I did a little internet research on the best gluten-free cake mixes for chocolate and yellow cake. After my try at the Betty Crocker yellow cake mix from Shaw's, I realized I needed to try more variety and some better brands. So I went to Whole Foods this time, which had a nice variety of GF cake mixes, but nothing more than $7.
Here are some of my top picks from my internet search
Chocolate
Triumph Dining.com Best Gluten Free Cake Mix Betty Crocker
glutenfreefoodreviews.com Pure Pantry Wholegrain Dark Chocolate Cake Mix 5 Stars
glutenfreefoodreviews.com Pamela's Products Lucious Chocolate Cake Mix ? stars
glutenfreefoodreviews.com Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake 4 Stars
celiac.com Namaste Chocolate Cake Mix
celiac.com Gluten-Free Essentials Extreme Chocolate Cake Mix.
Yellow
Rachael Ray Best Yellow Cake The Really Great Food Company Yellow Cake Mix
For the chocolate cakes I am testing three mixes: Pamela's Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix, Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix, and Dowd & Rogers Gluten Free Dutch Chocolate Cake Mix
Pamela's
The batter was very thin, but did not taste gritty even though the dry ingredients felt the most gritty of the three. Also, the batter tasted nutty and had a deep and interesting flavor. I forgot to put in the extra egg for a lighter cake, but I though the cake came out great with just 2 eggs.
The cupcakes baked up beautifully mounded. The tops were cracked, revealing they are gluten free, but I can certainly live with that. The tops will most likely be covered with frosting anyway. And I kindof like the signature gluten free cracking. The flavor was amazing. Chocolately and nutty and deep. The texture had a slight rubberness to it and the crumb was light and even. Half the batch made 8 cupcakes.
Cherrybrook Kitchen
The batter was also quite thin, but not as liquidy as Pamela's. The batter was not too gritty and tasted chocolately. The cupcakes baked up into a pointy, volcano shape. After tasting the baked cupcake, the taste was not as rich and chocolately as Pamela's and it had some sort of artificiality in the flavor (a metallic taste possibly?) - The texture was great, and not rubbery at all. The crumb was light. Half the batch made 6 cupcakes.
Dowd & Rogers
This cake had the most complicated mixing method. The butter and sugar need to be creamed first, then eggs added slowly and dry ingredients combined last. The batter is curdled looking until all dry ingredients are in and the batter is thick like traditional batter. These cupcakes had a nice rounded shape after they were baked. They had a nice chocolate taste, light even crumb and good texture, a little crumbly (maybe not the best for layer cakes?) Half the batch made 6 cupcakes.
The final ranking
1) Dowd & Rogers
2) Cherrybrook Kitchen
3) Pamela's
As a follow up, I froze some of the cupcakes for 4 days, defrosted them and tried them again. It was hard to distinguish between Dowd & Rogers and Pamela's. Pamela's was more moist, and only a trace of the gummy texture was left. Both had good chocolate flavor, but Dowd & Rogers was a little dry/crumbly. Cherrybrook Kitchen still had a strange aftertaste. Also, the top of Pamela's and Cherrybrook Kitchen's cupcakes got very sticky after I defrosted them, while Dowd & Rogers had a drier top. (Butter vs oil?)
Here are some of my top picks from my internet search
Chocolate
Triumph Dining.com Best Gluten Free Cake Mix Betty Crocker
glutenfreefoodreviews.com Pure Pantry Wholegrain Dark Chocolate Cake Mix 5 Stars
glutenfreefoodreviews.com Pamela's Products Lucious Chocolate Cake Mix ? stars
glutenfreefoodreviews.com Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake 4 Stars
celiac.com Namaste Chocolate Cake Mix
celiac.com Gluten-Free Essentials Extreme Chocolate Cake Mix.
Yellow
Rachael Ray Best Yellow Cake The Really Great Food Company Yellow Cake Mix
For the chocolate cakes I am testing three mixes: Pamela's Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix, Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix, and Dowd & Rogers Gluten Free Dutch Chocolate Cake Mix
Pamela's
The batter was very thin, but did not taste gritty even though the dry ingredients felt the most gritty of the three. Also, the batter tasted nutty and had a deep and interesting flavor. I forgot to put in the extra egg for a lighter cake, but I though the cake came out great with just 2 eggs.
The cupcakes baked up beautifully mounded. The tops were cracked, revealing they are gluten free, but I can certainly live with that. The tops will most likely be covered with frosting anyway. And I kindof like the signature gluten free cracking. The flavor was amazing. Chocolately and nutty and deep. The texture had a slight rubberness to it and the crumb was light and even. Half the batch made 8 cupcakes.
Cherrybrook Kitchen
The batter was also quite thin, but not as liquidy as Pamela's. The batter was not too gritty and tasted chocolately. The cupcakes baked up into a pointy, volcano shape. After tasting the baked cupcake, the taste was not as rich and chocolately as Pamela's and it had some sort of artificiality in the flavor (a metallic taste possibly?) - The texture was great, and not rubbery at all. The crumb was light. Half the batch made 6 cupcakes.
Dowd & Rogers
This cake had the most complicated mixing method. The butter and sugar need to be creamed first, then eggs added slowly and dry ingredients combined last. The batter is curdled looking until all dry ingredients are in and the batter is thick like traditional batter. These cupcakes had a nice rounded shape after they were baked. They had a nice chocolate taste, light even crumb and good texture, a little crumbly (maybe not the best for layer cakes?) Half the batch made 6 cupcakes.
The final ranking
1) Dowd & Rogers
2) Cherrybrook Kitchen
3) Pamela's
Taste
|
Texture
|
|
Dowd
& Rogers
|
Y
|
Y
|
Pamela's
|
Y
|
N
|
Cherrybrook
Kitchen
|
N
|
Y
|
As a follow up, I froze some of the cupcakes for 4 days, defrosted them and tried them again. It was hard to distinguish between Dowd & Rogers and Pamela's. Pamela's was more moist, and only a trace of the gummy texture was left. Both had good chocolate flavor, but Dowd & Rogers was a little dry/crumbly. Cherrybrook Kitchen still had a strange aftertaste. Also, the top of Pamela's and Cherrybrook Kitchen's cupcakes got very sticky after I defrosted them, while Dowd & Rogers had a drier top. (Butter vs oil?)
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