Review: Really Great Food Company’s Gluten-Free Yellow Cake

I had a little baking spurt a few days ago, and I wanted to tell you about my experience with Really Great Food Company’s Gluten-Free Yellow Cake mix.  There were some really good parts to it and one that was unexpected.

The Really Great Food Company does something with its cake mixes that, from what I gather, no one else in the gluten-free world does.  They do a cake mix for a full cake!  One cake mix = a 9 X 13 inch cake pan or two 8-inch rounds.  Since you’ve started eating or cooking gluten-free when did you find that?  When I found this out I had to buy and try it.  Yes the mix was more expensive…around $8.00 if I recall correctly (it looked cheaper on the company’s website). But I think it’s a good price for the amount of gluten free cake you get, considering I often spend $5.00+ on a mix half the size.

The cake was very moist, and rose beautifully!  I slightly tweaked the recipe though.  Instead of adding 2/3 cup of oil, I did 1/3 c. applesauce and 1/3 c. oil.  The little individual cups for applesauce measure to about 1/3 cup if you’re wondering.

I baked the cake and it looked just like any regular Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker or Pillsbury cake I’ve made in the past.  I was pretty excited.  I let it cool and then I made the traditional chocolate frosting recipe which you can find on a Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa container.  Emma loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  So we tried it immediately….

What was that flavor? Did I accidentally add something to the cake?  Emma didn’t like it.  She usually would beg to devour 2-3 pieces, but she had one bite and had no more interest.  She didn’t really say it was bad, but it certainly wasn’t what she wanted.  I finished the piece of cake, still trying to pinpoint the source of the unexpected “spicy” flavor in the cake.

I looked at the ingredients for nutmeg, because I determined that’s what the spice tasted like.  The spice reminded me of something I’d taste in pumpkin pie.  But there was no nutmeg listed.  But there was something else:  mace.

What is that? I wondered.  After a few days I finally sat down at the computer and Googled it. Sure enough, I had my answer.

Mace is a spice made from the waxy red covering which covers nutmeg seeds. The flavor is similar to that of nutmeg, with a hint of pepper and a more subtle note which can be overwhelmed by heavy-handed cooks. — www.wisegeek.com

So my taste buds were right — sort of.  While it wasn’t nutmeg I was tasting, technically, it was the covering of the nutmeg seeds — which tastes like nutmeg. I am not sure why people would necessarily use it instead of nutmeg — and I’m not really sure why it’s in this cake mix.  But it is.

At any rate, I’m wondering if this cake mix, at least in my world, would be better suited for pumpkin bars or something like a spice cake where the mace flavor is hidden a bit.  Other people may love it.  But if my daughter won’t eat the cake, it’s not worth me buying.  But I really did love everything else about it!  Especially the fact that you didn’t have to buy two to make one cake!

I went on their website and found they have a Golden Cake Mix that doesn’t have mace listed as an ingredient.  That may be more for our family.  But if you’re not afraid of the spice, then you absolutely should try this cake mix.  I would definitely try other mixes they offer as well.