Betty Crocker Goes Gluten Free: Our Test Kitchen Version

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When Betty Crocker offers gluten free cake mixes, you know that Celiac has become mainstream. The story about how the corporation came to develop gluten free products is on the box. A familiar tale - a child of an employee and a test kitchen employee were diagnosed with Celiac. No one wanted to leave them out of the joy of being able to eat Betty Crocker baked goods. Thus a rationale for the development of a new product was born.

Betty Crocker offers a chocolate devil's food and yellow gluten free cake mix. A gluten free chocolate chip cookie and brownie mix can be had as well. Their website offers a variety of recipes using each product.

In our test kitchen, we are mixing up the chocolate cake mix into cupcakes, adding a Betty Crocker frosting-in-the-can that seems to have no offending gluten ingredients, but is not labeled gluten free. One can assume that if they have gone to the trouble of developing a gluten free baking mix, the frosting will soon follow. Until then, finding the product that does not contain gluten is tricky because some do, and some do not. It pays to read carefully, or make your own from scratch.

We paired the chocolate cupcakes with Betty Crocker chocolate chocolate chip frosting.

Better with homemade frosting, or none at all

First, read the instructions and ingredients list on the box carefully. Gluten free is not fool proof entirely. The ingredients list is a tutorial in how the final product, once baked, might taste. The first ingredient listed is sugar. No decent cake should have sugar as the primary ingredient, even a gluten free cake. Especially a gluten free cake. But with a little innovation, you can improve the flavor.

The box requires that you add a stick of softened butter, some water, and eggs.

Always use unsalted butter. Water is a good because it blooms the cocoa powder and eggs are necessary. To this we added extra cocoa powder, some finely ground espresso (decaf) coffee, a tiny bit of vanilla and almond flavoring, a spoonful of sour cream, and one additional egg to compensate for the additional dry ingredients. The addition of unsweetened cocoa powder will cut back on the sweetness and enhance the chocolate flavor.

The Enhanced Ingredient List

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, very soft
• 1 cup of hot water (not boiling)
• 3 jumbo eggs or 4 large eggs (at room temp if you can)
• splash of vanilla and almond flavoring or liquor
• heaping tablespoon of sour cream
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 heaping tablespoons of finely ground espresso beans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325. Make sure butter is very soft, but not melted. Eggs at room temperature mix better. Mix everything on low speed until incorporated. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed until fluffy. Scoop into cupcake pan (using paper liners) about 3/4 full. Bake about 22 minutes at 325 degrees. Toothpick should come out clean.

Cool and frost. Leave them out until frosting sets. If you cover them before that happens, the canned frosting will slide off overnight. Blah.

baked and cooling - they tasted best plain!

The Critique

Grainy - Not a bad mix, but they could use a better grade of gluten free flour that is not as grainy. That happens a great deal with commercially prepared gluten free products. There is no need for that anymore. Really finely ground gluten free flours are available these day.

Too Sweet - No adult would really enjoy a cake that sweet. It had to be cut with lots of unsweetened cocoa to lighten up the sweetness.

Overall Flavor - The initial flavor would have been flat. It needed a boost with the vanilla, almond or liquor. But it is a decent basic cake if you cut the sweetness.

Going Back for More? - Maybe. Probably would avoid having to do that, but in a pinch, with some modification, it might be a timesaver. But never would use that frosting again. It was pretty much the worst frosting we ever tasted. It could use substantial improvement but is not worth the effort. Would make our own next time, or just use a ganache.

Grade - A++ for the effort and production of a gluten free product. C + for the chocolate cake mix with sugar as the lead ingredient. And an F- for any of the Betty Crocker canned frostings.

just frosted, but later it all slid off the cupcakes...

21 Days of Food From the Other Side: The Gluten Challenge

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the universal sans gluten bumper sticker

For the celiac or gluten intolerant, gluten is evil incarnate.

It lurks in the heart of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, in the soul of Izzy's Brooklyn Bagels, and in the crust of Sam's Chowder House deep fried popcorn shrimp located in dazzling Half Moon Bay.

It is the crusty loaf of an Acme Bread batard. It sings a siren song so wistful it brings tears while tasting the sublime and famous Citizen Cake Cupcake. Gluten is a friend to food, a sister to the bakery ensemble, and it proudly occupies more than 90% of the stuff on supermarket shelves.

Evil or not, it has been our vice, and sustenance for the past 21 days. And this day brings the moment we knew was inevitable, the divorce. The union is shattered, broken by the simplest of excuses. We cannot maintain a relationship without becoming severely ill in mind and body, and let's face it, spirit.

Why did we hook up in the first place?

Blame it on the doctor. She suggested we take the newer celiac panel tests since neither of us have had a modern day test. In order for a gluten antibody test to be accurate, one has to have ingested gluten, for a long while. Depending on the literature anywhere from one month to several is the suggestion. Since we have been gluten free for a very long time, the longer challenge is the preferred choice. If you are the counting type, it means stuffing anywhere from 8 to 11 equivalent slices of bread in your face on a daily basis.

Testing for celiac is not simple. Here is the scientific brouhaha . If you test positive, then the next step is an endoscopy to take a sample of the lining of the small intestine to test it for the disease. The lining gets totally stripped of the helpful villi if you are a celiac. Those consequences mean you don't absorb necessary nutrients and suffer from a host of ailments, like osteoporosis, malnutrition, and constant unhappiness in the gut.

The incidence of celiac in our country is much more prevalent than once thought. One of every 133 people. Those are big numbers.

The gluten challenge is simple in theory, harder to do in real life. While you are gluten free, your body heals, the symptoms abate and you lead a normal(ish) life. But once you ingest gluten, the dirty rotten scoundrel makes life miserable again. And in order to get an accurate reading, it must be for a period of time to start the damaging cycle. It sounds counter intuitive, but there is a good reason to do this. All ailments that seem celiac are not always celiac. There could also be underlying issues that need investigation that seem to also abate when gluten free.

The first few days of the challenge are like an illicit affair. The temptations that you've avoided until now are yours for the asking. Oh, the power. Oh, the choices. Oh, the misery. Gluten-free gave you good health, energy, and the ability to have a good day in body at least. After the first few moments of having your cake and eating it too, the bill collector comes calling.

Bent over, gripping the guts to hold everything in, and not paying any attention to the anvil and vice in your head was the mantra for that first week. Sleeping sitting up, discovering the old, but still good, Nexium in the medicine chest , downing Tums like candy, and chewing Pepto Bismal like breath mints got you through some of the day.

Milano cookies do not taste as good as they once did. Three times was the magic number for trying to find perfect ravioli, which do not exist. Several baguettes later, not one of them held up to what we ate in France. At least 300 croissants later we knew they didn't hold up to French standards. Oreos still tasted great if you removed the cookie and just ate the middle. Ring Dings look so much more appealing when Brenda Lee Johnson swoons over them.

Pizza is overrated, although cheese is not. Crispy fried seafood tastes like crispy fried bread crumbs if the seafood is overcooked. A lumberjack pancake breakfast is enough to feed the Jolly Green Giant and all of his friends. Who eats that stuff? And after several burgers with buns, not one was good enough to not peel away the bread.

This is the last day, the day before the blood tests. And there is not one item on our list that I want to eat. But like a good student, I will search for my 8 slices of bread in some form or another. I hear Izzy's Bagels calling.

Or maybe that is just the ringing in my ears from 21 days of too many Advil.

citizen cake cupcakes : worth every gluten laden bite

Drunken Chocolate Birthday Cake

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Drunken Chocolate Cake, Gluten Free and Tipsy

There is one other love in the lives of Lulu &Phoebe aside from anything named food. That would be their ever loving human Dad, the one who takes them for early morning and late evening walks.

They cozy up to him at night when the other human is radiating like a furnace, and they hide behind his legs when the cat that is bigger than a Great Dane pounces off the balcony above them. He will share his ice cream cone, take them for rides in the car, and throws the slimy ball endlessly.

For his 28.4 million minute birthday they have gifted him a day off from all things canine except for the early morning and late night walking, ball throwing, filling of food bowls, and protection from neighborhood feline bullies.

They've requested that I make an all time favorite cake which he last tasted about 15 years ago. They asked that I take him to the San Francisco MOMA to see the beauty of Ansel Adams and Gertrude Stein, partnered in one exquisite exhibit. They also requested that I take him to dinner at their favorite place where they can sit under our table, and look adorable while eating everything we drop.

Drunken Chocolate Cake, Gluten Free

Ingredients: Cake

• 1 package Pamela's gluten free chocolate cake mix
• 1 small box of chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
• 1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup kahlua
• 1/4 cup creme de cacao
• 1/4 cup godiva liqueur
• 3/4 cup strong espresso
• pinch of vanilla and almond flavoring

Ingredients: First Glaze

• 1 cup of powdered sugar sifted so no lumps remain
• 2 tablespoons espresso
• 2 tablespoons of each liqueur

Ingredients: Second Glaze

• 1 cup heavy cream, heated
• 1.5 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (or semisweet)
• pinch of espresso, almond flavoring, and the liqueurs

Directions

Mix everything together on medium speed for about 3 minutes until fluffy and smooth. If it seems a bit thick, add a bit more coffee or liqueur.

Pour into a buttered and floured (I use cocoa to flour the pan) bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes and 325 degrees for 10 minutes more.

As soon as a toothpick comes out mostly clean, take the cake out. Overbaking a gluten free cake makes it a little rubbery.

from the oven - let it rest (quietly)

Cool for a few minutes and then invert onto a rack (using a cardboard cake holder while it cools on the rack helps).

Poke holes in the top of the cake with a skewer. Many holes! You want the glaze to get into the cake.

Mix up the first glaze and pour it over the warm, but not hot, cake. Get as much as you can into the holes. Let it set for about 30 minutes.

oversight management first glazing (K, C & G)

Mix up the second glaze and let it set for about 10 minutes. Then pour over cake until you are happy. Let this glaze set before serving, about an hour.

really happy chocolate

The pictoral version of the recipe is here, if perhaps you've taste tested the ingredients before assembling the recipe. And remember - do not eat and drive! Happy birthday and Bon Appetit.

One bag of Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix, Gluten Free

add one small box of chocolate fudge instant pudding mix

save 3/4 cup of your espresso and pour it in too

add 1/4 cup of this stuff

add 1/4 cup of this too

and another 1/4 cup of this!

add four of these

add about 1/2 cup of this

Got Raspberries? Make Cake

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gluten free raspberry cake

Aside from the cupboard full of chocolate and another closet full of wine mingling with shoes, there is a refrigerator full of raspberries, blueberries and cheese. About the only thing these epicurean delights have in common is that you can drink the wine with any of them.

Right now chunky little raspberries are all around us. And they seem abundant this year. When we cannot keep up with eating them naked, it is time to think of other delicious ways to dress them up for the table.

This raspberry cake is simple to make. You need a bowl, a mixer or a strong arm and a measuring cup and an oven. It is best served freshly baked and slightly warm with either vanilla gelato or whipped cream. Extra berries on top are de rigour.

Of course, all of our recipes are gluten free. This one is adapted from Gourmet Magazine and fluffed up a bit to accomodate both a gluten free variety and our love of all things raspberry.

Gluten Free Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

cast of characters

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup gluten free flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• pinch of almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon or two of buttermilk
• 1 to 2 cups fresh raspberries

Directons

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan. I used an 8 inch pan with high side. You can use a square pan too. Your choice.

Whisk together flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla and almond extract. Then add the egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in batches, alternating with buttermilk, and mixing until just combined. Don't overmix.

easy on the mixing

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter at least one cup of raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

batter and berries meet up

add remaining sugar to top

Bake until cake is lightly browned (remember, gluten free never gets golden) and a toothpick comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Place a cake plate on the cooled cake and invert so the top is up.

just baked, ready to cool

Serve slightly warm with additional raspberries and ice cream or whipped cream.

Ready to serve

Simple Simon's Apple Pieman

apple pieman with vanilla ice cream

This is the easiest fruit crumble to make. I like to use old apples that have seen better days, but any fruit will do. Just remember to cut them into even sized pieces. Berries would be great too. And all the better with ice cream on top! No one will guess that this a gluten free goodie. Bon Appetit.

cast of characters

Gluten free apple tarts in a bowl. Simple pieman pie.

• 6 large apples (or other fruit)
• 1-2 tbspn white sugar
• 1-2 tbspn brown sugar
• lots of cinnamon
• nutmeg

Peel apples. (see the peeler for simple pieman use). Chop into even chunks, about 1/2 inch. Drop in a bowl, and add the sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir and let rest.

A word about the peeler. It is genius. No more extra finger peels in the food! Safety first, and because I am a supreme klutz, this is the best peeler ever. It will do an apple in a few seconds because you can whiz around and get almost the whole peel in swoop. It's the little things, people, the little things, that count.

make the fruit chunks even

add the dry stuff

really cool peeler

Meanwhile mix up the topping.

• 1.5 cups of gluten free flour
• pinch of xanthan gum
• lots of cinnamon
• some nutmeg
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 8 plus 2 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

Using a food processer, dump the flour, xanthan, sugar and seasoning into the work bowl. Place the chuncks of butter around and into the flour carefully (don't get your fingers near the blade). Give it a couple of whirls until it looks like pebbles or large sand.

Alternatively, you can also do this by hand with a fork or a pastry blender. Dry ingredients first, then the butter. Don't overwork it. Just get it to the pebble looking stage.

pop all the topping stuff into the processor

add the cut up butter on top

whiz until it looks like cornmeal

Place the apple (or other fruit) chunks into oven safe bowls. Tap the bowls to settle the apples. Next, spoon the topping evenly on all the bowls and again, tap lightly to distribute. You want some of the topping to sink into the apple spaces. Make sure the top is covered pretty much - a few chunks sticking out are ok.

apples into the bowls first

topping is topped with butter & cinnamon

Add more cinnamon and nutmeg (optional at this point). Take a couple more tablespoons of very cold unsalted butter and chop into small pieces and place in the bowls.

Place the bowls on a large cookie sheet for easier handling. Bake at 375 for about 40-50 minutes. You want the top to look set and a bit brown and the apples to be thoroughly cooked. You can stick a knife into the apple mix to see if they are soft enough.

piping hot from the oven

If the top is cooking too quickly and the apples are not quite done, turn the oven to 350 and keep checking.

This makes as many servings as you wish. You can use big bowls, or smaller bowls, or add more apples.

Optional but there goes the simple pieman: nuts, raisins, other fruit.

Serve alone or with a big scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.