Posted by glutenfr | Posted in Product reviews, treats | Posted on 20-06-2010
Tags: cookery, treats
With so many gluten free chocolate cake mixes to choose from, which one is officially the yummiest?
We at GFF have donned our oven mits in a courageous bid to answer this burning question once and for all. As a result, we may never eat chocolate cake again, but lets face it, someone had to sacrifice themselves.
AIM: To compare chocolate cake packet mixes on the basis of yumminess (ie taste, texture and longevity). We sought to identify a winning category as well as winners within each category.
We also wanted to take into account the allergy credentials of each mixture. We did not, however, look at nutritional aspects such as fat and sugar content. That’s just not something we take into account when choosing a chocolate cake!
METHOD: We found nine different cake mixes at various outlets around Sydney. These products spanned mudcakes (3), traditional chocolate cakes (3) and chocolate muffins and slices (3). We cooked each category of three together in Lucy’s fan forced oven over two days.
RESULTS:
THE MUDCAKES
Mudcake mixes
The mudcakes proved to be superior in almost every way (assuming you use the full complement of egg and dairy ingredients), but especially so on the yumminess measures: taste, texture and longevity.
They were also easier to make as they all only needed to be folded by hand and water, oil and eggs were the only extra ingredients required.
All three that we cooked were very similar and all were delicious. They were still delicious the next day and all also defrosted beautifully a week later.
However only one of the three came with icing included. We shared this around all three cakes to keep the results consistent.
Two scored well from an allergy angle. These were:
Naturally Good & Well and Good
They had egg and dairy free options and yum! these were also the two best tasting cakes of all.
On the downside, neither had icing included and the delicious ganache icing suggested by both requires cream and chocolate. (You could replace this with a combo of icing sugar, cocoa, margarine and and a tiny splash of rice milk)
Freefrom
Almost as delicious as the above two, it is a larger cake and has chocolate buttons for ganache icing included in the pack. (You have to add your own cream).
This one does have dairy products (whey) included in the mix as well as the ganache.
TRADITIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE
Chocolate cakes
The traditional cakes were all a bit of a disappointment in terms of taste after the richness of the muds. They were in general dryer, blander and less chocolatey.
Moreover neither of the frostings included in two the packets were especially inspiring and neither was the icing mix suggested by the third. None were the hardening sort which means a big mess if you want to slice and freeze leftovers.
They also took longer to make. All required a hand mixer and two required margarine in addition to water and eggs, making them more fiddly than the muds.
Allergy-wise, they also offered less leeway than the mudcakes. Only one offered a dairy and egg free option.
Freefrom
This was probably the best traditional cake taste-wise and was the easiest to make. It came out of the oven soft but not that chocolatey. It has no dairy free option.
Basco
Taste-wise, this was a touch bland compared to the mud category. It also had diary in it but we appreciated the simplicity of the instructions (for example it gives ingredient measurements in tablespoons and mLs).
Orgran
This dairy free cake had the best allergy credentials with its egg free and vegan options however this has a taste trade-off. Its instructions are a touch cumbersome (for example it asks for 60g of margarine rather than 3 tablespoons). The suggested icing, Orgran chocolate mousse, did not work that well with the cake in our opinion.
MUFFINS AND SLICES
Muffins and slices
This was the least satisfying category overall. We wound up with a batch of standard, albeit allergy friendly muffins of average taste from Orgran (pretty much the exact muffiny version of their chocolate cake), and a different batch of muffins that we found somewhat bitter and upalatable from another manufacturer (we did wonder if one of the ingredients was past its best).
The fudge brownie tasted like a flatter, denser mudcake that was actually quite a bit more fiddly to make than a mudcake – but it was pretty yummy.
Aside from the incredibly sumptuous looking packets, overall we felt a little uninspired by this category.
CONCLUSION:
Let’s hear it for the mudcakes! The Naturally Good mudcake and the Well and Good mudcake share the top honours because of their sensational (and remarkably similar) taste.
Our favourite dish
Woolies brand runs a very close third, impressing us with its larger size and the inclusion of chocolate buttons for icing.
We probably wont venture far beyond these three in the future unless we are catering for specific allergies in which case we’d probably go with Orgran because of its versatility. And if you desperately want muffins, it may be worth experimenting with the mudcake mixes, cooking them for a slightly reduced period of time in a muffin pan. That’s next up on our to do list.
MB & LH
Great post, I love the deliciously free moist chocolate mud cake mix. That reminds me, I really should blog about it.
Hey,
Just found your blog and this of facebook, great review, it’s saved me alot of time and doing this experiment for myself.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feeback
Thank you so much for this review – need to make a birthday cake to take to school and it has to be gluten and nut-free. Really didn’t know where to start and imagined that I would have to buy and try them all in the next month. You have saved me a lot of hassle and a lot of calories. Thanks heaps
I love the Woolworths ‘Freefrom’ chocolate cake, which is mentioned in this blog. However, it does not seem to be available anymore! Does anyone know why it has gone off the shelves?
I think they have replaced it with a Macro-brand mudcake. Its about the same size and is pretty similar (if not identical). The only difference I could detect were the chocolate icing buttons which are a little different to look at.
as written elsewhere (thanks for the link!) – I loved the Naturally Good mud cake: finally found a mix that I could lick beaters and bowl, just like a kid! End result was great even without icing or frosting (we used a dribble of the Woollies’ Select range Berry Sauce, on the side for those who could eat berries) and it was more than enough. One piece was enough for my sweet-tooth husband, who’s usually so addicted that he can’t stop himself – he said he was so full and just didn’t crave any more sweetness.
So – lots of happy ticks in this household, for meeting allergies, kosher/halal, vegan and diabetes requirements as well as taste!
Love it!
Just did some looking online and found this really interesting chocolate mousse cake recipe.
Sounds like quite an easy recipe to adapt to being gluten free, eggless, soy and nut free (esp. with the help of Orgran’s Choc-Flavoured Outback Animals in place of the Tiny Teddy chocolate biscuits (I guess they might be similar enough for this)). Not sure about dairy substitutions but looks like something potentially impressive and interesting for GF and non-GF guests alike.
The method seems slightly involved but the end result looked good.
Recipe found at: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/homebeautiful/751/recipe-angel-chocolate-mousse-cake/:
Serves 8
200g packet of Tiny Teddy chocolate biscuits (^ above)
1 tsp cinnamon
100g butter, melted
10g sachet powdered gelatine
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup Dutch cocoa
250g light cream cheese
3/4 cup caster sugar
400g can evaporated milk
1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries, to serve
1. Put biscuits and cinnamon in a food processor and process until crushed. Add butter and process until combined. Spread mixture into the base of a 20cm-round springform tin, using the base of a glass to push mixture into the edges. Put in the fridge to set for 1 hour.
2. Sprinkle gelatine over water and stir. Microwave on high for 30 seconds until completely dissolved. Add cocoa and stir until combined. Allow to cool. Put cream cheese and sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. With motor running, add evaporated milk and gelatine mixture and beat until combined.
3. Pour mixture into chilled biscuit base and refrigerate for 4-5 hours or until set. Remove from tin. Arrange raspberries around outer edge and in centre of cake and serve.
sounds yum
We love the Well and Good Choc Mudcake. I make this for my coeliac brother, however everyone who tries it says they like it better than any other ‘regular’ choc cake. As there are no dairy/egg problems for us, I do make this mixture using the egg, and I also sometimes use half the oil and half melted butter.
For the icing I use about 1 cup pure icing sugar with 1 tablespoon cocoa, 1 tablespoon soft butter/margarine/coconut oil and 1-2 tablespoons hot water – just beat or stir all ingredients together for a minute or two.
Alternatively dust with pure icing sugar – serve with whipped cream or icecream and fresh strawberries.
GOOEY LEMON OR CHOCOLATE CAKE (more a sweet rather than a cake) – this is super easy and yummy.
Base Ingredients:
1 Packet GF Lemon or Chocolate Cake mix (any brand you like)
1 Egg
125gm Butter/Marg/Coconut Oil – melted
Filling Ingredients:
250gm Cream Cheese (room temperature is best or soften a bit in microwave)
2 Eggs
2 & 1/2 cups GF Icing Sugar
Method:
1.Set oven at 180 Celcius.
2.Lightly grease a springform cake tin and put a circle of baking paper in the bottom (a regular cake tin will do if you haven’t a springform).
3.Ignore directions on the packet cake mix.
4.Lightly mix the base ingredients in a bowl using an electric beater or spoon.
5.Tip the base mixture into the cake tin and press it into the bottom and up the sides a bit – it doesn’t have to be perfect. I find the back of a soup spoon works well to press the mixture.
6.I now use the same bowl and beaters for the filling – no need to wash first – this saves on dishes.
7.Put the filling ingredients into the bowl and beat till combined.
8.Pour filling into cake tin over the base mixture – doesn’t matter if it comes higher up the sides than the base mixture.
9.Just in case the springform tin ‘leaks’ during cooking, I usually sit it on a bit of alfoil on an oven tray.
10.Cook for 40 minutes. I sometimes leave it in a bit longer, but you should NOT OVER-COOK IT. The ‘filling’ should still be quite gooey – it will firm up quite a bit as it cools.
11.Cool, slice and serve with toppings of your choice – whipped cream/ice-cream/crème fraiche/yoghurt/berries.
* If using the Lemon cake mix, the lemon flavouring in the base mixture will flavour the filling mixture – for extra zing add some grated lemon rind to filling mixture.
*If using the Choc cake mix, grate or finely chop a regular sized block of good dark chocolate and add this to the filling mixture. I use a 70% cocoa chocolate as it is less sweet.
Thanks for that!