Father's Day and Cake Mixes

We hosted a cookout on Father's Day - it's a tradition at this point. It was a typical cookout - burgers, BBQ chicken, baked beans, macaroni salad (made with gluten free elbows), green salad, etc. We did some munchies earlier in the day - clams steamed in gluten free beer, shrimp cocktail, that sort of thing. Of course we moved the cookout indoors due to the fact that we've seemingly had nothing but rain for - well, ever. (Yes, I know the day before was sunny. It just feels like way too much rain for June in NY).

Anyway. In my latest issue of Cook's Country, I found this recipe for a pina colada cake. And I just had to try it. In lieu of their recipe for yellow layer cake, I subbed gluten free yellow cake mix. And It. Was. Awesome. I should have taken a picture of the cake before I cut into it, but there's none left to photograph.

I also found that I'm now a devotee to King Arthur Flour gluten free mixes. I'd always used the Betty Crocker mixes before - but a couple of things bugged me about their mixes:

1. I always had to doctor the mix in order for it to taste good. 
2. Starting the next day, the yellow cake was a bit stale tasting, and it didn't last more than a few days. (Full disclosure: I never tried the other mixes, because the hubby doesn't eat chocolate). 
3. A single box only gives you one 9" round. So that means buying two boxes for a layer cake. Since these mixes are over 5 bucks a pop at my local Price Chopper, that's starting to get a bit pricey for a cake mix, even a gluten free cake mix. 

King Arthur's yellow cake mix was better on all fronts. At least, I liked the taste when it wasn't doctored, I made the cake the night before and it still tasted fresh and was spongy the next day, and I got two rounds out of the box, halving the cost from a Betty Crocker layer cake (the cake mixes are pretty similarly priced per box). Not too shabby, right? 

We've tried a couple of other King Arthur mixes - their muffin mix was pretty good, and their bread mix cam out looking and feeling better than  my homemade bread (my crust gets a little lumpy and uneven, and has to be frozen so it doesn't get too stale too quickly) but my husband thought it rather bland tasting, so we haven't bought it again. 

Have you tried King Arthur Flour mixes? Are there even better ones on the market?