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Cake Recipes

If you love cakes, you're in the right place! On the following pages, you'll find recipes for cakes, icing (or frosting), cake cookbooks, and more.

Review: Complete Cake Mix Magic

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Complete Cake Mix Magic
A while back, I was sent an especially fun cookbook to review – Complete Cake Mix Magic: 300 Easy Desserts Good as Homemade. This cookbook, written by Jill Snider, has a lot of things going for it, including the fact that it involves one of my favorite things in the world…. cake!

Something else it has going for it is variety. Unlike what you might expect, the recipes in Complete Cake Mix Magic aren’t just traditional cake recipes. As you can tell from the list of some of the recipes, below, there’s a little bit of everything in this colorful cookbook.

Some of the Recipes Included in Complete Cake Mix Magic:

  • Banana Cake
  • Triple Raspberry Treat
  • Peach Cobbler
  • Fruit-Topped Mini Cheesecakes
  • Sour Cream Coffee Cake
  • Strawberry Bavarian Mold
  • Lemon Streusel Cake
  • Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
  • Apple Cranberry Crisp
  • Very Creamy Butter Frosting
  • Jiffy Snow Frosting
  • Death by Chocolate
  • Chocolate Caramel Pecan Cookies
  • Hazelnut Biscotti
  • Cereal Crisps
  • Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares
  • Strawberry Lime Cream Squares
  • Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
  • Chocolate Pecan Bars
  • Cream Cheese Brownies
  • Very Peanut Buttery Frosting
  • Peanut Butter Glaze

There are even recipes for extra special cakes and treats for extra special occasions:

  • Frosty the Snowman Cake
  • Choo-Choo Train Birthday Cake
  • Pumpkin Pie Squares
  • Gingerbread People
  • Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes
  • Ice Cream Cookies

There are over 300 recipes included and I’m pretty sure that, like me, you’re going to love them all.

Complete Cake Mix Magic Cookbook

Complete Cake Mix Magic

Special Word About Gluten Free Cooking

Since I have to eat gluten free (health reasons – my body made the decision, not my brain) – I cannot, obviously, use the traditional ingredients or recommended cake mixes for these recipes. However, I have found that Gluten Free Cake Mixes produce outstanding results. I also simply trade out recipes that call for all purpose flour with gluten free all purpose flour.

Honestly, there are so many wonderful gluten free cake mixes and flours on the market, it’s a great time to have to eat gluten free!  Easy “trade outs” mean that we can use the same cookbooks everyone else does, we simply have to stay on top of the calculations.  For example, a lot (not all, thank goodness) of gluten free cake mixes make HALF the cake traditional mixes make. I have no idea why they choose to do this, I’d rather have a whole cake even if it means paying more. It’d beat buying two mixes at once.

Simple Truth (a Kroger brand) and Pillsbury are two that now have gluten free cake mixes that produce the same size cake “everyone else” gets to eat. Yay! Progress!

From the Back Cover: Discover how to transform a basic cake mix into a great cake or mouthwatering dessert simply by adding tasty and readily available ingredients. The more than 300 recipes in this book provide results that taste homemade in less than half the time it would take to bake from scratch. Simple recipes, basic ingredients, and no experience required – you’ll find all the elements necessary for outstanding results.

About the Author: Jill Snider has decades of baking experience, including 25 years as the Test Kitchen Manager for a major flour maker. She is well-respected food stylist and recipe developer. She is also the author of the bestselling Cake Mix Magic, Cake Mix Magic 2, and Bake Something Great!

Complete Cake Mix Magic (Amazon link) is a great cookbook, whether you’ll need to make adjustments for gluten free baking or not. The recipes are easy and fun to make, the ingredients couldn’t be easier to find if they were on your own counter, and the creativity is a perfect 10 out of 10.

Click through any of the links or the image below to take a closer look.

Complete Cake Mix Magic

Pillsbury Gluten Free Funfetti Cake Mix

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Pillsbury Gluten Free Funfetti Cake Mix
If you eat gluten free (for health reasons OR healthy reasons), you know how it is when you find a great gluten free food item….. you want to dance, shout, hug the company, and laugh.

All at the same time.

For me, personally, you can add write gluten free food reviews on my recipe blog to the verblicious list.   One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is bake – I’m just seldom happier than I am when surrounded by measuring cups, spoons, and pans. Sure, having to “go” gluten free threw a foreign spoon into the mix (see what I did there?) – but it’s all good. I was actually in the baking aisle at a local Wal-Mart gathering ingredients for a banana pudding when I decided to stroll down the baking aisle and “check up on” the gluten free items.

Thankfully it seems like each store I visit has new gluten free goodies nearly every week! Needless to say, this is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

When I saw that Pillsbury now has a line of gluten free mixes out, I think I let out a WHOOT. My youngest daughter’s used to that behavior, so she didn’t bat an eye, she just helped me throw things into the cart.

The first Pillsbury Gluten Free I chose to try was the Gluten Free Funfetti Cake Mix.  It even looks like spring, so I knew I had to give it a whirl.

The first thing that I got excited about was the price – SO MUCH CHEAPER than other gluten free cake mixes! And get this – it doesn’t just make one 9′ cake or 12 cupcakes, it makes the exact same cake size as their other cake mixes – or 24 cupcakes.

Why some other brands pull a “half-hearted” number with their mixes (while charging about twice as much) is beyond me, but I hope Pillsbury will shake things up and make the “paying field” friendlier.

Naturally, none of that would matter if the mix wasn’t good. That’s why I was so thrilled to find that it’s delicious. It smells, looks, and tastes just like the traditional “Funfetti” type cakes we all know and love.

The non-gluten free members of my family agreed, there’s absolutely no difference at all.

I topped it off with a favorite Marshmallow Icing and am ashamed to say that we all dove in before I could get a finished product photograph.

I’m even more mortified to admit that this happens around here regularly.

Unfortunately, Pillsbury Gluten Free Cake mixes are proving to be a little tough to find – at least in my neck of the woods. I’ve seen a few Pillsbury Gluten Free cookie mixes in other stores (can’t wait to try those) but I’ve only seen the cake mix in one local Wal-Mart.

Next time I find it on the shelves, I’m buying them out!

Look for Pillsbury’s Gluten Free mixes in the baking aisle of your favorite store – I’m delighted to say that Pillsbury hasn’t just joined the Gluten Free game… they’ve stepped it up!

Pillsbury Gluten Free Funfetti Cake Mix
Thanks, Pillsbury, for Raising the Bar instead of the Price!

Pamela’s Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix

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Pamela's Vanilla Gluten Free Cake Mix

Pamela’s Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix… Delicious!

When I had to give up gluten/wheat, I had to give up a lot more than just doughnuts and fried catfish sandwiches – though they are two of the things that stung the most.

As a food blogger, foodie, restaurant reviewer, and guardian of the kitchen, it shook my world entirely.

I am thrilled and even a little shocked to say, though, that it’s not that big a deal. Why? Because of companies like Pamela’s that make the transition incredibly easy and… here comes the shocking part… even more delicious!

That’s right. I said it. I find that I’m enjoying more flavorful, more delicious food than ever since going gluten free. Don’t worry if you looked shocked – I’m living in the middle of the reality and it still shocks me.

Pamela’s is one of my favorite Gluten Free brands and the reason is simple: Everything they make is extraordinary, reasonably priced, and never lets me down.

Not even once.

[Review Continued Beneath the Picture…]

Pamela's Vanilla Gluten Free Cake Mix
If you have to get to or choose to eat gluten free, you know how hard it can be to find good selections in stores. While it’s getting easier (thanks to cool stores!), it can sometimes be a struggle to find favorite gluten free brands. Then, when you DO find your favorite brands, they may or may not have the one you’re looking for!

Recently, I wanted to make a gluten free version of a favorite cake for Easter – a Coconut Poke Cake (directions below).  I had to look all over Owensboro for Pamela’s Vanilla Cake Mix. But that’s the point… no other cake mix would do! It was a very special day with my very special family and everything had to be perfect.

Some brands are called for when it comes to moments like this and Pamela’s is one of them.

I was able to find this wonderful cake mix in (of course) the last grocery store I checked. Naturally, I bought several!

Amazon is a great place for finding and testing out gluten free brands. They’ve been a Godsend for me – AND you can buy in bulk, which is the way to go when shopping for gluten free food.

All of Pamela’s gluten free mixes and blends are perfection – and I’m pretty sure I’ve tried them all.  I seriously (make that SERIOUSLY) do not know how I ever lived without Pamela’s Gluten Free Artisan Flour Blend (Amazon link), but I’ll never have to find out – I load up and stay loaded up with her gluten free flour. It makes everything I thought was impossible very possible.

As for the cake mixes… they’re a dream come true for someone who has baked all her life. Basically, Pamela saves the day any time she’s in the kitchen. Each flavor of Pamela’s Gluten Free Cake Mixes is delicious, too, so be sure to try each one out.

You can vary the flavor of the Vanilla Cake Mix by adding different extracts – almond, maple, lemon… the options are endless.

Now.. for that easy peasy Gluten Free Coconut Poke Cake….

Gluten Free Coconut Poke Cake

Gluten Free Coconut Poke Cake

Coconut Poke Cake has been a favorite in our home for two forevers, maybe three. You simply bake a white cake in a 9×13′ pan as usual.  When you remove it from the oven, you carefully poke a variety of holes into the cake with the little end of a wooden spoon’s handle.

Then, open a can of coconut milk (shake first) and slowly pour it over the top of the cake, allowing it to seep down into the holes.  Find cans of coconut milk in the Asian section of your grocery store.

Allow the cake to cool completely, then “frost” with Cool Whip or a homemade whipped topping and cover with Sweetened Shredded Coconut.

Store in the refrigerator – if there’s any left after the first day, it’s just as delicious the next! Pamela’s Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix has allowed a long-standing family favorite recipe to be even better than ever.