gluten-free Birthday Cake

[zus888]

My son is turning 2 this weekend, and I'm in need of a good cake recipe for it. I want it to be gluten-free so that I can also partake in the festivities. What's your favorite cake? I need something kid-friendly, so something like a simple chocolate or yellow cake would be best. It's my "thing" to make a cake from scratch, but this year I won't be able to do so since I don't have all the necessary flours. I'll have to make it from one of the mixes. I plan to tweak them into something yummy. Any ideas?

I *could* do the strawberry cake from The Cake Doctor using BC yellow cake mix. I might also have a chocolate cake mix on hand as well. I also have Pamela's pancake mix here too. Do any of those make great cakes. Just need the cake recipe. I can find a decent frosting for them.

[Coleslawcat]

My son is turning 2 this weekend, and I'm in need of a good cake recipe for it. I want it to be gluten-free so that I can also partake in the festivities. What's your favorite cake? I need something kid-friendly, so something like a simple chocolate or yellow cake would be best. It's my "thing" to make a cake from scratch, but this year I won't be able to do so since I don't have all the necessary flours. I'll have to make it from one of the mixes. I plan to tweak them into something yummy. Any ideas?

I *could* do the strawberry cake from The Cake Doctor using BC yellow cake mix. I might also have a chocolate cake mix on hand as well. I also have Pamela's pancake mix here too. Do any of those make great cakes. Just need the cake recipe. I can find a decent frosting for them.

Do you have access to Tom Sawyer or Better Batter flours? If so, you can just substitute those 1:1 in your old recipes. I use Tom Sawyer all the time and love it. For chocolate cake I usually use the Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's can of cocoa and use Tom Sawyer in place of all purpose flour.

[kareng]

one of my kids and the kid next door were never big on cakes. You could try the frozen donuts (somebody help me I can't remember the brand - Kinninick maybe). the other popular "cake" in our neighborhood is brownies. We love the gluten-free Pantry mix. You could get the Betty Crocker white icing and dye it a pretty color. Or leave it white and decorate with M&Ms. (Every kid at that party wanted M&Ms on thier next birthday cake, cookie or brownie.) My 15 yr old likes the icing flavored peppermint with crushed candy canes or red & white candies.

I haven't tried it but have heard the Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mixes are extra good with a pack of instant jello added.

[Mizzo]

We always use King Arthur gluten-free chocolate cake or Pamela's choc cake mix. Everyone (even non gluten-free choc. lovers ) in my family likes them. I add 2 tbsp instant choc pudding mix for added creaminess but it's not necessary. I find these 2 brands have NO grittiness in their texture.

KA will give you a 2 layer 9" inch cakes. Pamela's will give you a 2 layer 8" inch . KA is my first choice, but Pamela's is more readily available.

In addition (same brands ) have fabulous brownie mixes for sundae's . You can also make the cakes or brownies and turn them into pops. Home made or Pillsbury frosting both work for the pops.

IMO You might want to stick with a mix for the party and experiment with substitutes another time.

[Roda]

For my 6 year olds birthday I did two boxes of the gluten free Betty Crocker yellow cake mix and added in 4 oz of softened cream cheese in the batter to make it more moist. I baked it in a 13 x 9 pan and took it out of the oven when there were still a few fudgy crumbs on the tooth pick. I ended up removing the whole cake from the pan, cut it in half lenghwise and arranged it to look like two light sabers. I frosted the whole thing. It was so good and moist that my gluten eating husband could not get enough of it.

[zus888]

I did the strawberry cake (The Cake Doctor) one Sunday at the party and am doing the Hershey's chocolate cake today. So far, the cake looks delicious!! One of the 9-in rounds sunk a bit in the middle. I'm really excited to see how the Better Batter does in this recipe. I went to a local natural foods place, and they told me that they heard great things about Better Batter, so I went with that instead of the King Arthur's.

The strawberry cake turned out well, and everyone enjoyed it! I'll let you know how the chocolate cake turns out. I hope this can be my new flour for all things dessert. I just substituted the flour 1:1.

[zus888]

I made the Hershey's Chocolate Cake with the Better Batter and it tasted GREAT, but the texture wasn't quite right. It was a cross between a cake and brownie. Sort of mushy and not cake-like. Not sure how to improve that. It is very moist - just not the texture I particularly wanted.

[sa1937]

I made the Hershey's Chocolate Cake with the Better Batter and it tasted GREAT, but the texture wasn't quite right. It was a cross between a cake and brownie. Sort of mushy and not cake-like. Not sure how to improve that. It is very moist - just not the texture I particularly wanted.

What a bummer...baking sure is a huge experiment, isn't it! Does Better Batter have xanthan gum in it?

[zus888]

Yes, it does. It's a bummer because that flour is really expensive!! I can't afford to make baking mistakes, or learn by trial and error.

[Coleslawcat]

I made the Hershey's Chocolate Cake with the Better Batter and it tasted GREAT, but the texture wasn't quite right. It was a cross between a cake and brownie. Sort of mushy and not cake-like. Not sure how to improve that. It is very moist - just not the texture I particularly wanted.

Hmm, what a bummer. I haven't tried Better Batter yet, but I've heard really good things about it. I have it sitting in my pantry waiting to try. I use the Tom Sawyer and I didn't have that result. I read a lot of reviews and they said the Better Batter was just as good if not better than the Tom Sawyer, who knows.

How do you measure out your flour? The most accurate way to measure it is to spoon small amounts of flour into the measuring cup and then level off the cup. When you scoop it tends to compact the flour too much and end up using more than you need. I wonder if that might have contributed? Just a guess.

[zus888]

I definitely spoon it in. I wonder if I should have baked it longer. The toothpick came out clean, but one of the 9-inch rounds collapsed a bit in the middle. That leaves me to think that maybe it's not fully baked because that's exactly what the texture is like - a not fully baked cake-brownie.

[jackay]

one of my kids and the kid next door were never big on cakes. You could try the frozen donuts (somebody help me I can't remember the brand - Kinninick maybe). the other popular "cake" in our neighborhood is brownies. We love the gluten-free Pantry mix. You could get the Betty Crocker white icing and dye it a pretty color. Or leave it white and decorate with M&Ms. (Every kid at that party wanted M&Ms on thier next birthday cake, cookie or brownie.) My 15 yr old likes the icing flavored peppermint with crushed candy canes or red & white candies.

I haven't tried it but have heard the Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mixes are extra good with a pack of instant jello added.

Are M&Ms safe now that they manufacture pretzel M&Ms? I'm wondering if they are made in the safe facility and there could be cc issues.

[zus888]

Just to follow up: I contacted Better Batter and they think that the oven temp was too high (causing the outside to cook faster than the inside and making it seem like it was baked through when it wasn't). One of the signs of this was the fact that one of the cake rounds collapsed a bit in the center. So, next time I try this, I'll set the oven a bit lower and bake it a tad longer. They said that this cake is usually a hit and comes out perfect in their kitchen tests.

Great customer service, by the way!

Looking forward to trying out some cookies with this flour!

[Coleslawcat]

Just to follow up: I contacted Better Batter and they think that the oven temp was too high (causing the outside to cook faster than the inside and making it seem like it was baked through when it wasn't). One of the signs of this was the fact that one of the cake rounds collapsed a bit in the center. So, next time I try this, I'll set the oven a bit lower and bake it a tad longer. They said that this cake is usually a hit and comes out perfect in their kitchen tests.

Great customer service, by the way!

Looking forward to trying out some cookies with this flour!

Glad to hear they had a suggestion for you. I just bought an oven thermometer a few weeks ago and was SHOCKED by how inaccurate my oven's temperature was.

[sa1937]

I do have an oven thermometer but find that oven temps might also have to be adjusted depending on the color of your pans. Dark pans would bake differently than aluminum, for example. And with glass or CorningWare, I always set oven temps 25 degrees lower...obviously cake pans are not glass but I fiddle around with oven temps for baking bread, for example.

Glad to hear Better Batter has great customer service!