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!

Recipe: Semi-Sweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

My father's birthday was a couple of weekends ago, and I was asked to provide a gluten free dessert that everyone could enjoy - so I decided to bake gluten free yellow cupcakes, with choices of buttercream or chocolate frosting. The first thing I did was research online, where I found this recipe. I was extremely happy with the results - though it's important to note that you have to be sure to use superfine white rice flour to make sure the cake isn't too gritty.

The buttercream frosting I used was pretty simple and straightforward - I used a modified version of Betty Crocker's recipe, with the following ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup melted butter (I never, ever use margarine here)
  
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
  

However, the piece de resistance was the chocolate-hazelnut buttercream frosting recipe that I created. For inspiration I took the above buttercream frosting recipe, and the back of the Hershey's baking chocolate box.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

Disclaimer: Vince does not eat chocolate so I did not verify that Nutella is actually gluten free.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3 cups confectioner's sugar (this really is semi-sweet - I'd recommend using 4 cups if you like sweeter frosting)
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup powdered unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup nutella

Directions:

1. Mix butter, shortening, until fluffy. Add sugar 1 cup at a time until everything is well blended.
   
2. Add cocoa, salt, vanilla extract, whipping cream, mix. Add Nutella. Add additional whipping cream by the Tbsp if necessary. Beat on high speed until fluffy.

The cupcakes turned out very well - everyone enjoyed them and other than a slightly chewy consistency it was hard to tell they were gluten free. The semi-sweet chocolate frosting also went over well - my parents aren't big fans of super-sweet chocolate.