Betty Crocker Cake Mixes

OK, so when Betty Crocker cake mixes first started appearing on the shelves of our local grocery stores, I immediately scooped up a box of the yellow cake mix to try. We excitedly made cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting, and our mouths watered as we smelled them baking in the oven. When we finally bit into one, we were... well, pleased, but a little underwhelmed.

Now, don't get me wrong. They were good. But, we'd built them up so much in our heads that we were expecting this fantastic experience, and as always if you build something up that much you're often disappointed. It's kind of like New Year's Eve: you're always so excited to go out and feel like you have to have a good time, that even when you do have a good time you feel like it should have been more.

Overall -- they were tasty, if a little gritty, but got dried out way too quickly.

Still, I had another box left over and a blog post that looked interesting:
http://aglutenfreeguide.com/betty-crockers-gluten-free-mixes-yellow-cake-review.html

She uses the following recipe to doctor the cake mix:

New and Improved Gluten-Free Cupcakes Recipe
1 package Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix

1 3.4 oz package Jello vanilla instant pudding

1/3 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs plus one egg white room temperature

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup orange juice (no pulp)

1 Tablespoon good vanilla extract

*DO NOT FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE PACKAGE

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the wet ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and beat on medium speed until completely combined

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for about 23-25 minutes, until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

We tried it and... YUM!

I have to say that I prefer my buttercream frosting recipe of:

- 1 cup butter

- 1 cup shortening

- 8 cups confectioner's sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 tsp salt

However, these cupcakes not only smelled and tasted AMAZING, they stayed pretty fresh and moist for the better part of a week (after that they were all gone). We used french vanilla instant pudding, and the overall flavor was very strong vanilla -- I think I might halve the vanilla extract next time -- but mouth-wateringly delicious. I have to give credit where credit is due. :-)

All I can say is, these are easy and definitely on the list for the next party we go to - they're definitely good enough to give to gluten-eating people without them noticing a difference!