birthday cake - assume a no-dairy child can't eat vicky sponge made with butter?

[Lexilicious]

I have got fourteen 1-4 year olds coming round on Sunday (I know, I know...). Anyway, it's done now. I'm making a sponge cake train. So I have some flexibility of making a bit that doesn't have any dairy in it.

Have asked child's mother details of allergy once and don't want to be an idiot asking again... he can't have cheese, butter or milk but he is ok with yogurt. So, should I make one carriage of the train out of a non-butter sponge somehow? can you make it with yogurt? Any ideas? Recommendation of a recipe would be good. Is there an allergy recipe website?

I also have a 100% nut allergy child coming so have to avoid that.

[nellymoo]

You can substitute the butter for Pure dairy-free spread. You can get it most places, Tesco, Holland and barret...

It behaves like butter in sponge cake, so why not make the whole cake with it? Then you have absolutely no confusion over which bit of cake is for the allergic child? You can also make "butter-cream" icing with it. Also check what you are decorating the cake with is dairy-free.

It's very good of you to include the allergic child, round these parts we take our own cake, or slope off before the cake bit to avoid upset

[thereinmadnesslies]

I'd make a sponge with pure dairy free spread or vitalite instead of butter, both are dairy free. You could also use it to make buttercream

[thereinmadnesslies]

Snap

[thisisyesterday]

well it isn't an allergy if he can have yoghurt I wouldn't have thought, more likely an intolerance?
but anyway

agree with previous posters! just use a margarine instead of butter. and remember to do different icing too if you're using buttercream

[GoodDaysBadDays]

Pure, as above makes lovely cakes and buttercream. But it is slightly more gooey than butter it marg so I increase the quantity of dry ingredients a little. (well a lot for buttercream)

[Lexilicious]

Oh good - I can use the same recipe as for pure butter or do I need to use an 'easy' type of recipe designed for margarine? Well I'm doing a test run early Saturday anyway so I'll see how it goes.

Decoratings for the carriages will be things like raisins, blueberries, marshmallows, stuck on with jam. They'll be bouncing off the walls won't they...!

[GoodDaysBadDays]

Butter and marg

And you are lovely for bothering

[Lexilicious]

x post - GoodDays answered my recipe Q

thanks everyone

[GoodDaysBadDays]

Oh Christ don't just go on my word!

I'm by no means an expert and just make very basic, but yummy, sponges!

[nellymoo]

Same recipe should be fine. As long as you beat, beat, beat the Pure and sugar at he beginning, it should be fine. I don't put eggs in our Victoria Sponges either, and nobody ever notices...I'm sure it'll be lovely and I can bet you the LOs Mum will be over the moon at your efforts to include her child.

[NeatFreak]

My dh has a dairy intolerance (he doesn't eat yoghurt though...) and I do lots of baking with vitalite. It always comes out yummy. Vitalite is also cheaper than pure and can be used to make icing too. HTH

[mintyneb]

I use pure butter all the time in baking and in terms of the cake mix, find it is not really any different to normal butter. When it comes to butter icing though I find its very soft and doesn't hold its shape as well as normal butter. A bit of a problem when it comes to fancy cupcake decorating but perhaps not such a big deal if you are just decorating a childs cake!

As long as all the decorations are dairy free too then you will have created a masterpiece that can be enjoyed by all :)

It's great that you are thinking of the child and I know as a mum of a child with a severe dairy allergy I would really appreciate the effort you are going to in order to make them feel like part of the crowd

[GoodDaysBadDays]

Didn't know about vitalite, never looked, and cheaper too, will def be switching! Cheers for that therein and neat

Oh and my ds with dairy intolerance can't have yogurt either

[breatheslowly]

You could decorate all of it or some of it with icing that you roll out or buy ready rolled as that doesn't have dairy in it and stick decorations on with a paste of icing sugar and water. I don't find butter icing made with alternatives as tasty.

[mintyneb]

I tried vitalite once but DD seems to have finely tuned taste buds and after one mouthful of bread and butter declared that it tasted 'nasty' and wouldn't touch another drop!

M&S also do their own dairy free butter and I've discovered that the hard packet of Stork (as opposed to the spread in a tub) has no dairy in it as well

[SamsGoldilocks]

I did this for my dd's birthday and substituted soya milk and pure marg for the dairy products. Bog standard sponge recipe and also made some fairy cakes. They were delicious. Just be warned most marg does contain buttermilk.

[Lexilicious]

Sainsbob has 2 for 2.50 on 500g tubs of Pure. couldn't see the own brand...