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Allergies and intolerances

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Original poster

Allergen free birthday cake, have you been through that?

27 replies

Chandra · 18/02/2006 00:33

DS is going to be 3 yrs old this week and I have to bake a cake free from egg, milk, soya, and nuts. I have found an egg replacer so a recipe which includes egg may be OK. But could you create a yummy fluffy sort of sponge cake without milk/soya milk?

Any help will be highly welcomed, the easiest the recipe the better (I'm a terrible cook and besides of the complexities of the instructions I'm a bit worried that I'm not going to be familiar with most of the ingredients a very experienced baker knows by heart!)

TIA

OP posts:
sunchowder · 18/02/2006 00:35

Chandra, can he have rice milk?

Original poster
Chandra · 18/02/2006 00:36

YES!!! he can have rice milk! Do you know a recipe?

OP posts:
bobbybobbobbingalong · 18/02/2006 01:12

Okay - grease everything extremely well - better still line the tin.

If you can have chocolate cake, then do this, if not replace the cocoa with a little ground cornmeal to add a nice yellow colour that you would normally get from the egg and butter.

3 cups strong flour (like for bread)
1 cup of white sugar
some cocoa (I use more if cake looks anaemic)
3/4 cup of permitted oil (rice bran is fab but expensive)
Egg replacement stuff made up as on packet - you want 3 eggs worth
3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cornflour (added by accident once and I got the best cakes ever)
up to 2 cups of rice milk or fruit juice. I like a mixture of rice milk and pineapple juice.
If you haven't used any juice you will need a lemon or something to give the chemical reaction to make the cake rise.

Mix it all up together and make a sort of thick batter.

Bung it in oven at around 180C until cooked - really depends on your tin, but around 13 minutes for a muffin and at least 20 minutes for a small sponge tin.

If you are doing any fancy icing - it's best to freeze the cake and ice it frozen. It is quite a crumbly cake.

I'm doing ds cake next week.

Original poster
Chandra · 18/02/2006 01:26

Thanks Bobbybob, I was waiting for you . Is your DS's birthday too? 3 or 4? You have been helping me with DS's allergies since I first joined MN years ago, that I would be very surprised if he is the same age as DS

Question about the cake, or about the cocoa, DS can't have chocolate because when it does not contain milk it always comes with soya, have you found a brand free from both? I guess there should be, got a chocolate cake mix from the Sainsbury free-from range that is milk and soya free, it tastes OK but the cake ended up so hard that it is a bit crunchy (like a biscuit), can't imagine making it in layers, it will brake when I try to cut it! or... did I I used the egg replacer wrongly? I need to do two cakes, one to send to the nursery the day before the party and onther one for the weekend, I want them different as the children will be the same for both cakes (or to be totally honest, I would be devastated to hear that the children said to DS that his chocolate cake was horrid because it was not as fluffy and lovely decorated as the one other mums get from the supermarket... besides, he's dieing for a Thomas cake )

OP posts:
Original poster
Chandra · 18/02/2006 01:28

OMG!, the chocolate cake I mentioned was the one from a box from Sainsbury, not yours

OP posts:
bobbybobbobbingalong · 18/02/2006 02:28

Ds will be 3.

Crunchy usually means not enough liquid.

mymama · 19/02/2006 12:26

Have a choc one for you Chandra if looking for more than one type. It is a boiled cake so comes out quite moist like a mud cake.

Boiled Chocolate Cake

1 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
4oz dairy/soya free butter/oil
2 tbs cocoa (own brand usually pure cocoa powder)
2eggs = egg replacer
1 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

Place sugar, water, butter, cocoa and baking soda on low heat until melts - then simmer for a few minutes. Let Cool. Mix in beaten egg replacer and flour. Turn into 7 inch round cake tin (greased or baking paper). Bake in moderate oven for 45 minutes. Ice when cold.

I used pure icing sugar and dairy free spread with colouring to ice. Found it quite easy to cut. It is a lovely moist cake that does not crumble at all. If you refrigerate it it becomes quite firm also. Good Luck.

mymama · 19/02/2006 12:28

Also wanted to add that 1 x pureed banana is equivalent to 1 egg and I have also used this in the boiled choc cake as another option.

Original poster
Chandra · 19/02/2006 15:08

Thanks you Mymama, that sounds very good! Wish me luck, I will start experimenting soon
Thanks

OP posts:
bobbybobbobbingalong · 19/02/2006 17:20

I'm going to try your one today mymama. It sounds yum and I need something for the weekend - how big a cake does that quantity make - a 7" tin?

mymama · 20/02/2006 12:35

7 inch tin usually makes cake about 1 1/2 inches high so you could do smaller tin and have higher cake iyswim. Very yummy cake actually. Especially yummy when it is made "normal" but comes up very well with the substitutes.

Original poster
Chandra · 20/02/2006 22:57

OK, I gave it a go at MyMama's one and tomorrow I'm trying the other one.

I'm definitively a terrible cook, well you said it was boiled cake and, ahem, I took it literally , so I put the tin in boiling water and came back to internet were it ocurred to me that boilded bake may be actually something different. Run all the way down when I realised about the mistake, took the cake out of the water and waited ages for the oven to get hot, again the cake was dry and crumbly around the ages but that maight be because of the "boiling" . But it is a wonderful cake, even with all the mistakes it tastes yummy! (definitively the bes cake I have done in my life! or should I say the first cake I have done that was not ready to mix

Thanks

OP posts:
Original poster
Chandra · 20/02/2006 22:58

ages? edges!

OP posts:
mymama · 21/02/2006 06:06

rofl at Chandra . I actually have tears streaming down my face at the vision of you putting the tin in the boiling water. Sorry if my instructions were a little unclear - written straight from sil's memory!!

It can get a bit crunchy on edges if you are heavy handed with the "butter/oil". A little less is better than a little more.

mymama · 21/02/2006 06:10

Incidently - I find any "normal" cake/biscuit/slice recipes that are boiled or "melt and mix" adapt nicely with the substitute ingredients. I bake each day of the week and adapt all sort of things for ds. Perhaps we should start an allergy friendly thread under the food section!!

bobbybobbobbingalong · 21/02/2006 08:33

I tried it tonight and will try with less fat as mine was chewy/crunchy at edges too. very yummy though and I love the rich colour you get.

Original poster
Chandra · 21/02/2006 19:34

Mymama, that's why I spent so much time asking about food in Mumsnet, although I'm very informed about what DS should and shouldnot eat, I am clueless about food preparation! ...

OP posts:
auriel · 21/02/2006 20:37

just a note... if your kids can have apricots then they make a yummy gooey chocolate cake egg substitute!! My kids were egg dairy nut soya and wheat/gluten free for 7 yrs so i learned a few magictricks! bananas are good too and much better than any egg replacer!
good luck
xxx

Original poster
Chandra · 26/02/2006 00:56

Thanks auriel

Whymama, you may laugh but I have done the cake agian and it was much better when it was pre-boiled. Have I invented a new technique

OP posts:
bobbybobbobbingalong · 26/02/2006 04:13

I made it again with half the sugar and a bit less fat and it was amazing

gigglinggoblin · 26/02/2006 07:49

dont have a clue about allergies, but as he wants a thomas cake, just thought i would say that my ds wanted a star wars cake and we couldnt find one, so i bought lots of little star wars toys and arranged them on top. that way he got a star wars cake and toys to keep! (thought it might turn your into a )

hope he has a lovely birthday

jayjaybaby · 26/02/2006 11:03

hi my nephews sil and dh are all coeliac and when my sil makes birthday cakes and our wedding cake last year for the kids decorations she has bought a computer program thing that prints some sort of transfer which is then applied to icing we've had thomas star wars tweenies and a picture of us on our cakes not sure where you get them from but they are out htere good luck by the way my sil thinks shes hard done to with coeliacs but oh my no diary either i dont know how you do it

Heartmum2Jamie · 28/02/2006 13:23

Mymama. I have to say a huge thank-you for the boiled chocolate cake recipe. I made it yesterday and it is delicious. I used banana instead of egg replacer and ds (20 months) LOVES it!!! I know that I still have 4 months before his birthday, but wanted to find something that he would like. It looks like I have hit the jackpot, especially with adding banana, his favourite.

Thanks again. I highly recommend it to anyone.

BernieBear · 13/04/2006 14:56

MyMama - just wanted to add my thanks aswell, have made this cake twice now as it was my ds' 2nd birthday last week. It is really fantastic and works so well with bananas. Can't thank you enough - I never thought with his allergies I would ever give him the experience of "licking the spoon" - thanks again! x

drosophila · 13/04/2006 15:16

\link{http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/egglesschocolatecake_67164.shtml\Choc cake} You would have to experiment with the icing. YOu could try using a dairy free spread like Pure and soya milk. The cake is yummy!!!!