Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Gluten-free Dreams Chocolate Cupcakes
We recently tried out Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Gluten-free Dreams Chocolate Cake Mix. We used a single box mix and it produced 12 standard-sized (2 3/4 inch diameter) cupcakes. The directions on the box were simple and the recipe requires no eggs. We opted to avoid the vanilla extract and go with orange oil instead because our corn-intolerant son reacts to commercially made vanilla extracts. Otherwise we followed the directions on the box. The cupcakes baked for 18 minutes.
We topped our cupcakes with a variation of Better Homes and Gardens’ popular fudge frosting recipe. I halved the original recipe, exchanged the butter for spectrum palm oil, and omitted the vanilla again. My version required more water and I utilized the microwave to get the right consistency.
Our family really enjoyed the cupcakes. The box mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen is a really delicious dark, bittersweet cake, and the frosting is a thick, fudge-like, very sweet but not sticky topping. I personally found the frosting to be a bit sweet for me but the boys unequivocally objected. They thought it was just perfect. We will definitely make this again.
Our son can tolerate xanthan gum, as some other corn-allergic folks can. This cake mix is dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, and egg free, is suitable for those on a Feingold diet, and for those with corn allergies that do not react to xanthan gum. (Cherrybrook Kitchens has confirmed that their xanthan gum is grown on corn).
My revised Better Homes recipe for Chocolate Fudge Frosting is as follows:
Ingredients:
2 1/3 cups Trader Joe’s Powdered Sugar (made with tapioca starch and not corn starch), or your own * homemade * powdered sugar.
1/4 cup of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup of Spectrum Palm Oil
3 Tablespoons of boiling water
* For homemade powdered sugar just grind 2 cups of granulated sugar with 4 Tbsp of tapioca powder in a coffee grinder or dry-mix blender like the Vitamix machine.
Directions:
Combine Powdered Sugar with Cocoa Powder in a Kitchen Aid mixer. Add palm oil and boiling water. Mix on high for about 2 minutes, scrape the bowl and mix again until frosting is well blended. Using a spatula, scrape the frosting out of the bowl and place in a microwave safe dish. Microwave in short 15-20 second intervals, stirring in between intervals, until the frosting has darkened and softened enough for spreading. Spoon large dollups of frosting on the baked and cooled cupcakes, swirling it toward the center. Let the frosting cool 15 minutes before serving for best results. This recipe can be made in advance and frozen.
Please note Cherrybrook Kitchens offers the following allergy statement on their website:
Gluten-free Dreams Chocolate Cake Mix
ALL BAKING & FROSTING MIXES
All mixes are prepared in a peanut-free and tree-nut free facility. The mixes are produced on dedicated equipment that does not produce dairy or egg products. We have strict manufacturing protocols, and we test for the presence of peanuts, dairy, and eggs. The GLUTEN FREE DREAMS mixes are also tested for the presence of gluten, in addition to all the other tests noted above.
These look delicious! I have not tried Cherrybrook Kitchen’s mix yet, but when a craving for chocolate cupcakes hit, I will definitely check this brand out! Thanks for sharing
We are allergic to gluten, corn and casein. Some of the Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams mixes that we have from before the corn diagnosis have baking powder and natural vanilla flavoring. Has your son had problems with these ingredients in their mixes?
The web site suggests that the only corn or corn derivatives in their products is the corn starch in their frosting mixes, but I am suspicious of both the ingredients I mentioned. The company has not responded to my inquiry, and I am not confident that they would know as much about corn sources as we would, having family members with the sensitivities.
Thanks,
Bethany Myers
Bethany,
We only use Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Chocolate Cake Mix. The ingredients are: Potato Starch, evaporated cane juice, natural cocoa powder, white rice flour, tapioca starch, granulated brown sugar, baking soda, xanthan gum, sea salt.
Some folks with corn sensitivities have issues with xanthan gum because it is *often* grown on corn (not always). My son can tolerate it no problem. I’m with you on the baking powder and natural vanilla flavoring. I wouldn’t trust it. I inquired so many times on vanilla flavoring from so many companies and even through a flavor chemical company. Any artificial or natural extract is going to be made with a corn byproduct, especially alcohol based ones. There may be one brand out there but I have yet to find it. And glycerin is also corn derived, so non-alcohol vanilla is also bad. I just buy vanilla in bulk (found some in Costco) and use the beans when I bake. You can make your own extract too. (I have never done it, but there is a potato vodka that many with corn allergies use to make vanilla and they ‘brew’ it for about 6 weeks. So my hunch is that Cherrybrook Kitchen is using a vanilla flavoring that has some sort of corn byproduct in its making. I also inquired and did not get a response. But we personally have had the chocolate cake mix w/o a reaction on a handful of occasions. It makes a bitter chocolate cake and the kids do love it. It is quite rich, so a little bit goes a long way. My favorite recipe involves mixing it with Namaste’s brownie recipe and doing a ‘swirl’ cake. Although it is technically a plop cake. I just mixed them separately and then plopped spoons of each batter into two round cake pans. Turned out really good.
I do not have palm oil. I have palm shortening or coconut oil. Which do you think would work best in your frosting recipe??
Thanks!
Kelly,
Try the palm shortening. I’ve never used coconut oil. I know that when it gets warm coconut oil can get liquid at room temperature. You want the frosting to hold it’s shape. If it isn’t firm enough tapioca flour can help that, just only add a tiny, tiny smidgen at a time. Hope it turns out!