Hi I have a gluten free cupcake order and am thinking to use a mix vs. scratch. I was wondering if anyone has tried the "#1 Gluten Free" brand?

Any other recommendations?

I hate to be a buzzkill, but I'd check to see if this customer is super-sensitive, or just being trendy. If she's super-sensitive and you don't have a gluten-free kitchen I wouldn't do the order. Trace amounts of wheat that are on your mixer and even in the air of a "normal" kitchen can really throw someone with severe celiac disease for a loop. I know one woman who opened her own dedicated gluten-free bakery becasue she's so sensitive she couldn't even eat other people's gluten-free products and she was always getting sick.

If this customer is just being trendy and not eating gluten for no good reason that's one thing, but if it's a real health issue and you don't have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen I wouldn't touch that order with a ten-foot pole.

I totally agree with costumeczar. I have Celiac Disease and it wouldn't be safe for me to have a cake made by someone who also makes regular cake in the same kitchen. I strictly bake and decorate Gluten-Free and would never make a regular cake in my kitchen. Please ask a lot questions before accepting the order. You could be putting someones health at stake.

Have a great day and happy baking.

I completely agree with the others. If she doesn't have any gluten allergies, and still wants a gluten free cake I would make her sign something. It needs to state that it was not baked in a gluten free environment. She might not be allergic to it, but maybe someone else is.

Your baking powder cannot be gluten free unless you buy pure baking soda and pure cream of tartar in sealed containers and blend them yourself. That's just one hidden source of gluten hell for celiacs.

Also, if you don't have a GF recipe, they take time to develop, and I mean five to seven tries to excellent. Even 5 star recipes are nasty on the web. I don't see the mixes flying off the shelf at my health food store. I asked about it and the owner had no comment. I think that said it all, since we discuss ingredients all the time.

If you are going to do GF, do as those above have stated. I take about 1 in 10 requests because it doesn't seem safe. But if you do take an order, you owe it to the customer to develop a great recipe, not use that box.

The box and bad recipes are plentiful. If we take payment, we are supposed to be the professionals.

Jason, thanks for the Clabber Girl info. I just happen to use that one, but I did not know. Since I only do them for the slightly intolerant, it wouldn't matter, but still, I am glad to know.

By the way, I think every time I make a GF cake, I cover at least one pan with homemade cake release before I remember the flour in it and have to get a new pan and start over. Just reminding....

YesToCupcakes, the GF, vegan, etc recipes are tough on even experienced scratch bakers if you want them as good as mainstream ingredients. When I make them, they are still a reflection on my company so they must be good. That takes time and lots of money on ingredients that end up not working. When I developed my GF German Chocolate cake, the bill for the cake experiment ingredients alone were $57.00, only to find what worked was a small amount of that.

So if you don't have a commitment to add GF to your menu, it will be a very expensive venture.