Nut free birthday cake required URGENTLY!

[Mo2]

DS2 was 1 yesterday, and I wanted to take a cake into his nursery for all the class to share at teatime (which is what they've always done, and we did with DS1 on his last 2 birthdays there). However the nursery now has a new policy, and any food brought in for the children has to be visibly labelled nut-free and suitable for nut allergy sufferers. Looked over the weekend, but I can't find one anywhere!! Tried Safeway, Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer (x2). Several are 'nut free' but state that they are produced in a factory which uses nut ingredients, so are therefore unsuitable.

Anyone any ideas??

Make one? You could probably do it in the time it takes to trawl the shops. Or ask nursery - surely your DS isn't the first person to have had a birthday since they brought this rule in.

For next year you could try here: itsnutfree.com - they do birthday cakes to order. Not much help for today though!

I found this which might give you some clues for nut-free supermarket cakes:

"No nuts in these cakes
The following supermarket bought cakes are nut-free
Tesco 12 pack iced fairy cakes
Nestles Smartie cake
Sainsbury's racing car track
Hope this helps you a little when the children want to bring cakes to school on their birthday and there just aren't enough hours in the day to make some!"

My nursery used to have the same policy - I'm sure Tescos do some - not much choice - you have to check all the boxes.
In the past I have resorted to boxes of little cakes e.g.Mr Kipling as some of them are OK.
Also lots of parents bring in sweets instead and these are put on the child's peg for the parent to decide if they can eat them
Good luck

our nursery has the same policy, you're not actually allowed to bring in home-made cakes. we found a "thomas" cake in sainsbury's labelled "does not contain nuts and produced in a nut-free environment". hth.

Thanks everyone. We're not allowed to take in home-made cakes either unfortunately (not that my bakign is up to much )

Off to Asda shortly to see if they have any, and if not, then may need to give it a miss this year (hope he doesn't realise...) and get sorted out sooner next year!

We had a big party at home yesterday with 20 kids & adults + BBQ and bouncy things etc, so it's not as if we haven't celebrated! Fantastic weather too, so DH rigged up the slide going down our (sloping) lawn with about 20 metres of plastic sheeting at the end, the hosepipe and some washing up liquid, and we had lots of shrieking 4 year olds whizzing down the garden....

What is the logic of not allowing 'home-made'cakes into nursery? Don't they trust you to make them 'nut-free' - I would much rather my child ate home-made cakes than shop bought.

I guess they are not prepared to take the risk that your home is a nut free atmosphere. It's the difference between the label "nut free" and "produced in a factory handling nuts". Your home may well contain things which contain nut traces. Nut allergies can be very serious indeed with even the trace of a nut causing severe reactions.

I thought Sainsbury's stocked a cake which was free of virtually everything - nuts, dairy, gluten etc. Made by a special company but I can't remember the name!

Yes, I do appreciate the seriousness of nut allergies - however I have catered for a weekend at cub camp where we had a nut allergy sufferer ......... at our playgroup they can't get enough home made cakes!

What did the Sainsburys cake taste like? I wonder what does go into it!

my son suffers from a nut allergy and it is becoming extremely difficult to get bakery items nut free,a lot of stuff now has as you say Mo2 "nut free but produced in nutty factory etc",i think this is just a way of covering themselves against cross contamination causing any incidents.

One of the reasons that that statement goes on is because many of the machines are now oiled with peanut oil. The oil should not go into the food etc but....

HTH with understanding why so many of the labels have such warnings

I CAN HELP!!!

My Company is called It's Nut Free - please see www.itsnutfree.com . I started the Company 4 years ago because my daughter has a severe nut allergy. We supply supermarkets, hospitals, schools, restaurants and we do a lot of mail order. Please look at the website or contact me on 01423 561569. I hope this helps,

Angela

Angela I imagine to some kids with allergies you are a super Hero!

Hi I'm new to mumsnet.I needed to buy a birthday cake for my youngest(peanut allergy sufferer)couldn't find one anywhere.Tried Tesco Sainsbury and Asda.I brought one last year from Tesco but no such luck this year.
I just wish larger supermarkets would let us-the consumers-know if they are changing suppliers of the food itself or the packaging.

This post is probably a day late & a dollar short, but there is a company called CherryBrooke Kitchen that sells a cake mix that is nut free and dairy free (although you can add dairy to it if you want). I made the chocolate & & yellow cakes for a funeral that required "nut free" desserts. They turned out better than I thought, they didnt'taste much different from Betty Crocker's mixes. The frosting was good too (I made it with butter) www.cherrybrookkitchen.com the web site will help you find a store that carries their products.

If you do not have a nut-free home, it is very easy for cross contamination to happen and as such, although you do not use product with nuts to bake the cake, the ingredients could have come into contact with nuts or products containing or manufactured in an environment that uses nuts. If my child so much as touches something that was in contact with nuts, he can go into anaphalactic shock. It is life-threatening, so it is important for nurseries to have these policies in place.