Wheat, gluten, meat and dairy-free party food... help please

[Grockle]

Um, what can I serve for a 5 yr old's birthday?

We're vegetarian and DS has invited friends to his party who are wheat/ dairy/ gluten free (and some who eat everything). I'm stuck. The ones who eat everything will expect party rings and veggie sausage rolls but I need something that the gluten free ones can eat too. I can bake without dairy but I cannot manage gluten-free baking cos I'm crap at it

Party is an afternoon one so doesn't need to be a meal, just snacky things. Will provide lots of fruit & hummousy type stuff.

You need to get this book for cake recipes. They mostly use rice flour, and vegetables instead of dairy filled fat! It's a wonderful wonderful book and your cakes will be great!

Nigellas clementine cake is gluten and dairy free - does contain nuts though. Is a fail safe, can't go wrong gf baking recipe.

Also, there are quite a few recipes that use eg banana or courgette/beetroot instead of flour.

Pure spread is great for baking, and is dairy free - lots of spreads aren't, eg flora has buttermilk in it.

Other foods wise, obviously biggie sticks and dips can be dairy free (hummous, guacamole etc)

I would push the boat out on treat fruits, eg strawberries, grapes - children love them on the whole, and (in their opinion) never get enough.

Grrr, that's veggie sticks (phone autocorrect!)

jelly boats

Bake with Doves Farm gluten-free flour, Pure spread and add an extra egg to your cake recipes. Honestly if you slather them in icing and jelly tots, the kids won't notice the cake

Gluten-free chipolata sausages, cut in half on sticks.

plenty of cucumber, carrot, baby sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes & other chopped up fruit.

Oh, has to be egg-free too

That book looks good. I will google Nigella's cake. I wonder if I could use that for DS's birthday cake? I have to cut it into shapes, would it cope with that? My Doves Farm baking experience has been miserable.

I think biggie sticks sound better than veggie ones!

Thanks for all the responses - very helpful indeed

Ah, nigella's cake is egg dependent. But you could use egg replacer, maybe? (have never had to, so no clue, sorry. Although again, banana cam be used I think)

There is a brilliant book - called AiA cookery book, I think - by Marilyn Le Breton, which has reams of recipe listed by food-exclusion. I used it a lot when first baking gluten/dairy/sugar/yeast free stuff.

Hmmm, wouldn't use banana as replacement in clement cake, BTW - sounds horrible!

gluten free choc brownies are pretty easy. pick a recipe with not much flour in and use a gluten free flour ( from most supermarkets these days) .

Cucumber & carrot sticks & grapes go down well with 5 yr olds . check ingredients but some crisps will be fine.

I can't believe you are expected to cater for everyone.

My DD is allergic to dairy, egg and nuts and I provide her with a plate of food for EVERY party that she goes to.

I do not expect anyone else to provide her with food.

I know, from personal experience, that it is nice to provide food that everyone can eat, but it isn't always possible

I make a 'bubble cake' for our egg free guests which is basically crushed digestives, chocolate and maltesers - i think it's nigella's refrigerator cake.

For gluten/wheat free I make an amandine cake which uses ground almonds instead of flour.

They are both absolutely delicious regardless of what they do or don't have in them!

I baked a cake using gluten free flour the other week for my sister and i was surprised at how well it came out although I did use eggs.

I would just take care when adding sweet toppings as some do use wheat products in them when I checked the labels - hundreds and thousands iirc was one but jelly diamond things were ok

I agree with pretty vacant

I would never expect anyone to cook for all DSs inteolerances.
Equally i think people with multiple intolerances will not expect you to make everything you provide suitable for them - as long as you keep gf and non gf food seperate

I would contact the parents of the gfcf child and talk to them.
They would probably be horrified that you are trying to work the whole party around their child.

AND FWIW my son is allergic to gluten dairy and egg and it is actually technically impossible to bake like that. You cannot make a cake unless you have egg or gluten.

My child is wheat and dairy free. We have that cake book it is really good we all love the cakes I haven't found a better bake. You could do rice cakes or corn cakes with some different fillings on. Last year I made some up that weren't dairy free just in case the other children din't like the fake cheese spread. It is worth asking the wheat free child's parent what they eat as lots of the breads ect aren't that good. You also have to be careful with contamination. I have to check the vitalite all the time as dh double dips when making are normal bread eating dd1. Swedish glacé ice cream is really nice and both dairy and gluten free.
Just read the post above and agree I wouldn't expect all of the food to be suitable for my child it is not practical. I would not leave my dd2 at a party with food at the moment as she is only 4 and all the food we cook is safe for her so not completely sure she would realise that sausages are not always ok and she does know the only crisps she can have are ready salted. I always take snack in my bag to cope with party and i would also bring something nice that can be put on the party table that she can eat

sorry for the long reply

I'm with PFV - my children are dairy free and I always send them with a 'lunchbox' of stuff so that the parents or caterers don't have to panic deal with catering for my dairy-free kids! If it's a someone we know well (which is most, actually) we are more likely to send a collection of stuff already arranged with the host so it's more or less the same as the other children will be having.

Assuming that you wouldn't mind too much if they brought/handled/ate their own meat, that would be a much easier option.... as it seems to me that meat and veg / fruit is pretty much what they can have.

btw, I also usually send a plate of stuff for sharing that 'happens' to be df, and for one good friend we even made the cake