Wednesday, May 6, 2009

sun-filled gluten-free treat

I was first in line at my local Starbucks on a chilly, grey and rainy May morning to snag one of Starbucks new gluten-free Valencia Orange cakes on the day of their official launch in my area. I searched out the spotless pastry case to spy a wicker basket on the top shelf loaded with golden cakes safely wrapped from gluten contaminants.
I bought two cakes…

As the rain became heavier, my companion and I decided to grab some lattes and split one of the cakes I bought to taste test…the other I was saving to photograph in my studio.
The cake looked a bit as if it was out of my office vending machine, but became much more enticing when I unwrapped and plated the delicate looking round.

At first taste, I was impressed.
The cake was light and spongy with orange zest in every bite. Each cake was glazed with what I assumed to be a zingy, but sweet thick orange marmalade and topped with slivered almonds. The combination of the light spongy cake, the sunny sweetness of the glaze and that lovely toothsome CA-RUNCH of the almond slivers made for a great mouth-feel and a true tasting pleasure. This certainly was not like other gluten-free sweets that I have tasted.

This tasty gluten-free cake that will definitely be just an occasional treat for me rather than a regular bite. The delicious but tiny cake weighs in at 290 calories, with16 Grams of fat, quite a bit of Cholesterol at 125 mgs and 32 grams of carbs.

In spite of these negative numbers, it is nice to see that such a large chain offering a choice of a sweet for those of us that cannot ingest gluten. I t is comforting to know that if I want to meet up with my friends or work associates for coffee, a sweet snack and a gab session, I have a choice of something that is safe for me to munch.

8 comments:

MaddyLane Designs said...

Hi Marie, WOW great blog very impressive high quality work, bravo!
All looks so delicious!!!!!
Hugs
Maddy

Culinary Cory said...

Holy Cow! It sounds tasty and clearly Starbucks is trying to make the cakes appeal to everyone. But at such high calorie counts, they are certianly going to be a "once in a great while" treat.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad that you are able to find some delicious sweets like this cake for your diet!

Anonymous said...

Now that's a temptation I don't need to have. Hope you can resist from making that a daily indulgence.
You said it must be made with almond powder? Hmmm? Maybe I need to try experiementing a bit.
Can't you talk them out of the recipe?

H.Peter said...

NOT available in Canada! Can't believe it. What happened to NAFTA?

Anyway. I asked Victoria to make one, and she did. Excellent flavor, great texture.

jeanette, mistress of longears said...

The cakes appeared for the first time last week at my Starbucks....they look gorgeous and it really is nice that they try to serve eveyrone.

~I AM Love~* said...

hi Terrie, glad to see that the Starbucks treat at least passed muster in the taste department!

I came across an article in the free pub. TASTE FOR LIFE at the health food market and they have a recipe for a flaxseed and chickpea baguette from the book THE WHEAT-FREE COOK by J. Mallorca. It looks pretty darn good!

They list a website: tasteforlife/gluten-free.com

If you'd like the recipe and can't find it, email me & I'll send it to you.

Bisous mon amie :)
Barbara

christine said...

I see that you’re interested and fascinated in food

stuffs. You see, we have this food site Foodista.com

(http://www.foodista.com) that is a food and cooking

encyclopaedia that everyone and anyone can edit. Maybe

you are interested in sharing some of recipes to us or

share your knowledge about food stuffs and techniques,

Or maybe you just like to write reviews about food,

restuarant and recipes...why don't you visit us

sometimes, if it's food related you're interested in,

then we are interested in you. Don't hesitate to check

us out. I hope to see you there.

Cheers!