Product Review - King Arthur GF Cake Mix...OMGoodness!

In my opinion, King Arthur Flours (KAF) has always been the "Cadillac" of baking products. I used King Arthur flour when I was a "gluten eater" and now that they have a full line of gluten free baking products, I suspect this will continue to remain true. KAF was kind enough to provide me with many samples of their GF products to review. The first box I opened is the GF chocolate cake mix. My son, Sammy, celebrated his half birthday at school this past week and wanted a chocolate cake. Pamela's brand of GF cake mix has always been my favorite but OMGoodness, I've got a new one. This KAF cake was to die for. It was moist and had an intense chocolate flavor that is addictive. I could not stop eating this cake (despite my current cleanse program). Everyone in Sammy's class loved it.

Sammy wanted a "frog cake" design since he is in the "frog class" at preschool. I decided to do a cake similar to a "bug cake" I made a long time ago for my older son, now 18. It's really quite easy. Here's how I did it...

Glass Mixing Bowl by Pampered Chef

After mixing the cake mix according to the instructions, I poured the batter into a greased, oven-safe glass, 2-quart mixing bowl that I bought from Pampered Chef. I then baked the cake according to the instructions but it did have to bake an hour and a half. I used a long wooden skewer stick to check if the cake was done. I have to admit, the cake was not pretty coming out of the oven.

Not too pretty!

I let it cool for several hours before attempting to frost it.

Allow to cool on a rack for several hours

Meanwhile, Sammy helped me gather the other supplies and crushed the gluten free cookies to make the "cookie dirt." I used Kinnikinnick K-Too's (similar to Oreo cookies) and Pamela's Simple Bites Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies.

Cookies for cookie dirt



Frog Cake Supplies

Frogs ordered online from Amazon.com, plastic greenery from Michael's craft store, organic (dye free) gummy worms (Yummy Earth brand) from Sprout's Farmers Market in Dublin, rocks from Michael's (not edible although you can buy edible rocks from the candy store in Stoneridge Mall - I do not know if they are GFCF or free of color dyes).

Sammy crushing the cookies to make "cookie dirt"

I put 1/2 the pack of K-Too cookies in a plastic zip-lock type bag and had Sammy crush them with my lemon juicer. He then crushed about 3/4 of the bag of Pamela chocolate cookies and we mixed them together in a bowl. They really look like dirt.

"Cookie Dirt"







After the cake cooled, I cut the uneven end of the cake off so it would sit flush on the cake stand. I frosted it with Pamela's gluten and dairy free frosting. I used soy free Earth Balance spread for the butter replacement.

Cutting the bumpy bottom of the cake

Spreading the frosting

After frosting the cake, I then applied the cake dirt by pressing it into the frosting.

Applying the Cookie Dirt

Once the cookie dirt was applied, I began decorating the cake starting with the plastic greenery.

I then placed rocks that I found at Michael's around the base of the dirt hill.

Placing the rocks

The finished "Frog Cake"

Sammy went a little crazy with the frogs. We also stuck a few gummy worms around the base. To carry the cake to the preschool, I bought this nice cake caddy from Michael's. It was $15 but with a 40% off coupon, it's not a bad deal. The cake fit in it perfectly!

Happy (Half) Birthday, Sammy!!