Boxed Cake Mix: Do You Know What You're Feeding Your Kids?
By Cristin Dillon, SELF magazine
Last week I made cakes for my son's birthday party. I tried making them from scratch but ran into some problems so I eventually resorted to boxed cake mix. It took some searching to find a dietitian acceptable option, but I did, and I was happy to serve up a trans free cake to the birthday boy and his party guests!
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Making cake from scratch involves just a few simple ingredients, yet when you read the label on a boxed mix it's gets awfully complicated. I saw partially hydrogenated oils in all of the major name brands sold at my store so I started looking around for a healthier option. I found two choices: Dr. Oetker Organics and Cherrybrook Kitchen.
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I went with Dr. O since the Cherrybrook was also gluten-free, egg-free and dairy-free which was more restrictions than I needed. My Dr. O cake came out of the oven looking great and it tasted good too. Once you put frosting on it any small difference there might have been was unnoticeable. Speaking of frosting, in the past I have made mine with a combo of Criso and butter but to eliminate trans fat from that too I have transitioned over to just using butter with the confectioners sugar (plus vanilla & milk) and it tastes fine. It is a little less white (a hint more yellow) but again, nobody notices that when they are enjoying the good taste!
Next time you need to bake a cake and can't do it from scratch, try out one of these two brands and serve up something that tastes great but is trans fat free for your guests!
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