Food Allergy Friendly Cake Recipes

[Newmarella]

Hello Friends,
My daughter has some friends that have various food allergies. We are trying to put together a party and I am on the search for some delicious all natural cake/icing recipes that are:
-wheat/gluten free cake
-egg free cake
-dairy free cake
-dairy free icings that can have great consistency (so we can decorate)
I am sticking to an all natrual, organic theme. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[rumgum]

My daughter has a several food allergies as well. I actually have a local vegan bakery that makes a coconut cake using garbanzo bean flour. I agree with the pp who mention that it can be offensive as it is quite grainy and dry. My daughter loved it on her 1st birthday. Had I not found the bakery, I was ready to opt for finding something online. I'm not much a baker. There are tons of vegan cake and dessert recipes online for a great start, since they already limit the dairy and egg. Substitute rice, potato or the bean flour for the wheat. Rice milk is on the sweet side. Reduce any sweetner when using it. If your daughter's friends can tolerate soy milk, that will provide a subtle nutty flavor. There are many organic cake and dessert mixes in the grocery store nowadays. One of the more popular brands is "Cherrybrook Kitchen", www.cherrybrookkitchen.com . I baked the chocolate cake and it was good. They make frostings too. Icings from scratch will typically be a vegetable shortening based. You could always make a chocolate glaze, but you won't be able to decorate. I bet the parents of your daughters friends have great tips too. I commend you for your compassion. It was a friend who found the vegan bakery for me and my daughter. Good luck.

[chocolatstiletto]

Just had a thought- it's not exactly traditional, but could you just use creamy peanut butter or nutella as a frosting base? You might have to search to find a natural one with the same stiff consistency, but it would be quite fun to decorate!

[libbee]

I went through my recipes, and these cupcakes seem to match all the criteria except gluten-free:
http://allergickid.blogspot.com/2008/02/pia-colada-cupcakes.html

These cupcakes have food coloring as well as gum paste for the "ears", so may not meet the criteria for natural and organic, but the chocolate frosting is delicious and pipes well:
http://allergickid.blogspot.com/2008/...

In general, the only substitutions I would add to the other posters would be to strongly recommend both Ener-G Egg Replacer and Earth Balance margarine. They are staples in baking for my egg/dairy/nut/etc allergic son. The Ener-G is terrific, but not always up to the task of raising and supporting a large cake, depending on the recipe. Making cupcakes instead of a full size cake requires less "structural integrity" from the batter, and will also improve your chances for success.

[Newmarella]

these recipes looks fantastic. :)

[marie79]

I have a child who has milk allergies and his best friend belongs to a vegan family, so for his birthday party this month I was really intimidated! I ended up making this devil's food cake recipe, and it was a huge hit. http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/... There are several other cake recipes (even a vegan cheesecake!) and cookie recipes on the site that I really want to try, and several frosting recipes as well. Have fun and good luck!!!

[Rasam]

Hello Newmarella:
It's so good of you to make treats for your daughter's friends-with-allergies. I had to make an egg and nut free cake this year for my son to take to school because one of the kids in his class has these allergies. It's great when all the kids can enjoy something.

I can't help you with gluten free, but if you are seeking a natural, organic, substitute for eggs, use: 1 medium (ripe) banana+1 tbsp veg oil+1 pinch baking soda, per egg. Mash these together. It worked very well for the cake we made (I just got a cake recipe off the internet, it was nothing fancy).

I disagree with the poster who said that you simply cannot have cake without eggs. This substitution worked very well.

If you try it, do let me know how it worked.

- Rasam

[Newmarella]

Hmmm, a banana? I have never heard of that before. It sounds fabulous! We'll try that.

[lgss]

It's easy to replace milk with non-dairy mylk like almond mylk, soy mylk, or rice mylk. If a recipe calls for buttermilk just add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the milk substitute. To replace eggs, EnerG egg replacer or flaxseed meal with water. Replace butter with Earth Balance. I'm gluten-free and vegan. We're in the midst of kitchen renovation but if I have some time later, I'll give you the names of some of the cookbooks we have which include gf, vegan cake recipes.

[lgss]

The cookbooks we use for GF, vegan cakes include: "The All Natural Allergy Cookbook: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free" by Jeanne Marie Martin and "The Gluten-Free Vegan" by Susan O'Brien. We adapt various other recipes substituting gf flour (rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, etc) and xanthan gum for the "all-purpose" or wheat flour and/or making the egg and dairy substitutions mentioned earlier.

[Newmarella]

thank you. the books will be a great resource.

[jerry i h]

Ouch, what a task. I have been asked for similar things over time; to be perfectly honest, I have never really been successful. But, here are my thoughts FWIW:
1) there are a couple of famous baking books that are gluten free, that have cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. I am also assuming that there are related websites. If you go to Amazon and search for them, there are a few; I am reluctant to mention, since I have never seen any of them, although I have friends who speak highly of some of them. I once made an Italian a polenta 'cake', but this was really closer to a sweet cornbread or spoonbread than a real cake.
2) without egg, you simply will not have a cake. My thought here is shortbread cookies, and use a confectioner-sugar+water frosting.
3) I have found that any cake recipe that request milk can be made with water in the same volume. Be warned, that the 'cake' will be heavier and denser, not to mention lacking in flavor. I should also mention that Toll House cookies do not have dairy (but do have butter), and you could make a bar cookie from that, and frost it.
4) Icing? Sigh...when I went to cooking school there was a recipe for a frosting that was totally dairy free: crisco+confectioner's sugar in a mixer till smooth. This was our training material to teach us how frost cakes, as the texture was similar to classic buttercream. Course, this was for training only and not really suitable for eating. Well, some of us actually ate it, and it was truly disgusting. It formed a greasy film in your mouth that would not melt or dissolve. Maybe kids, if you added enough weird colors and fake flavors, might not notice...

[Emme]

if you'd be willing to make from a mix, Dixie Diner has some really great cake, cookie, and other baked product mixes. http://www.dixiediner.com

[Emme]

martha stewart had erin of babycakes bakery making brownies
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=3440e4f0855e0110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=also_try

as well as cinnamon toasties
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=5b3f629fcc6e0110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=also_try_p1

the kids on this page seem to like the recipe given
http://mudspice.wordpress.com/2007/08/11/cupcake-recipe-gluten-free-egg-free-dairy-free-sugar-free/

if raspberry flavor is a hit
http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/dessertsbeverages/r/raspmoussecake.htm

hot cross buns
http://www.recipezaar.com/122238

cake
http://masteryinliving.typepad.com/mastery_in_the_art_of_liv/2007/04/glutenfree_dair.html

banana cupcakes (not sure about the frosting, perhaps the chocolate recipe here... http://allergycookbook.blogspot.com/2...
)3/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbs. molasses
2/3 c. coconut oil
3 bananas
1/2 c. rice milk
1 tsp. corn-free vanilla
1 Tbs. milled flax + 3 Tbs. water microwaved on high 1 minute

1 1/2 c. quinoa flour
1/2 c. tapioca flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. corn-free baking powder
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. gelatin

Beat wet ingredients together. Then add dry ingredients. Pour into cupcake liners. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes.

[Miss Needle]

Yikes! That's tough. There's a bakery in NYC called Babycakes which is really popular with the gluten-free crowd. They were featured on Martha Stewart and here are a couple of links to the recipes. Hope they can help.

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=3440e4f0855e0110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=babycakes&rsc=header_3

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/s...

[jsaimd]

That is a tough one. I can do gluten free easily and even gluten-free vegan, but if you take out the shortening option (Spectrum) and marshmallows (assuming that doesn't fit the natural theme) then the frosting is tough.

Here is a recipe for a vegan, gluten free brownie cake:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/mighty...

I highly suggest going the brownie route if the kids like chocolate, because it covers up the different flavors that kids that don't usually eat gluten free can sometimes (but not always) taste in baked goods.

[Newmarella]

ah! chocolate- wonderful article. i am going to find that all purpose gluten free flour. thx!

[jsaimd]

FWIW - many people prefer Pamela's bread mix or baking mix (which is self-raising and has buttermilk so probably won't work). The Bob's red mill has garfava flour (mix of chick pea and fava bean flour) that my son finds offensive if I use it in too high quantity. I dilute it with my own flour mixes.

[WineUnleashed]

Oh, I am so sad for your friends. I have a friend who's son has the same disposition. I know that I have made poached fruit for him that met much success. I searched and searched for baked cake that would be palatable but really the best solution was to make something he could eat... fruit. I bought the best possible pears, poached in a beautiful wine and vanilla and orange peels. I then reduced the the leftover liquid for a sauce. It was divine. Good luck.. you are a good friend to go to such effort.

[Newmarella]

wow, that sounds incredible! thank you for your feedback, we'll try it out!