We celebrated yet ANOTHER birthday last week....Mamacado's 1st Birthday!
Yes, it's been one year since my first blog post. It's been a busy year filled with a new little love coming into our lives, bedtime battles (which are still ongoing in some respect), and also lots of FOOD, FAMILY and FUN!
There is still so much more I want to do with this blog, but I'm only able to work on it a little each week. So I'm going to continue posting every Monday for now. Slow and steady, ya know?
Now, let's focus on MORE birthday cake :)
I didn't make a cake for Mamacado's birthday, but I do want to post a little more about the allergy-friendly cake and cupcakes from Little Guy's 3rd birthday party at the firehousesince afew people have asked for more details.
Even though the cakes and cupcakes were very simple in the decoration department, I was so relieved they tasted great. Yes, gluten free, egg free and dairy free cakes and cupcakes CAN taste just like or even better than traditional cakes!
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| Gluten free, dairy free and egg free cake and cupcakes |
The CAKE:I wanted to make a red velvet cake from Cybele Pascal's cookbook, The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook
. But since I was making so much other food for the party I decided to take a cake shortcut.
I used Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix. I wanted to make a double-layered sheet cake, but I realized that one box of the cake mix only makes one 9 x 9 round cake. So, I used two boxes of cake mix to make two round cakes.
I followed the directions exactly, except I substituted 1/4 cup of applesauce for the eggs (1/4 cup applesauce = 1 egg). Applesauce is a great egg substitute for baking, although there are also many other options like bananas, flax eggs, etc. I also substituted Earth Balance (casein and dairy free) butter for the butter in the recipe.
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| Made with applesauce instead of eggs |
The CUPCAKES: Since the cake was smaller than planned, I also made cupcakes. It was actually nice to have a variety of flavors so everyone could taste the vanilla cake and chocolate cupcakes.
I used Betty Crocker's gluten free devil's food cake mix. I really like this mix because it doesn't taste as sweet as the yellow cake. Again I substituted 1/4 cup applesauce for the eggs and followed all the directions on the box.
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| Gluten free, dairy free and egg free chocolate cupcakes |
Now, onto the ICING: I used Cybele Pascal's icing recipe from her cookbook, The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook. It's a simple recipe, and it's important to follow directions as I found out the hard way.
This was my first try at the icing. I've used Earth Balance butter for icing in the past, and sometimes it comes out well, but sometimes it doesn't as you see here. Earth Balance butter is a staple in our house and is great for everything else, but is not the best option for icing!
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| Yucky, grainy icing - first try. |
Then I went to the store to buy shortening as the recipe suggested.The icing was close to becoming a disaster, but a little helpfrom a fellow bloggerwho I randomly saw at the store was my saving grace!She helped me find Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening, and it worked like a charm.
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| Fluffy, creamy icing: Dairy free. |
See the difference between the two? The "before" icing is on the right, and the "after" icing is on the left.
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| "Before" icingis on the right and "after"is on the left. |
The icing tasted great on both the cupcakes and cake, and I was happy it didn't have all the crazy ingredients in the regular containers of icing you find on store shelves.
I'm still new at allergy-friendly baking, but here are my tips for other newbies out there!
- Use shortening, not Earth Balance butter or any other substitution for icing.
- Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix only makes one 9 x 9 cake. Plan accordingly!
- The gluten free cake and cupcakes stayed fresh for about one day, and then started to get a little dry two days after. Plan to make the cake the day before the party.
- Use Kids with Food Allergies baking and cake tips to help you through it all. I've even heard suggestions to Google cake decorating on YouTube - something I plan to do in the future!
I'm actually excited to make a more creative cake soon...maybe raspberry or strawberry filling with some pretty decorations on top.
I need inspiration!What's your favorite cake flavor?
Here are the allergy-friendly products that were SO helpful in making these birthday treats!
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