Product Review: Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix

Every year for my daughter’s birthday the entire family gathers at the local Chuck-E-Cheese and turn the kids loose on a quest for huge stacks of tickets (which they then trade in for little bitty prizes). I have always found it strange that a gluten free kid would choose a gluten filled pizza place to celebrate at, but for her it’s all about the games. Well, the games and the cupcakes.

Lucky for us, Chuck-E-Cheese has a very loose policy about birthdays. They don’t bat an eye when we flood through the doors on a Monday night with four dozen cupcakes - all gluten free, of course. One of the gifts we like to give my little angel is that at least once a year she gets to eat the same treats as the rest of the party guests.

Since we have to make so many cupcakes we share the love between different mixes. There is always a choice of chocolate or vanilla cupcakes. Between the mixes, the tokens, the drinks and various other party goods you can imagine that the party budget sometimes gets a bit stretched.

This year I was very excited when I found this Arrowhead Mills mix for $1.50 on sale. Yes, $1.50!!! I have no idea what it normally retails for. I didn’t want to check and ruin the impression of the best bargain ever :)

The mix went together easily without the need for any special ingredients (just water, oil and eggs). Once prepared, the mix yielded 22 cupcakes. So far so good.

After baking and frosting (but before the party) I did my job as a good reviewer and tried a cupcake without the distraction of happy party goers. They were…. different. I took a bite and said, “Hmmmm.” to which my hubby responded, “Cornbread!” Yes, the texture WAS like cornbread. That wasn’t all, though, there was also a bit of crystallized sugar thrown in.

The flavor was good, but only mildly sweet. The total effect was more like a sweet batter bread than a cake. Good, but not my first choice for future cake-ing.

The good news is that there were no complaints at all from the party guests. In fact, one guest loved the cakes so much that he begged to take the leftovers home. He was very taken with the “different” texture.