Birthday cake for teen with food intolerances; help please!

[Scrawlanddoodle]

My daughter will be eighteen soon and I plan to make her birthday cake. She has had stomach issues all of her life which are finally being investigated properly. Her consultant found lots of inflammation and we are waiting for biopsy results.

For some strange reason she is able to tolerate butter in a sponge cake but can't tolerate single or double cream, yoghurt or cream cheese.

She can tolerate fruit as long as she doesn't eat too much all at once.

Chocolate is out. As is any sort of nut butter or nut flour.

I am an ok baker but we are not that keen on fondant as a family. How do I make her a cake that I can decorate and looks festive?

Does anyone have any tips please?

She likes a sponge and strawberries but without cream , creme fraiche or yoghurt that will be a little too plain won't it?

She likes pear and apricot upside down cakes but again, how do I make something like that look festive?

Is there a substitute for cream that she will tolerate? I am reluctant to use anything with a nut substitute because she reacted very badly to almond milk and butter when we last tried it. She reacts to yoghurt and cream cheese too.

Does anyone have any ideas please? She is fine with gluten.

I prefer to make my own because then I know what has gone in to it, but I am tearing my hair out here thinking how will I make it look special?

Thanks in advance for any inspiration!

Oh yes, sorry, soja is not good either!

Could you do a giant birthday cookie something like the Millies ones?

Would she be OK with buttercream? Icing sugar and butter. A vanilla buttercream would go with the strawberries.

FAQs Oooh I hadn't thought of a giant cookie! I don't know about Millie, but thank you, I will have a look!

eccecc Thank you! I know that sounds like a very obvious solution, but I didn't think of it because we have moved away from butter cream over the years and I haven't put it on her birthday cake since she was about eight I think! She can tolerate butter in a sponge so I might be ok as long as there is not too much. Or I could hedge my bets and make a butterless sponge maybe? (Must check what the other ingredients are and that my baking skills are up to the task!)

I am answering my own q here but I thought something like this might be ok?

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/blueberry-coconut-cake

I already have a bundt cake tin. I could fill up the middle with a mix of red fruit or berries, add a dash of glace icing, and add a cake topper for decoration? Do you think that would be ok?

Oh no, ignore my last post please, it contains soja milk! So that's a definite no.

Oatly cream is great, as is the elmlea plant based. I believe the latter also whips quite well but I haven't tried it myself.

Lemon meringue cake wiselivingmagazine.co.uk/food-and-drink/recipes/how-to-make-leiths-lemon-meringue-cake/

Whipped coconut cream realfood.tesco.com/recipes/vegan-whipped-cream.html

Arla do.lactose free cream if that helps? It's double not whipping though.
I usually do DD Nigella's chocolate olive oil cake...but chocolate is out I see. What about an orange and polenta cake?

@Scrawlanddoodle

Oh no, ignore my last post please, it contains soja milk! So that's a definite no.

Just use an alternative plant milk, like oat

What you have suggested sounds lovely. I have baked cakes with the lactose free butter before too and they have turned out great. There’s always drizzle cake too they don’t need cream or anything and are delicious! Or there’s Betty Crocker icing that comes in a tub- there’s no butter in that I don’t think.

Plain croquembouche with those sugar syrup strings all over? Some crystallised flower petals? This way each one can be served with chocolate, cream etc as an added extra.

Oh thank you everyone. Some fantastic suggestions there!

I really like the idea of the lemon meringue cake. It looks delicious! And I have always wanted an excuse to buy a blow-torch .

And I had no idea you could whip up coconut milk like that!

Similarly, had not got a clue about substitute butters, milk and cream.

I did think of a lemon drizzle and Moroccan style cakes, all fab, but we have them quite often and I wanted this to be a bit different.

And I really love the idea of a croquembouche but I am not sure I could go to the trouble of making it and then resist stuffing full of cream ifyswim

.

We make a nice lemon and blueberry cake if she likes that. It has just a lemon glaze ontop (lemon and icing sugar), and you could easily make in a Bundt tin type dish and decorate. Has sunflower oil in instead of butter.

M&S do a lovely coconut yoghurt/dessert, really creamy and thick. That would work well on a sponge cake with fresh fruit, I think.

This is it: www.ocado.com/products/m-s-plant-kitchen-coconut-pot-519580011

@Caspianberg

We make a nice lemon and blueberry cake if she likes that. It has just a lemon glaze ontop (lemon and icing sugar), and you could easily make in a Bundt tin type dish and decorate. Has sunflower oil in instead of butter.

Thanks Caspianberg it's a toss up between something along those lines and the lemon meringue cake atm!

Thanks Awkwardsquad noted carefully for future reference!

There is a way to make a vegan cream using coconut milk. If I remember rightly you refrigerate the cans over night to separate the cream and liquid and scrape the thick part off the top and whip that up and it. There's plenty of recipes on Google

The lactose free milk, butter, cream, cream cheese and yogurt are great - and widely available in supermarkets. They’re dairy products with lactase added, so have the nutritional benefits of dairy. Most people with a dairy problem have a lactose problem (rather than a cow’s milk protein problem). My DD has also been advised that if she wants to eat a normal dairy ingredient (especially if she is out or no substitutes are available) she can take a lactase tablet to deal with the intolerance. You can buy these in Boots.

OP, your DD may be ok with normal butter because it has low lactose levels. (Lactose levels vary, with milk, cream and yogurt being highest.) I buy all dairy as lactose free though. The dietician advised DD to try small amounts of lactose free dairy to check is it was a lactose issue rather than a cow’s milk protein issue.

If you were still thinking of a sponge with strawberries, lactose-free cream would make that special.

I've done a lemon drizzle cake before, made in a bundt tin so it looked all exciting, and then with glace icing drizzled all over it (and because of the yellow sponge and the raspberries the white looks really classy instead of just plain) with then the whole of the middle of the cake filled with raspberries. I've debated putting raspberries inside the lemon drizzle cake as well.

I would bake a semi naked cake with butter cream icing and fruit on top, they can look lovely (it's the go to celebration cake in our house)

I use a Betty Crocker frosting/s to decorate the cakes for my multiple allergy child. You should have no problem with the ingredients if you look at them (various flavours). They get quite stiff in the fridge but at room temperature are spreadable. I have used as filling in a sponge cake in the past with strawberries

Cake here - it was my first ever attempt at drizzling but I think that part could be improved quickly with some practice (on the empty bundt tin?).

We use coconut cream often in celebration cakes and it works fine but I would say try it first as the flavour is quite strong and she might find it of putting.
And decorating with flowers always makes a cake look amazing.