands of ingredients you have "hoarded" away? Maybe all you need is a "good" recipe and inspiration go give some things a try. Wasted food is the most expensive food we buy! A recipe example: I had one banana that needed a new-lease-on-life this morning, so I made a recipe for Super-Simple Banana Cookies (1 small ripe banana, 1 c. oats, 2 T. dried dates - chopped fine, 2 T. chopped pecans, 2 T. coconut oil, vanilla and a pinch of salt (optional). Form into 12-dollops - I use a #50 portion scoop - flatten until they are 1/4" thick and I baked them in my convection/microwave oven - 350° 23-25 minutes. As hubby likes to put it, it's how we can eat 1 c. of oats without it being oatmeal ;-). The twelve 2-inch cookies will last us for 3-4 days. I usually make this recipe once or twice a month. I'm also a stickler about serving sizes and the number of servings from the 4 food groups we consume each day. I have a short list of recipes I use 1 banana in, like a G-F Banana Snack Cake which uses 1/4-cup butter for an 8-inch cake, which at our house is 16-servings. Serve it with some fresh fruit and you won't require large pieces. Wolfing down food without savoring each lovely bite is one cause of over-eating, so slow down and one small piece of cake will be most satisfying. This recipe is generally made on Friday or Saturday morning for the weekend drop-by traffic. People who eat it love it and never realize it's gluten-free. I make small silver dollar pancakes using 2 eggs and 1 ripe banana. It's more than enough pancakes for the two of us. I also make Buckwheat Banana Pancakes (using 1 ripe banana) and the fat is from 2 T. of peanut butter - not even an egg in the recipe. We have pancakes every Monday morning and the recipes are made from a variety of ingredients - cooked quinoa, soaked oats, and sprouted lentils. None are high-fat or high-sugar, and I always keep a stack in the freezer. Some pancakes will actually work as a sandwich wrap, in a pinch.... if you add some chopped chives and dill weed the pancake wraps are a substitute for the much loved dill bread. One loaf of g-f banana bread makes twelve 1/2-inch-slices and has 2 T. oil and the fat from 3-eggs in the recipe. But those three eggs, along with the almond flour and coconut flour also make them high in protein and fiber, and the 2"x3"x1/2" slice is more satisfying than eating two or three slices of traditional banana bread baked in a 9x5-inch loaf, with all it's sugar and empty, addictive, carbs from wheat flour. Carbs make us fat as well. That loaf of banana bread will last us for 6 Sundays. We have one slice of a quick bread as part of breakfast each Sunday. We have one regular-size muffin as part of breakfast on Saturday morning. Another place to get whole grains like oats and quinoa, and I make sure it's also high-protein, low-fat, and low-sugar. So one recipe making 12-muffins will last for 6 weeks. Once again, serve it with fresh fruit. Baked goods are just one source of fat in our diets, and it all adds up no matter what the source is, but fat is also an essential element for good health and we should include "good" fats in our diet. Eating too much of anything is a waste of food, so I would start there for inspiration, rather than worrying about one type of food in the diet. In truth, over-eating is not much of an option on a $125/month food budget for 2 adults (I typically allot $10/week for meat, and try to keep meat purchases to $2 per pound, or less). Hubby takes his lunch to work, and we rarely eat out, but there are home-baked goodies available as part of our regular diet. If you haven't discovered Elana Amsterdam's web site - http://elanaspantry.com/ - you might give it a look. I've used so many of her recipes from her web site, and I also have copies of "The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook", and "Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry" by her. -Grainlady
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For 10 years I had a GF bakery for selling treats at my local farmers market. I retired end of October last year. Several things are important - the flours must be fresh (refrigerate in glass jars or foil wrapped plastic bags (plastic breathes and takes in odors) and bring to room temp before using), don't substitute one flour for another in a recipe - there must be the right combination of GF flours to get the right chemistry to simulate the attributes of wheat. Guar gum is totally OK instead of xanthan gum for any baked recipe. There is no substitute for sweet rice flour! Buy GF flours at www.barryfarmfoods.com that have flours much cheaper than Amazon and use this combination instead of pre packaged GF flour for most recipes: 6C fine rice flour (brown, white or mix of both), 2C potato starch (not potato flour), 1C tapioca flour/starch, 3t xanthan or guar gum. Click on this recipe from "simply gluten free.com" for GF French Bread or try this recipe: Not Quite Rye Bread (for machine) ∞In bowl of a bread machine whisk together with a fork: 1 1/4 C warm water, 2 T oil, 1 t vinegar, 2 eggs and 2 egg whites (or 3 eggs). ∞In a large plastic bag shake to mix then put into machine on top of liquids, don’t stir: 1 C sorghum flour, 3/4 C garbanzo flour, 1/2 C quinoa flour, 1/2 C tapioca flour, 1/4 C brown sugar, 1 T gum, 1 1/2 t yeast, 1 1/4 t salt, 2 1/2 T caraway seeds. ∞Follow instructions for your machine with the shortest knead cycle (or GF setting) and select dark crust. (There is a Zojirishi bread machine with a GF cycle that also browns the tops!!!) ∞Immediately put on rack to cool completely before slicing.
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Thanks rhizo. Your post sent me looking for the information I'd seen about clementines (mandarins) and how they are kept seedless. This is one article that explains that if the seedless varieties are pollinated, they produce seeds, so growers try to isolate their groves from other types of oranges being grown that need pollinators - thus orange blossom honey, in order to set fruit. The info I found seemed to indicate that European growers of clementines do use insecticides to kill pollinators. In California, the growers just tried to ban bees! With the tough go bees are having these days, buying seedless fruit seems unethical to me (same with seedless grapes, I believe). If you find a seed in your seedless mandarin, it's because a pollinator got to it. San Diego Tribune Article
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houscrzy
14 years ago
The most helpful GF baking info that I've found has been on various GF blogs. I especially like Gluten Free Goddess (the pumpkin pie bread in her last post is great!) Also Gluten Free Girl, Gluten Free Mommy, Hey That Tastes Good all have some good baking advice. I haven't tried a GF cake because then I'd eat it! So I'm afraid that I can't help there.
matti5
14 years ago
Betty Crocker has a new line of gluten free mixes. Chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate/yellow cake mixes. I tried the cookie mix and it was quite good.
dgkritch
14 years ago
Where's Teri? She's been GF for awhile now.
I know she's got some good recipes and sites.

Teri! Oh Teri! Where are you??????

Deanna
Terri_PacNW
14 years ago
You rang???

Well I can say that there are a few things from Land O Lakes that I have made and enjoyed ..their marble cake is good..very good..

I've also made the chocolate Loaf cake with cream cheese swirl that AnnT shared some months ago..and "gluten free'd" it too..

I tend to stay away from mixes..just cuz it's just as easy if you have a semi stocked pantry to make your own stuff.

I do love Shauna (Glutenfreegirl) and some of GlutenFreeGoddess...she has a very restrictive diet..so somethings I'm not interested in.

Okay here's the Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake
Not sure where AnnT got the recipe..or was it Jessica and then Ann made it??

Mixture "A"
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 oz castor sugar (I used 1/4 c white.)
1 egg

1. beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy, beat in egg until well incorporated. Set aside.

Mixture "B"
13 T butter (1 Used 3/4 c of butter)
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
3 T cocoa
1 cup of flour (I used 1/2 c pamela's pancake/baking blend and 1/2 cup standard GF Flour blend. 2 c brown/white rice flour, 2/3 c potato starch and 1/3 c tapioca starch/flour)
2.5 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Mix dry ingredients together. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated.
Fold in flour mixture.
Pour half the "b" mixture into a loaf pan, then all of "a" mixture, then the rest of "b".
Bake in preheated 350F oven for 45-50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

I have two great cookbooks checked out from the library that I'm reading...picking recipes to try too...
liz_h
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks everyone for your responses. When I first started eating gluten free, I just avoided baked goods. Now I enjoy millet/rice bread and brownies from the Gluten Free Pantry mix.

The back story on the cake - Since I'll be at a friend's house for dinner on my birthday (Thanksgiving) she's offered to bake me a birthday cake. I want to make it as easy as possible for her. In the meantime I'll look into some of the mentioned sites for myself.

I know about not baking it because you'll eat it - I need sweets like I need the 20 extra pounds I shed this year. But sometimes chocolate is an absolute necessity!

I've found that my local grocery (Kroger) also carries gluten-free mixes, though I don't know the brand.

I've heard good things about Pamela's and Betty Crocker. It stands to reason that Betty would put out a good tasting product. Sometimes "healthy" food companies don't think they have to taste as good as the traditional alternative.
liz_h
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Teri - for you & Bonnie, I forgot to say that I will keep those recipes for when I do some more baking on my own. I'd love to be able to convince DH to let me bake a GF cake for his birthday, but he doesn't even want a homemade/scratch cake! It has to be Duncan Hines spice cake. But since it's been his birthday cake for at least 50 years, I guess that's OK. :)
Terri_PacNW
14 years ago
Liz, I understand..I haven't eating any Pamela's cake mix or frostings..however..I use the baking mix, and have eaten her already made cookies..so I'm guessing that the mixes would be fabulous!

You can look at Pamela's Website, and there are recipes that use her mixes. Some yummy sounding stuff!
Terri_PacNW
14 years ago
Hmm that would be eaten...

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's Pamela's Website..
liz_h
Original Author
14 years ago
Definitely some yummy looking stuff!

Have you ever made a GF piecrust that doesn't use nuts? If so, was it any good? It would be nice to be able to make one that people would enjoy regardless of their gluten-eating status.
houscrzy
14 years ago
Well you most certainly need a cake on your birthday! And how nice that a friend wants to make it for you.

Somebody posted this cake last year before Thanksgiving (in fact I think it might have been Terri) and I made it for a Thanksgiving dessert. It was super easy and a huge hit with Gfers and non-GFers alike. It actually gets a lot better on the second or 3rd day so it is great to make ahead. Maybe it would fit the bill since it is both your birthday and Thanksgiving! Oh and when I went looking for the recipe, I found a version that adds a 1/2 cup of cocoa to this recipe--that sounds really fantastic as well!

Nigella Lawson's Clementine Cake
5 Clementines
Â 6 Eggs
Â 1 cup Sugar
Â 2 1/3 cup Almonds ground
Â 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Preparation
Put the unpeeled clementines in a pot with cold water to cover, bring to the boil, and cook for 2 hours.
Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the seeds.
Then chop everything finely -- skins, pith, fruit -- in the food processor (or by hand, of course). Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter and line an 8-inch spring form pan.
Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, almonds and baking powder. Mix well, adding the chopped clementines. I don't like using the processor for this, and frankly, you can't balk at a little light stirring.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover the cake with foil after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool, on a rack, but in the pan.
compumom
14 years ago
I have a Namaste Spice Cake mix in the pantry. I was going to make it for myself for my birthday, but never got around to it. I've made their muffins and they're not bad. I don't eat potato products either, so some brands of mixes aren't acceptable. I made something from Cherry Brook a while ago- maybe chocolate chip cookies?, it was pretty good.
bons
14 years ago
Housecrzy - I tried a very similar recipe to that except that it used regular oranges and had less almonds. The resulting cake still had a slight bitterness from the skins. I think I may have to try the version you posted.

Bonnie
Terri_PacNW
14 years ago
I didn't make that recipe..but I might have pointed you in the direction of it..I have made her flourless chocolate cake..or is it Tyler Florences? LOL

I dunno..

Liz I have made a pie crust (flour like)...I think it was a Bob's Red Mill Recipe..I'll go looking..

gluten free cake mixes - & GF forum/board?

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