Saturday, July 24, 2010

Birthday Cakes with Allergies


Today is my nephews third birthday party. My sister is great, she always tries to accomodate for my kids and is making a cake that is okay for both J and Princess R to eat.

Shortly before J's first birthday I realized that I was going to have to make him a birthday cake that was free from milk (at that point we did not know that he was also allergic to eggs, peanuts and treenuts). At that point I did not know that there were some cake mixes that I could use to make the cakes and instead made him a cake from scratch with soy milk. In fact, I did not know that Duncan Hines make cake mixes safe for my children until after J's second birthday. I was very excited once I found out because making the cake from scratch took me over two hours (including baking, but not including decorating, which took at least another 2-3 hours). Currently, Duncan Hines has 11 cake mixes that are milk, egg, peanut, treenut and soy free (please always check ingredients, because recipes and suppliers are subject to change). Instead of using eggs I substitute Ener-G egg replacer and I make my own icing. Pillsbury makes some icings that are milk, egg, nut and peanut free (not soy), but I prefer decorating with a heavier icing. I have tried several icing recipes, but seem to lose them after every party! Here is the recipe that I used last year:

Wedding Cake Icing

1 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup water
8 cups powdered sugar

Mix shortening, water, vanilla, almond extract and half the powdered sugar with a mixer for 5-10 minutes (it's very important to mix this long). Add the rest of the powered sugar and beat just enough to mix in. Add additional water for desired consistency.

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