Lupin & Cacao Cake?

Núcallacta Lupin & Cacao Powder

Usually, when I'm sent a "mix" of some type, it will include a few recipes on the package. Not in this case. I went through the Amazon website for this brand; nothing usual in terms of recipes. I got out my magnifying sheet and looked for the website on the package and went to that page; I didn't find recipes for this product which is now called a "Breakfast Mix" and not just "Powder Mix" as you see on the bag that I sas sent. I was sent a free bag of Núcallacta Lupin and Cacao Powder Mix via the Amazon Vine program in exchange for posting a review of it on that website; this article today is an unexpected bonus for that brand. No other form of compensation was received for sharing my honest experiences with you all. Let's see if I liked it.

I didn't the fact that I didn't have a recipe other than for smoothies. Do people really consume so many smoothies? I don't. My family doesn't. Smoothies are for when we can't eat other foods. Without other choices, I did research on what Lupin is exactly before even opening the bag. Mostly commonly it is a substitute for flour and often used for gluten free products. I went looking for a cake or cupcake recipe that used cocoa powder where I could sub out the flour for this product. I found one in an old Nestle cookbook that required the exact amount of combined cocoa powder and flour that equaled the amount of powder mix in this bag. I gave it a try.

Before using all of the powder mix, I tried a single fingertip amount by itself. It had the flavor and texture quite similar to flour and cocoa powder but the cocoa wasn't very strong tasting. That was disappointing.

Núcallacta Lupin & Cacao Powder Solo

The mix worked much like flour and cocoa powder would as I made the cake. I kept the two 8-inch round layers separate because I didn't want to use a glaze or frosting on them unless the cake was edible. I'm not being paid for these articles, folks, I have to be aware of costs.

Looks are of value to enjoying food, but flavor and texture are the most important factors, right? It had a strong and slightly bitter chocolate flavor, but also a slightly unusual flavor (likely from the lupin) that wasn't horrible but also noticeable. Given that this is a 50/50 split of lupin and cacao powder, it turned out drier that I think the cake would have using regular flour or even whole wheat flour along with cocoa powder. Oddly, as you can seek, the cake had a more fudgelike look to it and it didn't rise at all. Even though cane sugar is part of the recipe, the cake wasn't sweet. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. 

The bag this product came in has changed based on what I now see on Amazon and on the brand website. The bag I was sent, didn't have a lot of information I want from a "mix" -- one tiny recipe in small print, no nutritional values or chart, but I did like that the back had a clear section so you could see the powder mix. After a lot of hunting around, I think I discovered that lupin flour is very low in calories so it made for a fairly lower than expected cake in terms of calories. Since I had to go hunting for all the information I wanted and it took the entire bag to make one recipe, I don't think this is a good buy.