In Search of...Allergy Friendly First Birthday Cake

Due to allergies in my family, we established the tradition of birthday pie instead of birthday cake. The children were allowed to choose what kind of pie they wanted. It is easy to make apple pie or berry pies without dairy products. AF

Just a side note for you-

banana can be substituted for egg in many different things...

apple sauce can be used in place of butter or oils...

I have never used both tecniques at once, but it works if you can find a recipe that has a simpler ingredient base.

I have a whole list of things that can be substituted like this. If you want it, email me and I will get it to you.

____@____.com

There is a yellow cake mix by either Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker that actually has no milk or eggs in it and one of those 2 vanilla frostings also has no dairy. My son's best friend is allergic to dairy so I make that brand cake for his birthday so she can eat it too. If you prefer, you can also make a cake from scratch. This link takes you to a very good cake recipe. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Simple-White-Cake/Detail.aspx . It is a little heavier than regular cake because there is no eggs but even my non-vegan friends loved it. To replace the eggs I used 2 tsp water and 1/2 tsp of baking powder, soy milk in place of real milk, and a vegan butter made out of soy that David's natural market has but I believe Trader Joes carries it as well as any organic market. This would probably be the safest route to go since you are sure it definitely is totally egg free. Good luck.

Hi N.,

I have a fabulous cake lady. All her cakes are custom and I know she would be able to accommodate your needs. She's also super affordable!!!!

Here's her info:
Cake!
Melissa Kistler
###-###-####
____@____.com
melcakes.blogspot.com

N. I don't know where you live,but I live in Washington D.C.,and there's a Vegan bakery on or off of "U" Street N.W.
Sorry I don't know the name of it ,but depending on where you live maybe you could find one in you area.I hear that this place has reallly tasty bake goods. Good Luck

Namaste Foods has a Spice Cake mix that is really good. It's gluten and milk free. I think the directions say to use eggs, but I've made it using an egg replacer. I think I used gelitan in that recipe...but milled flax seed would probably work too--and it's healthier! I think I used rice milk and powdered sugar to make a glaze for the cake. I also added carrots!

You can also probably use a regular cake mix and substitute the eggs. I've heard that a can of sprite works well in yellow cakes and coke or diet coke in chocolate cakes. Though, I've never tried it (my son is allergic to wheat. milk, eggs, peanuts, and bananas).

Good luck!

We did an applesauce cake and used a dusting of powdered sugar for icing. I thought it tasted pretty decent. I think I got the recipe from a What to Expect the First Year book. Since a first birthday party is more for adults than the child anyway, you can also do an allergy free child cake or cupcake and a yummy allergen-filled cake for yourself and your guests.

Try powdered sugar and a little water and drizzle over cake! If you can, add a drop of food coloring for color.

There is a boxed mix sold in stores called Cherrybrook Kitchen. They have cake and frosting mixes. I've seen them at Whole Foods, Wegmans and Giant. They work for my son's highly allergic preschool class. There are no eggs, dairy, or nuts in the mixes. So far, preschoolers, 1st graders and teachers have all liked the cupcakes made from these mixes.

Cherrybrook Kitchen makes dairy, egg & nut free cake mixes. You can order them on line at www.cherrybrookkitchen.com . Some stores also carry them in their healthfood section. They are delicious! You can make cupcakes and freeze them too. I would do this for my little one and whenever we went to someone else's bday party I would take one out of the freezer. It would thaw on the way to the party and my son could have cake with everyone else. Check out their website. Also if you are new to the food allergy thing check out www.foodallergy.org they have tons of info. Good luck!

Search online for "Vegan" cakes. I made one from scratch for a friend's child who is allergic to milk products, soy and a number of other things. It turned out pretty good. I would always test the recipe first though. The cake was chocolate but it wasn't very sweet. We had yummy white sugary icing on it though (store bought) and that sweetened it right up :)

Good luck.
Liz

Here is a white cake recipe.

3 C flour
2 C sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C Canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 C water
2 tbl. white vinegar
1 small packet of glentin

preheat oven to 350

whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. set aside

whisk together the oil, vanilla, and water.

add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well.

add the white vinegar and quickly stir until thoroughly incorporated.

mix one packet of glentin and 4 Tbl. of warm water together, stir constantly and add to mix, stir well.

bake until done. Cool in pan(s) for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack to cool competely.

the glentin acts as a egg.

icing receipe

1 C of crisco ( it must be transfat free, because it will
stiffer and you won't need egg protein.)
2 Tbl. of water
1 Tbl. of clear vanilla (wiltons brand works well)
1 box of confectioners sugar

mix crisco, water, and vanilla with electric mixer until mixed well. add confectioners sugar and continue mixing until mixed well.

If icing is too stiff add 1 Tbl. of water at a time until you get the consistency your looking for.

I hope this helps. My son is allergic to milk, eggs, and peanuts. He is 5 now, so I've had a lot of practice making cakes and all the other goodies. You should concider buying a allergy cook book, they have been helpful for me. good luck!

My son, who is 14 months old, has a dairy allergy. For his first birthday party with his friends, we did vegan mango cupcakes, which were a big hit with him and most of his friends (I thought they were pretty tasty). The recipe uses oil and agar flakes (which I got at whole foods) to make the cake rise. I got the recipe from http://www.grouprecipes.com/44706/vegan-mango-cake.html. They also have some other types of vegan cakes on the site, depending on what your son likes.

For his family celebration, we made an apple spice cake that used apple juice as the sweetener. I believe it did have eggs in it. The recipe was at www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They have recipes for a number of healthy first birthday cakes, including recipes without dairy or eggs.

Finally, on both cakes, I used non-dairy icing that I purchased at whole foods. It's very sweet, but contains no allergens. It was a hit. I believe they also had a mix for the same brand so you can make it yourself; I think I've seen the mix at Giant as well.

Good luck!

Well, I don't know how you feel about sugar, but my grandma always used to make lemon icing. It was just confectioners sugar & lemon juice whipped with a whisk.

My son was highly allergic to milk, so this is what we ended up doing. We got a box yellow cake, I think it was Duncan Hines, check the box, there is a very cheap generic one that contains no milk. Then about 1-2 minutes before it's done baking, take it out and poke holes in it with a fork and pour orange juice over it (a cup or so), put it back in to bake. It doesn't have frosting, but it's really good and my son LOVED it, I have the best pictures of him eating his first cake! good luck!!

check out camden cakes near ellicott city...

i know you want to make a cake but perhaps it would be enough to make it from a box and then decorate yourself. they sell vegan cake mixes in health food stores. these would have no animal byproducts including eggs and milk.

Try veagan products at the health food store. Also, consider making a cupcake for him, and have a regular cake for guest at the party.

When my mom was little, she really didn't like cake ... so for her birthday, she always had birthday pie instead. Most pie crust you can make with water instead of milk and a fruit pie won't have any eggs or milk or chocolate. Just a thought.

I recommend the website Foodallergy.org. This came highly recommended by my son's allergist. (he is allergic to Milk and eggs) They have information to order an allergy cookbook. But they also have online right now a recipe for cake and icing that is milk and egg free. Go to the site..click on recipes; then go to "more recipes" - and you will find the cake one.
The site has great information for dealing with food allergies. good luck and enjoy the 1st Birthday!

As the mother of a son with food allergies, I am pretty certain that there are store-bought icings that contain soy only. I make so much homemade food, that when you can buy something, I say go for it!
If you need another recipe, I have an eggless, milkless, chocolateless recipe that you might like. Email me at ____@____.com if you are interested.
Good luck! Luckily, his allergies are ones that he is likely to outgrow!

Hi there-- Good for you to want to make your son's birthday as special as possible! There are definitely cakes you can make for your son. As for saying "yuck" to an eggless milkless cake, don't knock it until you have tried it!! The traditional chocolate cake at our house is "wowie cake" and it is the best cake I've ever had!! I found a copy of the recipe online so I wouldn't have to type it in: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,136176-239204,00.html

Yes, the recipe looks odd, but it really tastes wonderful and is SOOO moist! If your son is allergic to cocoa (are you sure he is allergic to cocoa and not just chocolate?), you can leave that out for a vanilla cake, or use carob (found in health stores). My brother messes with this recipe all the time and makes variants with peanut butter, blueberries, you name it!!

As for frosting, you can do a simple "buttercream" variation with confectioners sugar but instead of using butter, just use solid vegetable shortening. IT will make an even whiter icing which is really quite nice. You might even check to see if the "butter flavor" crisco actually has butter in it. If not, that might add some good flavor to the frosting. Otherwise, just make sure you put in a bit of vanilla and you're good to go.

Good luck!

Hi, N.

My parent resource website, www.askthepartyfairy.com, has a small section with helpful information on cakes and parties for children with allergies. I currently offer one cake recipe, and provide a link to a web site with more information and more recipes.

I have personally tasted the cake featured on my web site and it was very good.

This is an area I would very much like to expand on my site, offering additional resources to moms just like you, so please let me know what you find out.

To view the cake I have tasted, and find the link to the other web site, visit www.askthepartyfairy.com (make sure you put the word "ask" in that web address, because my other site, just about the birthday parties we stage, is at www.thepartyfairy.com!) On the home page, you will see a list of articles on the right side of the page. Click on the articles titled, "Parties for Children with Food Allergies" and "Cakes for Children with Food Allergies" to find the information.

Good luck!

I don't know where you live - but I use Chantel's bakery in Sterling, VA - ###-###-#### - they are GREAT!

They even have shipping services. They make a variety of glutten-free, egg-free cakes - check them out and see what they can do for you.

I make a white cake similar to the one from Juanita, only it has no gelatin, and the technique is a little different. It is really decent for an eggless, milkless, butterless cake! If you make it in mini cup-cake cups, and put big old dollops of vanilla frosting and sprinkles on them -- anyone will eat it. It is the only one I've ever tried that has a true cake-like texture and consistency. (I think perhaps vinegar is the key.) Anyway, I'll send another response tomorrow with the recipe in it. I always use pilsbury vanilla frosting (I think it's the pilsbury brand) that has nothing but soy in it. You can check the labels. This cake is decent enough that I've sent it (as the little cupcakes) in to my son's class and they've not noticed a difference. I've also served it to children at birthday parties at home (in full-cake form) and had no complaints.