Favorite Cake Recipes

Last month was Owen's birthday. We celebrated with a delicious cake. I must admit, our cakes have come a LONG way from when the kids were first diagnosed with their allergies. Of course it helps that Owen can now have wheat.

I decided it appropriate to post our favorite cake recipes. One of my friends from college wrote a post about her daughter's first birthday and how they didn't have cake because they couldn't find one she could eat. I felt horrible, knowing that I have so many different recipes. Here goes!

Banana Cupcakes

3/4 cup sugar (OR 1 tsp stevia)
1/2 cup butter, margarine or oil
2 eggs (OR 3 tsp egg replacer mixed with 4 TB water OR an extra banana)
1 cup mashed bananas with 1 tsp baking soda mixed in
2 Tb milk (cow, soy, rice) or water
1 tsp baking powder (OR 1/4 tsp baking soda mixed with 1/2 tsp of lemon juice)
1 3/4 cup flour (wh. or br. wheat, spelt, or rice flour OR my favorite mix: 1 cup br. rice flour, 2/3 cup chickpea flour, 1/3 cup tapioca flour – this mix can be used in place of wheat in almost all recipes)
pinch of salt

Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

This recipe is so versatile for almost every diet. Originally this was a banana bread recipe, and can be made in loaf form, however I found if I added some vanilla frosting, it made great cupcakes.

Vanilla Cupcakes

3 eggs (or 4.5 tsp egg replacer mixed with 6 TB water)
1 1/2 cups sugar (or 1 1/2 tsp stevia)
2 sticks of butter (or the equivalent of oil or margarine)
3 cups of rice flour
2 tsp baking powder (or 1/2 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1 1/4 cups rice milk mixed with 1 1/2 TB lemon juice)

Bake at 350 degrees. 10-12 minutes for cupcakes.

This recipe comes from The Kid Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger.

Yellow Cake

1/2 cup margarine or oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)

2 eggs (or 2 bananas or 2/3 cup pumpkin puree or 1 tbsp. egg replacer with 4 tbsp. water)

2 1/2 cups wheat flour (or gluten free flour mix)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease and flour the bottoms (not the sides) of three 8-inch round, two 9-inch round, or one 10-by 15-inch oblong cake pan(s). (I have only made cupcakes with this recipe, if you have to omit the egg, I'm uncertain if the cake will turn out.)

Cream the margarine (or substitute), sugar, and vanilla and lemon extracts well together; add the eggs (or substitute) and beat and beat until very light and fluffy. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.

Add the water to the batter along with the sifted dry ingredients, and stir only until well mixed. Turn the batter into the prepared cake pans.

Bake until done; the layers take about 25 minutes, the oblong cake takes about 30 to 35 minutes. Cupcakes take 15 to 20 minutes.

This recipe is from The Milk-Free Kitchen by Beth Kidder, with substitutes added by me.

This is a delicious cake! We love to add allergy friendly chocolate chips to the batter or allergy friendly sprinkles to make it extra special.

Quick Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. almond liqueur (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch round or an 8-inch square pan. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl. Measure the brown sugar and add it. (If the brown sugar is very lumpy, you may want to break the clumps up with your fingers.) Stir the dry ingredients well. Mix the oil, water, and vanilla together, then add them to the dry ingredients and stir just until all the dry bits are wet. Turn the batter into the prepared pan or cupcake liners. Bake the cake for 30 minutes. Bake cupcakes for 15 to 20 minutes.

This recipe is from The Milk-Free Kitchen by Beth Kidder.

We also love to add chocolate chips to this recipe too!

When it comes to frosting our cakes we use a basic recipe.

Frosting

3 cups sifted confectionery sugar

1/2 cup margarine

3-4 tbsp. water

If you want to make chocolate frosting subtract 1/3 cup sugar for 1/3 cup cocoa.

If you can't use any type or margarine, subtract it from the recipe, add more water a tbsp. at a time until desired consistency and add safe vanilla for flavor.

We are unable to use dyes at our home so instead I'll add fruit juices instead of water to make desired colors.

I do have many more cake recipes but these are the ones that I have tried myself and can guarantee results.

A couple things to remember:

Cakes made without eggs usually have difficulties cooking all the way through. It's easier to make cupcakes.

Cakes made with non wheat flours cook differently. Double check to make sure cake is done before removing it from the oven.

Margarine and oil can usually be used interchangeably. When oil is called for, applesauce can be used in its place.

Milk of any kind and water can usually be used interchangeably, although cakes with water tend to be a little bit more dense and dry.

Eggs can be replaced with egg replacer (a potato powder), bananas (one for one), pumpkin (1/3 cup per egg), and sometimes other fruits.

Enjoy!

Daddy's Birthday Treats

My husband's Wii/Cars Birthday Party was a hit! For more details about the actual party go here. But I must say the allergy friendly food turned out wonderful! Adam LOVED everything and so did my husband.

Dinner: Herb & Chicken Pasta

Owen won't eat pasta, but if he did I could have easily substituted rice pasta.Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package angel hair pasta
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (optional) I omitted this
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chicken broth

Directions
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and reserve.
Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper, basil, rosemary, Cajun seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add chicken and cook until browned. Remove chicken from skillet and stir in garlic and onions; cook and stir until clear.
Return chicken to skillet over onion mixture and add broth. Simmer until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside; spread mixture over pasta and serve.

Dessert: Banana Cupcakes

One of my most favorite recipes that is served to everyone that comes to our home is Banana Cake. I've not been able to adapt this recipe, but it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that perhaps if I made the boys' allergy friendly banana bread in cupcake holders and then frosted them, they would taste similar. Well, my experiment worked extremely well. The cupcakes were a HUGE hit and the best allergy friendly ones I've tasted so far. For the banana bread recipe click here. The cupcakes ended up cooking for about 25 minutes each, but I'd suggest starting at 15 minutes depending on your oven.

Another birthday successful!

Owen's Third Birthday

Owen turned 3 on January 23rd. It's so hard planning birthday parties in the middle of the winter where the average temperature is 0 degrees F. This year happened to be the first year that one set of grandparents could even attend because there wasn't the usual Lake Effect Snow Warning. Throw in food allergies and you've got yourself quite the dilemma. But as always, I do believe we conquered this one!

Owen chose to have a Thomas the Train Birthday Party. Thankfully creating the atmosphere was easy since our train table is in the middle of our living room. During the party all of the children enjoyed playing with the trains. To entertain older children and adults, I had picked up a few Thomas the Train games: Bingo, Birthday Thomas, & Thomas the Train Uno. The board games worked well for the season and now we have them to use all of the time.

Food was the biggest dilemma as always, but honestly the dilemma was choosing from all of the great ideas I found. In the end it came down to money, as it always seems to, so we went with the most basic and inexpensive plan. I made a train out of cardboard boxes. Box cars were filled with plain potato chips, air popped popcorn, and tortilla chips. These are the safest allergy friendly snack food we have.

If the boys ask for another train birthday party in the future, I'm dying to try the Fruity Pebbles Train recipe I found along with making candy trains for everyone. I do believe I could have switched out the candy to make it work for Owen and all attending the party. Hopefully next time around we have more money.

The cake or should I say cupcakes were the big hit of the party. I had purchased the train cake pan from Williams & Sonoma awhile back with a gift card I had been given. Using Cherrybrook Kitchen Yellow Cake Mix, instead of Williams & Sonoma Cake Recipe, and substituting allergy friendly candy and frosting, the end result turned out really well. The cupcakes were made with the same mixes and left over frosting.

Each child was able to choose a box car to eat and the adults ate the regular cupcakes. I will admit, I still miss REAL cake, but the Cherrybrook Kitchen Yellow Cake Mix wasn't all that bad. Obviously the cupcakes were the most expensive part of the party.

The last challenge was the goodie bags. I looked everywhere for Thomas the Train items and besides the usual bubbles and... I forget what else. They cost a fortune. No place in town sold train items, not even at Dollar General. So, trying to avoid food because of the allergies, I searched and found an organization called Operation Lifesaver. They have a website and everything. The organization promotes train safety. They offer several promotional items for close to nothing in price and will ship them to you. You can request to have someone come to an event to talk about train safety and everything. I was excited! So here's what I ordered:Train Whistles

Zipper Pulls

Train Erasers in multiple colors

Rulers & Bookmarks

Pens & Pencils

Crayons & Colored Pencils

& Train Safety Activity Books.

The ages of the kids varied so much that I tried to find items that would work for older kids too. Lastly, for the younger kids, I was able to order engineer hats. They were adorable and MUCH cheaper than the clothe ones.

I highly recommend this site. My only advice, order as early in advance as possible to save on shipping!

So that's another allergy friendly holiday done. Next in line Valentine's Day and then Easter. My mind has already started turning with ideas. I'll post them once I complete them.

We're definitely having fun with food allergies!

Perhaps if Adam has a train birthday party (his birthday is in the summer) we can go to a real train station or museum, perhaps even ride a train. So many ideas... If only it weren't winter!

Adam's Allergy Friendly Birthday

Adam's first birthday went amazingly well. Despite his allergies we all had lots of fun! The celebration started off with an allergy friendly breakfast for both of the boys-Adam's favorite cereal: Trix! After a small immediate family morning celebration, preparations for the next day's massive birthday party commenced. Thirty-five guests were expected. Thirty showed up.

My first task-the birthday cake! The recipe for the cake is in my last post. The decorator's icing recipe is Wilton's Buttercream Icing but with rice milk and Fleishman's Unsalted Margarine in place of butter. Everything was egg free, dairy free, gluten free, nut free, and so much more!

Knowing the cake wouldn't be enough for everyone I made cupcakes too, using plastic decorations I found on the Wilton website. If I were to do everything over again I think I would have put more effort into the cupcakes and less into the cake. I'm learning that rice flour cakes are very difficult to bake evenly. Cupcakes always turn out nice though.

Snacks for this party were quite the dilemma. Did we serve all allergy friendly foods, or only some? Would the party be outside if there was good weather or would we be stuck inside? In the end, with a 70% chance of rain forcasted, we decided to go ALL allergy friendly, which turned out to be a HUGE blessing.

For snacks we served plain potato chips, plain tortilla chips, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a bowl full of Kix and Trix. We served bottled water as a drink. There were no complaints about any of it!When the party was over and our guests had left, there was SO MUCH food on the floor. We couldn't get to it fast enough. Adam was picking up leftovers and putting them in his mouth. That's when we learned the importance of serving allergy friendly food at parties! Can't wait for Owen's birthday. I already picked up the pan that I want to use to make mini train shaped cakes! It will be a Thomas the Train birthday party.

Yellow Cake Recipe

Sorry it has taken me so long to post up Adam's birthday cake recipe. Here it is!

This recipe comes from The Kid Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger.

I made a cake and cupcakes using this recipe, but the cupcakes turned out much better than the cake. Like the Banana bread recipe I ended up cooking the cupcakes twice as long. Also like the Banana Bread recipe there is the actual recipe and then alterations.

Cupcake recipe (or regular cake)

3 eggs (or 4.5 tsp egg replacer mixed with 6 TB water)
1 1/2 cups sugar (or 1 1/2 tsp stevia)
2 sticks of butter (or the equivalent of oil or margarine)
3 cups of rice flour
2 tsp baking powder (or 1/2 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1 1/4 cups rice milk mixed with 1 1/2 TB lemon juice)

Bake at 350 degrees. 10-12 minutes for cupcakes or 25 – 35 minutes for cake.

Allergy Friendly Birthday Party Preparations

Adam's birthday is in three weeks. I can't believe he's turning 1 year old. Lots of family and several cousins will be here celebrating the event with us. Plans have been underway for months now. I finally understand why Heavenly Father blessed me with the talent of planning and organizing things. In the past three months I have learned that EVERYTHING must be planned out in great detail when dealing with kids with food allergies. A simple trip to the mall can turn into a nightmare when it's time to eat if I haven't packed lunches for everyone. Food court foods are off limits. My husband and I wanted to go out to eat as a family this week. Adam is eating table food now. Running down the list of restaurants that we are familiar with in town, we realized that there is not one place that can provide Adam with an allergy safe balanced meal. Very few if any permit people to bring in their own food. Family gatherings are now very stressful with buffets of dangerous foods, plates and drinks left out everywhere... Adam is now on the move, putting everything in his mouth. Despite these challenges, we're managing quite well.

Adam's birthday party is the biggest challenge I'm facing right now. It is a soccer ball birthday party. We are expecting a crowd of at least 30 people ranging in age from newborn to 83 years old. There will be food, drinks, etc... everywhere. I've decided to make sure all of the food is allergy friendly for both Adam and Owen. Luckily they can both eat plain potato chips and tortilla chips (without soy bean oil). Plain popcorn and an allergy friendly caramel corn are safe too (not necessarily for a 1 year old, but if he accidentally eats a piece left on the floor, it won't cause an allergic reaction). For drinks I was able to find bottled water decorated with sports balls. The bottles are even shaped like balls.

Last week Adam successfully ate Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate Cake without any allergic reaction. Besides being gluten free it is peanut free, dairy free, egg free, nut free, and soy free. He LOVED it! We have a cake AND a boy who's not allergic to cocoa!

Unfortunately this week Adam had an unsuccessful trial with soy. Unless anyone has information as to where I can find a soy free, dairy free margarine, the poor boy will not be able to have decorative frosting on his cake. Although I do have a glaze recipe that I may use on his cupcake.

My biggest success lies in the goodie bags. Eleven goodie bags needed filling. There will be six girls, four boys, and a baby. All of the bags are allergy friendly! Just look at the contents:

For the Baby: For all of the kids:

For the boys:For the girls:
It may seem a bit overboard to make sure the goodie bags are allergy proof too, but chances are the children will open them before they leave the house. If there is food in them that Owen and/or Adam can't have and they see it, they'll wonder where theirs is. I'd like to avoid this. The second threat is that if the goodie bag were to have treats that my boys can't have, and one were left lying around somewhere, leave it to one of them to find the bag, empty the contents, and start chowing down. This way all is safe for everyone. I'd be surprised if the kids don't like the contents of their bag.

When I went to one of my friend's children's parties my friend handed out goodie bags to adults and/or families too. I LOVED this idea. Obviously parents go to a lot of trouble finding a gift for your child, bringing them to the party, etc... It will be so nice to have a way to say thank you right at the party. My friend's goodie bags were filled with cookies. Obviously we won't be doing that, but I did come up with another idea. Instead of cookies, everyone will be receiving a 1 year portrait of Adam. Over 75% of the people coming to this party are family, so they'll love an updated photo (especially since the last one they received was when he was 6 weeks old). Those who don't make it to the party will receive the portrait in the mail with a "We missed you!" card.

Here's a sneak peak at the unedited photo taken by photographer Bill Lockhart:

It should be a fun birthday party don't you think? At least in the way of goodie bags and thank yous. More details about the party will be posted after the big event! I can't wait! It truly is amazing that we've all made it through this first year. There are definitely reasons to celebrate!!!

Bradley's Birthday Party

My best friend's son is turning 1 year old next month. Our entire family is invited to the big birthday bash. This will be the first real party that we've been invited to since both boys have been diagnosed with food allergies and are eating solid foods. I am determined to make this a good experience for all of us. A birthday party that's not fun is no birthday party at all!

Knowing that both boys are so young and have such limited understanding of their allergies I have been working hard to avoid as many problems as possible. Luckily, it's my best friend who's throwing the party. She's super supportive and cheering me on the whole way. I don't know what I'd do without her!

The birthday party theme is Sesame Street. There will be hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, a few other sides, and cake and ice cream. Still VERY new at all of this stuff I have been working hard to find alternative food for the boys that they will eat. It's one thing to find an alternative, but another to have them actually like it. Luckily, I've been successful at both!

First the main meal. Applegate Farms makes wonderful turkey hot dogs! Other substitutes we have tried tasted awful, but all of us like these! They are gluten free, dairy free, beef free, pork free, and well free of a lot of stuff! Child II LOVES them. Child I is leary but will deal with it. As for chips-Lays Plain Potato Chips are doing the job! The oil is safe for both kids and the only other ingredients are potatoes and salt. Most importantly the both boys love them.

Dessert was a little bit trickier but I've found a solution. Bradley is having a Sesame Street Birthday Cake. Child I will DEFINITELY want some, especially if it has Elmo on it. So after asking my best friend if it's okay, I went to the Wilton website and found an Elmo cupcake design and decorations. Having some cake decorating experience, I can definitely pull this off! Last night I was able to find the decorations, frosting colors, and Elmo cupcake holders at A.C. Moore Crafts. Child I LOVES cupcakes. If he sees me making them and decorating them, he'll be sure to want one at the party, instead of the cake.

The last challenge was finding a cake mix and frosting that both boys can eat. I'm still working on the frosting, but do have one to two options if I HAVE to use them. Believe me when I come up with my final choice, I'll be sure to post it.

After attempting to make my own gluten free, peanut free, dairy free, egg free, soy free cake and not succeeding I've decided to use Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate Cake Mix. Child I loves it and I honestly think it tastes quite good myself. The best part about this mix is that the result actually looks like a cake!

As for ice cream-there is a brand, All Natural So Delicious that makes coconut milk icecream and yogurt that is dairy free, gluten free, and soy free. Both boys LOVE the yogurt. I have no doubt that they'll enjoy the ice cream too. And for the record, I've tasted the yogurt myself and absolutely LOVE it! It's too bad it's so expensive or else we'd buy more.

I'm getting really excited about Bradley's birthday party. The boys will have a fun time despite their food allergies. Best of all they'll be eating what everyone else is eating, just a safer version of it! I'm noticing that birthday parties or parties in general that the boys are invited to will be a lot of work for me, but I know in the long run it will be worth it. Hopefully every parent will be as supportive as my best friend is! (Chances are slim I know, but I can dream right?)

The week after Bradley's birthday is Child II's birthday! Stay tuned for all of the wonderful plans for that party! We're going to have LOTS of fun!