I love cake, chocolate cake, plain sponges, Christmas cake, apple cake - the list is endless. I want you to know that I selflessly test each and every recipe before I put it up and the whole family likes to give it a taste-test too! So I was a little disappointed when the cake my girls called 'the best cake EVER' wasn't actually one of my own.
OK I did bake it but it wasn't one of my recipes, it was a packet mix.
In general I don't like packet mixes. In my opinion you are just paying a whole lot of money for someone else to do the weighing for you and that's a job I think I'm actually quite good at, well I'd have to be, I'm a trained chemist (think laboratory not pharmacy) and used to have a job which involved selling high end balances. However I'm not so narrow minded not to realise that packet mixes do have their up sides, they are good if you are in a rush or if they contain an essential ingredient that you'd rather not have to buy in larger quantities. This second factor can really work in your favour if you are suddenly having to cater for an allergy that you don't normally have to worry about. If your family are more than happy eating gluten you probably don't want or need a box full of gluten free flours you are never going to use again. So for you lucky people a packet mix is possibly ideal when my family or someone equally intolerant comes to stay!
So where did this yummy packet cake mix come from? My local garden centre! I know, I went in there for some Christmas bulbs and suddenly I'm buying cake mix!! To be fair most garden centres have diversified in order to bring in more business and frankly my local one is so diversified it can be hard to find a really plant in the indoors bit. Next to the 'bird food' bit they have this lovely little bit selling dried fruits, nuts and dragées (which as far as I can tell is just a posh word for sweet). This section has it's self diversified and now has teas and a small range of gluten free foods (yippee!).
I was delighted when I picked this little packet up to read that I wasn't allergic to any of the ingredients. In fact I think this was possibly one of the most inclusive packets I have ever read! It was Gluten, Wheat, Dairy, Corn and Soya free and promised that it could be make with vegan margarine and egg replacement powder if so wished! In fact there were 3 similar mixes there, the girls rather predictably chose the chocolate flavour, so we added it to our basket and went home.
It was very quick and easy to do, though I was grateful my electric whisk was such high quality, I had been tempted to hand whisk to save on the washing up and that would never had worked, so thick was the mixture. Anyway we melted our butter, beat the eggs and whisked it all together, popped it in the lined tin and settled down to lick the bowl clean.
Just so you know, as soon as I'd taken this shot she threw the bowl on the floor so she could see the photo. I now have one Mason Cash bowl less in my collection, luckily unconditional love means you can forgive your child for doing this. Delicious cake also helps to heal the pain.
By the time I'd cleaned up the mess the cake was more or less cooked (it said 25 minutes on gas mark 3 if you were doing it in one tin, in my opinion 35 minutes would have worked better, though I took it out at 30 and it sank a little).
Bet you'd like to know who made it wouldn't you? ME! No, I baked it. Glebe Farm made the mix. And it's not the only one they do. So far we've tried the carrot cake, to which I gave top marks (I even preferred it to the chocolate cake!)
And we've also got a ginger cake to make next.
Sadly this is all the mixes my local garden centre stock and I've not been able to find anyone else nearby who has them. I say 'sadly' because they have lots more to try including a scone mix. Luckily they have an on-line shop though with £5.99 p+p you might want to order quite a few in one go (though you don't have to limit yourself to the cake mixes they have many other things to buy).
Who is it suitable for?
Vegetarians, vegans, gluten intolerant and Coeliac, dairy intolerant, those with an egg allergy. Most people in fact.Who is it not suitable for?
Those on a reducing diet (well it is cake!) and anyone sensitive to potatoes or sugar.So there you go, a huge well done to Rebecca Rayner and her family for producing such scrumptious stuff ! By the way I don't know them, I've never met them and they are not paying me for this. I'm just letting you know about it because I like to share delicious inclusive food with you!
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