Review: Gluten-free Mini Pound Cakes

When Catherine, aka A Gluten Free Guide, turned me onto gluten-free croissants in 2007, I also discovered another item made by the French company Valpi-Form. The Madeleine’s from the company are out of this world delicious, but these days are pretty impossible to buy. Amazon.com sold them from a third party seller for about a while, but I’ve not been able to find them in stock for over a year on the site. The tiny cakes are extremely moist right out of the package and have a six month shelf life.

Recently, a product almost as good as the Madeleine’s was introduced by New Harvest Naturals. The Pound Cake Mini’s, as they’re called, are free of gluten, dairy and casein. The Mini’s are Kosher Pareve as well.  The ingredients list only eggs as an allergen so they seem to be soy free. At least, soy is not listed anywhere in the ingredients. The tiny cakes are pretty much the same size as the Valpi-Form cakes, but there are only five cakes in the New Harvest Naturals box instead of six.

The two products are definitely different in terms of taste and texture. Madeleine’s are sponge cakes and the Pound Cake Mini’s are just that – pound cakes. Though the New Harvest Naturals product is perfectly edible without heating, both the taste and texture are improved when slightly heated in the microwave. These little cakes make a great base for strawberry shortcake but due to the size, you might need two cakes for the dessert.

Like the Valpi-Form cakes, the Pound Cake Mini’s are individually wrapped. This makes them perfect for travel. We have only tried the Classic flavor but there are two others available – Raisin and Marble. The closest thing I can relate to the cakes in terms of actual taste are the little shelf stable cakes from Sainsbury in the UK. That company makes a fairly nice sized line of shelf stable baked goods items. Think of them as Hostess products, only gluten-free.

Return to Eden sells all three Pound Cake Mini’s in Atlanta. You can contact New Harvest Naturals to order direct or ask if they are sold at a store near you. If they are not available in your area, consider asking your local store to bring them in. The 7 oz. box of five cakes retails for about $6.50 here. Including local tax the cakes run $1.39 ea. which is pretty steep. Even so, there is nothing else readily available like these cakes so it will likely be hard for stores to keep them in stock.

These cakes are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility in the good old USA. This is excellent news because most of the similar items I’ve read about or tried have been made outside this country. Maybe this means that other products like these cakes are coming down the line soon. New Harvest Naturals also has Challah Muffins and Chicken Meatballs in their gluten-free line up.