A quick summary of the pizza: surprisingly good.
Brand: Udi’s Non-cured Pepperoni Pizza.
I prefer a thin, crispy crust loaded with toppings. Give me a supreme and I’ll happily remove anything I don’t like so I can enjoy the rest. With a gluten-free frozen pizza, I expected less and hoped only for something edible I could improve with extra toppings. This one fit that goal.
I may have left it in the oven a bit too long—after the first slice the remaining crusts became quite hard. The flavor of the crust itself was pleasant. It wasn’t as crisp as a Totino’s, but it held up to additional toppings, and next time I’ll reduce the recommended bake time by a minute or two and add more vegetables. The toppings tasted excellent: well seasoned without an overpowering oregano note, which I appreciate.
Now, about the cake.
I really wanted to like this one, but I may have set my hopes too high.
I love spice cake. I’ve made my mother’s long-used recipe—featured in the Mississippi Bell Cookbooks—for years. It’s the cake my family requests for reunions and church potlucks. In the fall, the first spice cake prompts long sleeves and a front-porch cup of coffee. It feels especially right in October.
My family recipe uses regular flour, so it’s not suitable for me now. Discovering a gluten-free spice cake mix at the local health store felt bittersweet: promising, but not my mother’s cake. I admit I put unrealistic expectations on a boxed mix, so take this as an enthusiastic but somewhat biased review.
Brand: Namaste
The mix was as simple to prepare as my homemade version: mix in a bowl, add eggs and oil, blend, and pour into a greased pan. I did add a little extra spice because we like a bold hit of flavor.
The baked cake looked similar to my family cake at first glance, but the similarities stopped there. I encountered three main issues.
- The cake lacked the characteristic outer crust my recipe produces. My version includes additional ingredients such as baby food and a blend of spices, whereas the boxed mix uses only eggs and oil.
- The spice level was too mild. This is easily fixed by increasing ground cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. I might also reduce the oil and substitute applesauce for a slightly different texture.
- There was an unpleasant initial note of raw flour on the first bite. Although this mix uses gluten-free flour, each bite began with that raw-flour taste before the spices arrived, and I didn’t enjoy that sensation.
I’m not giving up on recreating my fall spice cake. My next attempt will be to follow the original recipe but substitute Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour or a similar GF baking mix. Adjusting the formula should help reduce the raw-flour note and bring the cake closer to the texture and flavor I remember.
I’m learning to temper expectations for some gluten-free products, especially when it comes to baking. Holiday baking season is approaching, and I refuse to be left out. Lola is going to get a big workout this fall as I experiment and refine recipes to make a spice cake that feels like home.
