Dowd & Rogers Dark Vanilla Cake Mix- gluten & wheat free, all natural
As I scoured the gluten free section at Nature’s Pantry, I was on the lookout for a good vanilla or white cake mix. Not just a good one, but a great one. The description on the box of this Dowd & Rogers dark vanilla cake mix boasted this mix as “artisan” with Italian chestnut flour . . . ooh, fancy! Along with the attractive square packaging, I wanted to see if it would live up to it’s “fancy” expectations. This mix sells for $6.89 and makes one 8 or 9 inch cake. At that price, it better be great!
This mix made a great first impression- I loved the detailed and simple mixing directions, and I was able to whip up the cake batter quickly and easily. Inside the box, the sugar and flour ingredients are bagged separately, so you can cream the butter and sugar together first. Nice! After baking for 25 minutes, I was surprised when I removed the 8 inch pan from the oven. The edges were crisp with baked sugar! I broke and edge off the side of the cake and was surprised that it tasted like a sugar cookie!
After letting the cake cool completely, I served this cake as our traditional Sunday night dessert. My husband and I ate our pieces plain, and I spread some chocolate frosting on my kids pieces, since chocolate frosting goes well with vanilla cake, right? Wrong! Not this cake!
First of all, this cake is fairly dense and didn’t rise much in the pan, and was not at all light and fluffy like a traditional cake. The density and heaviness more closely resembled a hearty muffin. The flavor also reminded me of a sweet bread. I could taste the rich vanilla flavor from the vanilla powder ( I just love that stuff!) but I think the specks of chestnut flour and overly sweet flavor were just too heavy and overpowering. The cake was fairly moist, but crumbled “like popcorn,” according to my youngest daughter. The texture tasted course, but not gritty. The color did remind me of a dark vanilla, though- dark with specs of Italian chestnut.
Half of my family liked this mix, half of us didn’t. We agreed it tasted much better with no frosting at all, and would be more appropriate as a sweet breakfast item (i.e. coffee cake)than a special occasion cake. If you really wanted a frosting, a slightly sweetened whipped cream or cream cheese frosting, vanilla ice cream, or even a fresh fruit medley would best compliment this cake. Since most of the other online reviews I read were quite complimentary about this mix, I wonder why my cake didn’t turn out so great . . . different people, different tastes I guess!
PROS: moist, great mixing directions
CONS: too sweet, too dense, more like a sweet bread than a cake
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Where Can I Buy This Mix?
Dowd and Rogers Gluten-Free Dark Vanilla Cake Mix- glutenfreemall.com
Ingredients: Pure Cane Sugar, Gourmet Flour Blend (Fine White Rice Flour, Italian Chestnut Flour, Tapioca Flour), Cultured Buttermilk, Pure Vanilla Powder, Aluminum Free Baking Powder, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Baking Soda.
Read what CeliacsOnline , Alison from SureFoodsLiving.com, Ellen from IAmGlutenFree. say about this mix!
