Mixed Review: Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Mix
"A perfect glass-of-milk kind of snacking cake."
[Photographs: Lucy Baker]
Many would argue that gluten-free is the new cholesterol-free, fat-free, or carb-free. That is to say, it's the latest diet trend. Maybe gluten-free products are currently having their glitter moment, but there is no denying the facts: as many as three million Americans have celiac disease, and the number of gluten-intolerant people is even greater—about one in 133. That means they cannot comfortably digest gluten, the main protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.
Can you imagine a life without pasta? Or warm crusty bread? Cereal? Fortunately you don't have to. Right now, markets are stocked with gluten-free versions of many favorite foods, including waffles, pizza, and even beer.
Out of all the companies that specialize in gluten-free products, Bob's Red Mill is perhaps the best-known and most praised. Erin McKenna, owner of Babycakes, a gluten-free bakery in New York City, and author of the Babycakes cookbook, says Bob's gluten-free all-purpose flour is so good she would "collapse in a tear-drenched tantrum if they ever stopped making it."
While I may not be gluten-intolerant, I am curious.
I decided to try Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Mix ($9.58 for four packages). Gluten-free or not, vanilla cake mixes always remind me of little kid's birthday parties—the kind that end with a huge rectangular sheet cake stuck with pastel pink and blue candles. For this reason, I decided to bake the mix in a 9x13-inch pan (the package also has instructions for baking loaf cakes or round cakes).
Three eggs, 1/2 cup oil, and 1/2 cup room-temperature water later my batter was ready. I'm not going to lie—it wasn't at all like regular cake batter. It had a gummy, glue-like consistency and smelled faintly of another childhood staple: Play-Doh.
But it was a lovely butter yellow color and spread evenly in the pan. Half an hour later it emerged golden and warm. The cake was domed in the middle and the sides pulled away from the pan slightly, revealing tempting crusty edges.
I showered my cake with confectioners' sugar and cut it into thick squares. No fork was necessary—this was clearly a finger food kind of dessert. While I couldn't detect any authentic vanilla flavor, the cake was pleasingly buttery and not too sweet—a bit like cornbread, really.
What it lacked in over-the-top taste it certainly made up for in texture. If I hadn't known better, I never would have guessed the cake was flour-free. It was incredibly light with a slightly moist and sticky consistency. Each bite stuck to the roof of my mouth for just a second before disintegrating into crumbs—a perfect glass-of-milk kind of snacking cake.
I would strongly recommend this mix for anyone with a gluten intolerance, particularly children. Nobody should be denied their birthday sheet cake fix!
Fun fact: Last month, Matthew Cox of Bob's Red Mill, which sells cake mixes such as this one in addition to oats, grits, and many other whole grains, won the Golden Spurtle competition in Scotland. He became the first American to take the world's top porridge-making prize!
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12 Comments:
i have a friend who is kosher and has celiac disease, so will pass this along to her.
cybercita at 11:17AM on 11/06/09
To say Gluten-Free is the "latest diet trend", is minimizing the real health-toll it takes on those of us who get truly ill from eating even a little bit of it.
Celiac disease seems new-found in the U.S. because the wheat industry in the U.S. has lobbied Washington successfully over the years against diagnosing Celiac Disease -- just as the Cattle Ranchers lobbied for the beef industry against warnings of Mad Cow.
Only in the U.S., where welfare of powerful industries supercedes the welfare of the American people, are the diagnoses of Celiac disease in the general population lagging behind the rest of the world. Europe, for example, has been gluten-conscious for years.
It may seem like the newest fad right now, but believe me, soon it will be as main-stream as can be. My diagnosis, as late in life as it came, saved me from the remainder of my life in constant pain and illness. I bless the day.
Thank you very much for the review. I have always wondered about gluten-free mixes (to use in a pinch), so this was invaluable information.
Brownie at 12:02PM on 11/06/09
@Brownie - well said!
My wife discovered her sensitivity to wheat a year ago (at age...39) and it is truly a life changing event. Liiving gluten free is not a trend, it is a way to survive. I also think that the numbers of celiac and gluten-sensitive will rise sharply in the near future.
I make my living as a chef and gluten-free living is a complete re-education of food and its possibilities.
Please get more Glutenfreegirl on SE - her blog and posts are a revelation.
browngravy at 1:52PM on 11/06/09
While I do agree with the above posters, there is also a growing number of people who are switching to gluten-free diets who have *not* been diagnosed with celiac disease--I believe these are the people that are being referred to as turning this into a "fad," not those who genuinely need to keep gluten-free for serious health reasons.
sar_t at 2:41PM on 11/06/09
Good review. I like the red mill brand for my sea salt.
hungrychristel at 2:50PM on 11/06/09
@browngravy -- I hesitated to say "life-changing", because I felt it would sound a bit over-the-top, but that's exactly like I feel as well. I'm so happy your wife was diagnosed, and apparently is doing well. She's lucky to have you on her side!
And, I agree about Shauna at GlutenFreeGirl - she's awesome. So, more Shauna, please!
Brownie at 2:59PM on 11/06/09
All this talk of Bob's Red Mill makes me homesick. Up until a year ago, I lived a mile from Bob's and could go in and buy most of their products in bulk, getting just what I needed at the moment
kalajo at 3:14PM on 11/06/09
I get a little upset when people say that we, without celiacs, are turning gluten free diets into a fad. Both my mother and I have had horrible sinus infections for years - antibiotics, steroids, so many different types of meds. Then we both went off of gluten for a month... I love bread and cookies and pasta, etc but without them all of the sinus infections are gone and when I eat something with it (sometimes that doughnut just calls to me) they come back with a vengeance. I have had multiple food allergy tests due to another digestive disorder, and doesn't show an allergy, but the allergist says that the exclusion diet shows that I have one. So if it makes you feel better, do it, and have an extra gluten free cookie!
styska1 at 12:59AM on 11/07/09
@Brownie - ".....minimizing the real health-toll it takes on those of us who get truly ill from eating even a little bit of it."
Lucy wrote:
"but there is no denying the facts: as many as three million Americans have celiac disease, and the number of gluten-intolerant people is even greater—about one in 133. That means they cannot comfortably digest gluten, the main protein found in wheat, rye, and barley."
firmly stating the facts is not minimizing anything, although it may not have come with the dramatic adjectives you were looking for.
so, she stated the facts and statistics concurrent with your post. maybe you're disappointed because they didn't come belabored with
Christina at 12:31PM on 11/07/09
Of course Celiac disease exists and other people have gluten sensitivities to a lesser extent, but that doesn't take away from the fact that other people buy gluten-free items because they see it as the next healthy trend. Because some people have problems with gluten, other people connect the wrong dots and decide that gluten in general is bad, and they avoid it, even though they, themselves, have no sensitivities.
And people who latch onto those sorts of bogus health claims make it difficult for people who do have sensitivities and allergies. Because they sit back and say, "I've cut out all gluten and I feel 100 percent better" while eating something that obviously contains gluten. As a result, people who do have the sensitivities are taken less seriously.
And I know some people who are gluten-sensitive who attempt to diagnose everyone else into having gluten issues. I understand that when you find the thing that has made you miserable, it's a wonderful thing and you want to share your knowledge. But it's a little much when it becomes a vendetta and you tell everyone that they should also avoid that food. And when people jump on that bandwagon for no reason, it does become a health fad.
dbcurrie at 1:38PM on 11/07/09
I've been "gluten sensitive" since I was a teenager (when a homeopathic doctor recommended exclusion diets to help acne), and I feel like the more people that jump on the gluten-free "fad", the better! Their reasons don't matter to me - what does matter is the HUGE profusion of gluten-free products, recipes and info that are now becoming mainstream. I remember when trying to avoid wheat seemed like trying to avoid air - but now even my local grocery store is a bonanza of choices. Yay!
And back to the review at hand - I'll try Bob's cake mix. I'd tried Pamela's yellow cake mix but felt it turned to goop after 24 hours. Thanks for the review!
Gipsygrrl at 7:02PM on 11/09/09
The cake looks great, and might be a good thing to have around for emergencies (I tend to bake from scratch). Thanks for the review!
As far as the gluten free "trend", it's especially tough to hear people call gluten free eating a "weight loss diet," or some other inaccuracy, when you went gluten free, as I did, while hospitalized for severe celiac disease symptoms. I was admitted to the emergency room suffering from severe malnutrition due to malabsorption, frighteningly low blood pressure, and dehydration.
After three weeks of eating strictly gluten free I finally had enough energy to spend the day out of bed. That was one of the most terrifying medical episodes I've experienced. It's not "over the top" for me to say eating gluten free saved my life. Trivializing what has been a cure for me and others like me is truly infuriating!
I'm grateful to the help I got from gluten-free blogs, and hope my tips and recipes can help others, too.
http://www.wheatlessandmeatless.com
gfveg at 1:24PM on 11/10/09