Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

With the continuing momentum of the gluten-free wave comes a host of gluten-free products that you can find at the supermarket. I happen to be a fan of many of Bob’s Red Mill products, and I had heard from a few people they had started doing gluten-free items. As I was grabbing some sugar the other day, I spotted this gluten-free cake mix in amongst the other BRM products. I thought, “Heck, why not give it a shot?”

Once I got home, I quickly got to work. I pulled out the Kitchen Aid and plunked it down on the counter. I assembled and measured all the ingredients—milk, eggs, lemon, butter, vanilla, very hot water, and the cake mix. I like to get everything ready before I start. I wanted to make the cake as close to the package picture as I could, and I find that in the fervor of  baking , I can end up using too much, or too little of something.

Once the ingredients were all  laid out and ready, it was quick work to actually make it. Around 5 minutes total from the start to when I poured it to into the pans and tossed it in the pre-heated oven.

While it was baking, I started making an old standard, buttercream icing. I went with a traditional vanilla, because I thought it would look good on the cake. I used a typical recipe—you can find an array of them through Google.

Once the cakes were done, I let them cool, popped them out of their pans, and took a look at them. They seemed much like a normal, gluten-filled cake and they were springy and moist looking!

I iced the layers, and cut myself off a piece to try. I was blown away at the moistness and overall fluffiness.  Later, I took the cake out on the town and asked some people (who are not gluten-free) to have a piece without telling them it was gluten-free—I wanted to see if they could tell it contained no wheat. They loved the cake and couldn’t tell the difference. Some even had an extra slice!

The only thing I found over regular flour cakes, which I find is common with most of the pre-packaged, gluten-free mixes, is a slight astringent after-taste, but it wasn’t off-putting enough that a  good gulp of milk couldn’t cure.