Gluten Free Food Reviews

When our family drives to Virginia to visit family, we try to pick up our daughter’s favorite treat for the ride home- Ukrop’s pound cake. Their bakery- and everything else they make, is simply yummy. We love the smooth, slightly sweet flavor, and I especially like that the pound cake hardly crumbles. This is ideal for a long drive home in the car- the less crumbs the better.

Obviously I cannot have their pound cake anymore, so when I saw that ‘Cause You’re Special made a golden pound cake mix I had high hopes for a yummy, portable sweet treat for myself and my family. This 16.5 ounce gluten free pound cake mix sells for $6.99 at my local natural foods store.

Mixing the batter was a breeze with my Kitchen-Aid mixer. Just combine 3 large eggs and 3/4 cup butter or margarine. If you want this to be dairy and casein free, simply substitute the butter with the baking spread of your choice.

The batter is thick, smooth and very sticky. I used a spatula to smooth it into the pan, but ended up smoothing most of it with my fingers dipped in water because of the stickiness. After baking for 75 minutes and - ta da! The first gluten free pound cake to ever grace my countertops.

This gluten free pound cake has a thick and semi- soft crust. The top of the pound cake is slightly crisp and flaky with an ultra-sweet flavor. The texture is smooth with a few nooks and crannies, and does not crumble or fall apart and slices easily. When freezing slices of this gluten free cake, I would recommend eating it before it completely get to room temperature. I found that when allowed to completely thaw, the texture seemed mealy and mushy. Not good. For best results, I suggest consuming the pound cake fresh within 24 hours.

However, the flavor closely resembles the ‘Cause You’re Special! To me, the flavor is a very sweet rice flour flavor with butter blended in for richness. If you like this company’s other products, then you will probably like the pound cake as well.

Overall, this mix is OK, but not exactly the gluten free replacement for Ukrop’s that I was hoping for.

Pros: dense, smooth, texture comparable to traditional pound cake

CONS: lack of original flavor - tastes just like their biscuits and vanilla cake, so-so results from freezing, strong rice flavor, really sweet

Rating: 3 stars

Want to try this mix for yourself? Click below:

Ingredients:sugar, white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, salt

Check out my other ‘Cause You’re Special! reviews:

‘Cause You’re Special! Moist Yellow Cake Mix

‘Cause You’re Special Hearty Biscuit Mix

‘Cause You’re Special! Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Mix

‘Cause You’re Special! Famous Pizza Crust Mix

‘Cause You’re Special! Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix

What is my deal? All of my vanilla/white/yellow gluten free cake mixes are all so . . . ho-hum, nothing exciting or good so far. The ‘Cause You’re Special Moist Yellow Cake Mix is no exception. I purchased this 14.8 ounce mix locally for $6.19, and it makes one 8 inch cake.

The mixing instructions were simple and easy. I mixed the batter in a stand mixer with ease. Getting the batter into the cupcake liners was a bit tricky, since it was quite thick, sticky and gummy. My cupcakes were done after 22 minutes, even though the directions indicated to bake for 25-35 minutes. My cupcakes came out of the pan looking like this:

The tops of the cupcakes rose unevenly, so they looked a bit strange. But did they taste good?

This cake mix is very sweet with a nice light texture. The cake was not grainy or coarse, and only slightly mealy tasting from the rice flour. Fresh from the oven, the cupcakes had nice crisp edges that softened over time as the cupcakes cooled. These cupcakes hold their shape well, although the soft and tender tops could make frosting them a challenge. Frost with care please! I imagine a slightly sweet frosting or fresh fruit would go well with this mix.

As I tasted this cake, I had the strange feeling that I had tasted these cupcakes before, but just couldn’t place the association. Then . . . BINGO! I realized that these cupcakes taste just like the “Cause You’re Special Biscuit Mix, only sweeter and a touch fluffier! Unfortunately, after I realized this tasty deja vu, I couldn’t eat these cucpakes without feeling like I was eating a really sweet biscuit.

PROS: moist, nice vanilla flavor

CONS: tastes similar to their biscuit mix, sticky batter

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Where Can I Buy This Mix?

‘Cause You’re Special - Moist Yellow Cake Mix
From: glutenfree.com

Ingredients: Sugar, white rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate), salt, xanthan gum.