Did you know that Betty Crocker makes gluten free cake mixes?
(Disclosure: Betty Crocker gave me nada to write this post. Geez, thanks a LOT, Betty.)
These cake mixes are not widely available but I found them at the Loblaws in Barrhaven, in the regular cake mix section, thanks to a tip from my good friend LuckySevens, who has a celiac husband and daughter.
It was Sir Monkeypants’ birthday last week so I gave the chocolate one a try. The mix itself is safe for Captain Jelly Belly but to make the mix, you are supposed to add 1/2 cup butter and three eggs, which you know, kills people around here, so I thought I’d skip it.
Instead, here’s how I made up the mix. I put the cake mix powder in a bowl and added three teaspoons of powdered egg replacer, then stirred to mix. Then I mixed one cup water (as directed) with 1/2 cup canola oil and 6 tablespoons applesauce (which is exactly the size of one of those little applesauce cups you put in your kids’ lunch, in case you are wondering). Then I poured the wet stuff into the dry stuff, mixed it a couple of minutes with a hand mixer, and baked according to package directions.
Once they were cool, I iced them with this:
Which is “buttercream icing” that contains no milk, which is kind of scary. In fact, between the icing and the cake mix, there are tons of ingredients in there that make this a decided “sometimes” food. I usually make my own icing from sugar, shortening, and vanilla, so it was kind of a shock to see all the weird artificial stuff in this can of icing but MAN, did the kids ever love it.
In fact, after seven years of making my own egg-free, milk-free cakes, this totally fake gluten-free cake was declared the best birthday cake EVER made in this house, by the kids AND by Sir Monkeypants.
So to sum up: big hit. Go make some.
TurtleHead 
These look fantastic! Its great to see more gluten free choices in the stores. When it comes to birthday parties it’s more fun when everyone can enjoy the cake/cupcakes.
I’ll look for these for sure!
Yum!
To be fair to Betty, she was probably sitting in her rocker watching the clock go tick-tock, tick-tock fanamanama.
Love that it was decalred a favorite cake. Too funny. But looks yummy. 🙂
That’s super! I’ve made the same egg & milk free chocolate cake for every birthday party for the past 8 years, so it’s nice to have an alternative 🙂
And I’ve never even bothered to check the ingredients on that icing because I figured that buttercream would contain, you know, butter or cream.
I know, right? I am surprised that something called ‘buttercream’ could have NO DAIRY in it. Yikes. But I HATE making frosting (mostly because I don’t eat it) so I’d totally buy this kind for the occasional treat.
On a side note, Lynn, I LOVE those round flat colored sprinkles. For some reason they remind me of being 5 years old and really, really, happy, though I can’t recall exactly why.
Woo hoo!! Chocolate is always good. Allergy friendly chocolate is even better 🙂
Geez, anything that makes your life a little easier, I’m all for it. I made cupcakes, egg-free cookies and gluten-free brownies for Eve’s party. The other Moms were so grateful, and I was thinking ‘good lord, I only did it once – you have to do it ALL THE TIME’.
Glad it was a success! YAY!
Also, I found the gluten free Rice Krispies at the Independent in Barrhaven.
Gluten Free it taking over!
When we were egg free I learned to use a cake mix and add a can of pop, mix as directed, bake as directed. It worked best for cupcakes and is super easy given that you only have to open 2 things:) I’ll still make them that way if I’m being lazy!
Wow, I have never heard of that before! It sounds FABULOUS. Will try, soon!
I’d seen the Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mixes in the store but hadn’t dared to try one yet. Thanks for your tips on making the cake vegan too. Isn’t applesauce wonderful?
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I found this at Walmart too! Can’t wait to try it!