Tag Archives: Cake

A cake for every occasion

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We might have had Christmas, Easter and at least 2 birthdays since M first had his NG-tube, but they’ve all been celebrated without a morsel of cake passing his lips for 7 months.  He enjoyed Foxes Glacier mints for Christmas lunch, a “fake” cake for his birthday and a passable rice-flour biscuit for Easter; but we were all fully aware that none of them could possibly replace the role of cake in so many celebrations.  PV-2The harsh reality of so few ingredients has meant that even at my most inventive, a successful cake replacement has just not been achievable, but with the re-introduction of apple in the last couple of weeks, M’s dream of cake could, and has, finally been fulfilled.

It is all thanks to one of the lovely Mums that I have become friends with through FABED and whose son, under the care of the same consultant as us and who M met during his hospital stay last December, is a few weeks ahead of M with his food reintroductions after time on the elemental diet.  R and I have spent time chatting, texting and e-mailing about the boys and where we each are along our respective journeys, sharing stories and giving tips whenever possible.  Having gained the advantage of those few extra days, R has had some useful tips when it’s come to preparing food for M, the best one being this M-friendly cake recipe that I was able to try out at long last.20150626_144401

Apple purée is a popular egg-alternative, though not one I have previously used in my M-friendly baking as I have preferred to bake with ground flaxseed meal or mashed banana. With banana being a definite no for the time-being and flaxseed being low in our priorities of new foods to trial, it was finally time to put apple purée to the test. The first job was to prepare some apple purée before having to deal with the tough task of stopping M devouring it all at each and every opportunity that arose until I had a chance to actually try out the cakes. Despite his best efforts and enjoying lashings of purée with his rice pudding, there was just about enough leftover for these delicious apple and rice flour cakes.  The recipe is simple, easy to follow and perfect for anyone with such limited safe foods and, what’s more, I’m certain that it would be easy to replace any of the ingredients with an alternative that suits your particular dietary needs. The cakes are deliciously moist and have been a huge hit with M, who is asking for them morning, noon and night and are definitely a great addition to his school lunch-box.

Piece of cake

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20150225_231442 sr_162935_largeThese photos are of the supplies I needed to create this year’s  birthday cake masterpiece for Master M as, after all, this had to be a birthday cake like no other I’ve ever baked before.  In the same way that I had discussed my plans for the food we would serve at their Cluedo party with M, we sat together to talk about the various options for his birthday cake.  I could bake a “normal” cake for him to give to his friends, I could use polystyrene dummy cakes to create an authentic-looking, but totally M-friendly cake or we could try something completely different.  A friend had suggested using small bottles of 7-up to create a tiered cake and then giving every party guest a bottle to take home, which I thought an inspired idea as it’s one of the few things M has been able to enjoy since his NG-tube was passed, but M disagreed.  He preferred the idea of the polystyrene “fake” cakes and we headed off to the shops over half-term to source the cakes, decide how many tiers he wanted and get all the art supplies I might need.

20150225_200407Every year I try to create birthday cakes that either echo the themes of the parties themselves, be that mini-golf, magic or minions; or that are innovative and something the children have never seen before, such as last year’s pinata cake for G.  This year’s Cluedo theme offered me a wealth of ideas and I just needed to decide how to put them into action. I settled on a black base layer and ever-grateful to avoid the nightmare of icing a free-from cake, attacked our 3 tiers with a sturdy brush and bottle of black paint.  “Cakes” fully covered, I liberally sprinkled some silver glitter over them all before the paint dried, positioned the silver 9 on the top and added an emerald green ribbon trim for that touch of old-fashioned glamour and to fit with M’s role as party host, “Captain Emerald”.  I stuck the tiers together using PVA glue and then inserted some wooden skewers, just to make sure there was no chance the cake would fall apart before the day itself.

20150225_210001Next came the fun part of adding the decorations.  I had previously printed out silhouettes to use for the characters and images for each of the murder weapons and had a number of them left-over after I had prepared the cards for the party itself. Choosing carefully, I glued the weapons to the bottom layer and a selection of characters to the middle layer, making sure I included the image of G’s character, “Countess Pearl”.  My final step was to stick Captain Emerald’s silhouette to a piece of black card that I had already covered generously with more silver glitter and added this, leaning against the top-tier of the cake, before leaving it all to dry.

20150227_132323M’s cake sorted, I moved on to the preparation of a cake for G.  Much as I had enjoyed exploring the “crafts” side of my personality, this was the moment I’d been waiting for since Christmas.  Not so much the baking of a cake, though I love decorating birthday cakes to wow my children, but more because I finally got to use the best Christmas present I had received and one that was completely unexpected.  I’ve been drooling over the KitchenAid food mixers for years, imagining one gracing my kitchen counters and last year started saving towards buying one of my own.  To my delight, and absolute surprise, my wonderful Mum invested in a Ice-blue model as my Christmas/birthday present and it’s been sitting in the kitchen, taunting me daily with its absolute beauty, whilst I’ve waited for a chance to take it for a test-run.  All I can say is thank goodness I needed to whip up 24 G-friendly cupcakes as well as the birthday cake itself as I flew through the first task and loved every moment spent doing it!

20150227_141709My birthday cake challenge was easier this year as although G has allergies of her own, I was able to use eggs, an ingredient I haven’t baked with in over 3 years.  I used a simple gluten- and dairy-free recipe and then split the mixture between 5 bowls.  Inspired by both the colourful characters in the Cluedo game and a recent episode of Great British Comic Relief Bake-Off, I added 5 different food colourings – 1 to each bowl – and then marbled the cake mix in the baking tins.  20150228_114150As I waited for the cakes to bake, I turned to my trusty laptop to search out some ideas for how to decorate G’s Cluedo cake and settled on recreating the board itself out of icing.  Working late into the early hours of Sunday morning to finish this final part of the party preparations and when I finally fell into my bed at around 3am, I was delighted with the end results.

The big reveal of my “showstopper” cakes was a huge success.  Both G and M were thrilled with their cakes and liked the fact that even though they were completely different, they both fit our Cluedo theme perfectly.  The cakes had pride of place at the centre of our Dessert buffet table and were a real talking point for children and parents alike.  A job well done, though I’m not rushing to make 2 cakes for the same occasion again any time soon – my nerves just can’t take it!

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A Birthday Treat – Lemon Meringue cupcakes

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This time last year, M was admitted into GOSH for scopes and he and I spent Mike’s birthday away from the birthday boy himself, leaving him to celebrate at home with the rest of the family.  There was a point this year when I thought history was about to repeat itself as we’re once again waiting for an admission date for M, who needs further testing to try to sort out the games his body is currently playing.  However, Mike’s birthday came, and went, with no sign of a phone-call from GOSH and I finally had a chance to make a long-awaited attempt at the Lemon Meringue cake I’d been dreaming of making last year. lemonmeringue

Lemon Meringue pie is Mike’s favourite dessert and there was a time, many eons ago, when I’d actually make him one from scratch for his birthday treat.  With the arrival of G and M, the general busyness of work and juggling the school-run alongside business meetings and the general day-to-day running of the household, I don’t think I’ve turned my hand to such a dish for at least a decade.  Add into the mix, the newer challenges of egg-free meringues and MEWS-free pastry and it’s not been the easiest pudding to make.  I attempted a cheesecake version for Fathers’ Day this year, but that didn’t quite go as planned, so I put my thinking cap on to see if I could figure out an alternative format for this popular dessert.

I settled on lemon drizzle cupcakes topped with vanilla butter-cream icing and small meringues.  I’ve made Lemon drizzle cake before, but found that the rice flour made the sponge taste very granular and I was keen to see if I could improve the texture.  I found a lovely recipe for vegan lemon drizzle cake and read around the options for replacing the flour to make the cake both gluten- and potato-flour-free. 20141015_194117 My final recipe included gram flour – an ingredient that’s been lurking in my cupboard for a while, but which I had yet to brave using – rice flour and tapioca flour and the end result was infinitely better than the last time, though some further tweaking to create the perfect lemon drizzle cupcake is needed.

I whipped up a small batch of my vanilla butter-cream icing and used it to secure the mini egg-free meringues to the top of each cupcake.  I was delighted with how these cakes looked and M spent most of the day, and evening, before Mike got home from work, begging to try one to “just check it’s okay for Daddy!”  I am assured by the family that the cupcakes were a huge success and so that’s another recipe added to my ever-increasing repertoire.

 

A Chocolate-Lover’s Birthday

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Recently someone posted a link to this easy cake recipe on one of the EGID support group forums I belong to on Facebook.  I was soon drawn to its simplicity, not least because it was already dairy-, soya- and egg-free, but also because the comments that followed suggested it could be easily converted to a gluten-free recipe too.  What was even better was that I had the perfect occasion to try the recipe out – my Mum’s birthday.  As you may recall, we had planned a special afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian whilst we were on holiday, but the actual date was now approaching and we had a family lunch booked for the day itself.

chocsI think it would be fair to say that my Mum is an avid chocolate-lover, one might almost say a chocoholic and there used to be a time when you’d be hard pressed to find her without an emergency chocolate bar stashed in her handbag, glove box or on the top shelf of the fridge.  Bearing that in mind, it was something of a no-brainer to decide on a cake that would satisfy her idea of chocolate heaven.  The bigger challenge was in making that creation both deliciously decadent and M-friendly.

20140912_225331I doubled up the quantities in the chocolate crazy cake recipe and chose to mix the ingredients in a bowl, rather than in the cake tins themselves as I wanted to make 3 individual layers to sandwich together.  I replaced the flour with a blend of rice and tapioca flour and added a pinch of xanthum gum to help it on its way.  The cakes that came out of the oven appeared to be beautifully moist and not too granular, although Mike’s first comment on tasting some of the trimmings was that they were a lot sweeter than my usual bakes.  I swirled vanilla butter-cream icing with spoonfuls of Grandma’s strawberry jam (all the way from Canada) and used this to sandwich the layers together.  Lashings of home-made chocolate butter-cream icing then covered the entire cake, before I finished it all off with a generous sprinkle of pearl drops, moo-free chocolate buttons and shavings of moo-free orange chocolate.

It looked like my idea of a chocolate-lover’s dream birthday cake and tasted good too.  My Mum thought adding raspberries would have added a little sharpness to cut through the sweetness of the chocolate, but there wasn’t much left after her meal, which is always a sign of a good bake!

60 birthday wishes!

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My Uncle's amazing cake - and delicious too

My Uncle’s amazing cake – and delicious too

This time last year I discovered the recipe for the best chocolate cake in the world and all in the name of baking an amazing cake for my Uncle’s birthday.  This year I was given the weekend off as my Aunt arranged for an old friend, who is also a fantastic cake decorator, to bake the birthday boy a special cake.  However, I couldn’t let my uncle’s extra-special birthday pass without preparing some sort of treat for the whole family to enjoy together, so I instead decided to revisit an old favourite, egg-free meringues.

My original thought had been to use the meringues plus a great new product I’ve discovered to make a M-friendly Eton Mess dessert.  I read about Soyatoo! Rice Whip on the fantastic Lucy’s Friendly Foods blog and had immediately ordered both the rice and coconut whipping cream to keep at home.  I’m always looking for easy alternatives to use for desserts other than just cakes or biscuits and the rice whip fitted the bill.  A couple of weekends ago, I had whipped it to serve with some home-made apple and blackberry crumble and both children had cleared their bowls – a sure sign of a big culinary success.

However, inspired by the prospect of the new Great British Baker series starting next week, I thought I’d give a nod to macarons instead.  I didn’t venture into completely new territory by attempting to add ground almonds to the mix (that’s for another day), but did colour my meringue mixture before baking and paired them into sandwiches for serving.  I made flavoured buttercream icings to sandwich my meringues together and used M and G as taste-testers for the final product.  I had mixed success.  The yellow and pink meringues turned out beautifully, but the orange ones were an unmitigated disaster and ended up in the bin.  I made lemon and strawberry flavoured icing, filled the meringues and served the “macarons” in a dish. I would love to show you how they looked, but I forgot to take a “before” photo and this is all that’s left for the “after” one!

A single, solitary strawberry macaron left

A single, solitary strawberry macaron left

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY UNCLE R!

Delicious date and ginger cake

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I hadn’t been planning on yet another bake, but I remembered at the last minute that the children needed cake for the following afternoon at their holiday club.  Once again I needed to work with whatever was hiding in the cupboards and although G was keen for me to make my chocolate cake, I wanted to head in a new direction.  We’ve only just finished the frozen chocolate cupcakes leftover from our fundraising at the end of May, so I relished the idea of something different.  I’d recently bought a packet of dates and decided to investigate a date and ginger concoction instead.

SAM_1364I couldn’t find a good allergy-friendly recipe to use, but settled on this recipe and adapted it to make it M-friendly.  These days I try to find recipes that have not only already done some of the work for me, be they gluten-free, vegan or otherwise allergy-friendly, but that also look relatively easy to bake.  Fortunately, given my ever-growing experience in the kitchen, I was able to work out my substitutes fairly quickly and, once the children were in bed, started in the kitchen.  My biggest challenge to date then faced me.  My electronic scales had given up the ghost – I’m guessing the repeated falling out of the cupboard really hadn’t helped – and I had to revert to using my Nigella cups for measuring the ingredients instead.  I’ve never baked using just cup measurements before as I usually convert them into grams and millilitres, but needs must and all, so I rolled up my sleeves and got on with it.

20140728_223632I needn’t have worried as the final cake was delicious, though perhaps a little overdone from 5 minutes too long in the oven.  The ginger was a bit strong, though M insists that won’t hinder him eating the cake.  G is less sure, but is happy to eat it in small pieces and certainly didn’t refuse the slice offered to her for holiday club.

Sneaky Veg

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Courtesy of www.ndrc.ie

I am a past master of sneaking vegetables into my children’s dinners.  They’ve unknowingly enjoyed years of grated carrot mixed into baked beans; parsnips, swede, turnip or even cauliflower mashed into potatoes; and pureed peppers or mushrooms or sometimes both stirred into pasta dishes or satay chicken.  I’m not alone.  Mum grates courgette into their “Pasta Thursday” meal at her house each week and so far, we’ve both got away with it.  But, as my children grow older and their tastebuds mature, I’ve noticed they’ve become more discerning when there’s an additional flavour added into the dish and so I’m having to become even more cunning when it comes to get extra vegetables into my reluctant duo.

p-beetroot-superfo_1474379cWith a new bake in mind as well as the need to introduce a new vegetable to G, I decided to take a firm favourite in our household. the good ol’ chocolate cake and add that well-known twist, beetroot.  M has always enjoyed beetroot, but I have never been able to convince G to try even the tiniest morsel of it more than once in her 10 years.  I was confident that hiding it in chocolate cake would work and so took Nigella’s recipe and worked my magic to make a M-friendly version.

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I was a little nervous that eagle-eyed M might notice the beetroot baking in the oven and put 2 and 2 together when the chocolate cake appeared later, but he doesn’t seem to have made the connection, though I know he’s a little suspicious that it might be the “surprise” ingredient in the cake.  Both children enjoyed their slices, but G has forbidden me from telling her what the ingredients are until the whole cake is finished – just in case she decides she won’t eat any more once she knows.  It’s been a great success and yet another way to get one of those all important 5-a-day into G and M.

The best laid plans…

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Cupcake anyone?

Today is the penultimate day in National Eosinophil Awareness Week and our plans were to raise awareness and funds for FABED at school.  I had approached M and G’s headteacher last week to ask if we could hold a cake sale – and yes, I do realise the irony in that choice – during today’s Sports Day.  He readily agreed and the call went out, letting parents know about our cause and asking for donations of cake, and cash, for the day itself.  However, at around 2am this morning, when I heard the rain pounding down outside the bedroom window, I realised with a sinking heart that there was no chance of Sports Day happening and I would need to agree an alternate plan with the school to get rid of the 100 M-friendly cupcakes that were littering our kitchen. 20140523_152824 Fortunately, school have been fantastically supportive of our fundraising efforts this week and we were able to hold the cake sale at the end of the school day instead. Despite the last minute change to our plans, we raised an amazing £87 for FABED and even managed to hand out some information flyers about EGID to interested parents.  I was encouraged to be told by one parent that she had never heard of EGID before receiving the e-mail about the sale and so had gone on-line to find out more about the condition.  That, for me, has made all our efforts this week worth-while.

10368328_10152062730306123_2476405082926815390_oM and G were also keen to raise awareness with their teachers and late Wednesday evening, I came up with a plan that would get our message out.  Thanks to the generosity of FABED, I had a stash of their pens at home – bright pink and bearing the FABED logo – and, following a hasty head-count of the members of staff in the school, realised that there was enough for every teacher to be given one.  I painstakingly cut out pairs of glasses from “FABED-pink” paper, glued them to hand-made white card tags, inscribed them with the words “I am EGID aware..are you?” and attached the tag to each pen.  The end result was effective and M was delighted to be able to take them in to school with him this morning and hand them out to the teachers.  We had lots of positive feedback as they received their pens from him and I hope that this will encourage them to also find out a little more about EGID.  Knowing that at least 3 teachers have decided to use the FABED pens as their dedicated register pens assures me that it’ll be a constant reminder of EGID and not just a nice thing that happened on the Friday before half-term.  Not content to leave our awareness-raising with just school today, M also took some pens and left-over M-friendly carrot cake cupcakes to Stagecoach tonight for his teachers there to enjoy.  He’s been fab at handing them out today and has grown in confidence about explaining what it’s all about – as long as Mummy’s alongside to lend a helping hand when needed.

20140523_202419On the food front, Mike decided to eat exactly the same food as M today, matching him mouthful for mouthful, even down to the obligatory serving of Neocate at the end of the day.  I chose not to do the same this year as M has been off his food this week due to his flare and I need to keep my carbohydrate intake up to keep my T1D on an even keel, although I too have endured enjoyed a glass of Neocate!

M

Me

Mike
Breakfast
  •  Sliced pear
  • Black coffee
Lunch
  • Sakata rice crackers (4)
  • Free from spread
  • Fruit stars
  • Sesame snaps
  • Orgran Mini chocolate Outback biscuits

 
  • Rice flour toast (3 slices)
  • Smoked salmon trimmings mixed with cucumber, tomato and egg-free mayonnaise

 
  • Sakata rice crackers (4)
  • Free from spread
  • Fruit stars
  • Sesame snaps
  • Orgran Mini chocolate Outback biscuits
Dinner
  •  4 tbsp Risotto (Arborio rice, onion, garlic, bacon, courgette, mushroom, corn & vegetable stock)
  • 150mls rice milk
  •  Risotto (Arborio rice, onion, garlic, bacon, courgette, mushroom, corn & vegetable stock)
  •  4 tbsp Risotto (Arborio rice, onion, garlic, bacon, courgette, mushroom, corn & vegetable stock)
  • 150mls rice milk
Snacks
  • Carrot cake cupcake
  • Nakd Cocoa Orange Date bar
  • 1x 350mls Neocate Active flavoured with Crusha strawberry milkshake syrup
  •  1x 350mls Neocate Active flavoured with Crusha strawberry milkshake syrup
  •  Carrot cake cupcake
  • Nakd Pecan Pie Date bar
  • 1x 350mls Neocate Active flavoured with Crusha strawberry milkshake syrup

If you would like to donate to FABED and the wonderful work they do supporting families like ours coping with children with EGID, please see their JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/FABED/

 

An early start to Awareness week

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local_radio_graphicNational Eosinophilic Awareness Week started today, but my bid to raise awareness of this rare condition in fact started on Friday afternoon.  Last year, Mike and I looked to raise awareness amongst our work colleagues, so my plans for this year obviously had to be bigger and better and I started by e-mailing the local press to see if anyone would be interested in running our story.  To my delight, late last Wednesday I was invited to appear on our local BBC radio station to talk about M, EGID and coping with the daily battles we have to face, including cooking for a child with multiple food allergies.  I accepted the offer and Friday afternoon saw me heading into the BBC building with a batch of freshly baked M-friendly cupcakes to share with the presenter and other guests.

 

10348778_10152049176741123_2166202480088495019_oThe cakes were well received, even by the security guards, who were keen to find out more about why I was bringing the cakes into the studio and enjoyed the M-friendly treats I left with them after the show. It was an amazing experience and I can’t thank our local radio enough for giving me the opportunity to get the message about EGID out into our community.  I was able to share, both on and off air, a little about the challenges those of us living with EGID have to deal with and the prognosis for M and children like him.

But, our Awareness week activities don’t stop there.  This time last year, I wrote about our decision to “eat like M” during the week:  one year on and we’re repeating the experience, although we have the added challenge of dropping raisins, raspberries and potatoes out of the diet too.  Actually, this isn’t as tough for me as it is for Mike – I’m not a big fan of raisins and can’t eat potatoes at all due to my own intolerance to them.  We have some more awareness-raising events planned for the week ahead, but for now, I’ll leave you with our meals for the day:

M

Me

Mike
Breakfast
  •  Sliced pear
 Bowl of:

  • Free-from cornflakes
  • Free=from rice pops
  • Rice milk
Lunch
  • Roast chicken
  • Sweet potato wedges
  • Corn
  • Peas
  • Carrots
  • Roast parsnips
  • Really not dairy mayonnaise


  • Roast chicken
  • Sweet potato wedges
  • Corn
  • Peas
  • Carrots
  • Roast parsnips
  • Really not dairy garlic mayonnaise
Dinner
  • Rice bread toast (2)
  • Peanut butter
  • Orgran tinned spaghetti
  • Apple (1/2)
  • Cucumber

 
  • Corn tortilla chips
  • Home-made tomato salsa (Tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli flakes, chilli powder, olives, corn)
  • Home-made cucumber raita (coconut cream, chopped cucumber, chilli flakes)
  • Corn tortilla chips
  • Home-made tomato salsa (Tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli flakes, chilli powder, olives, corn)
  • Home-made cucumber raita (coconut cream, chopped cucumber, chilli flakes)

 
Snacks

 

  
  •  Dried apricots

Easter biscuits and Simnel Cake

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Courtesy of annapolisfork.com

Courtesy of annapolisfork.com

I’m not entirely sure what madcap idea took hold last week,  but I decided to spend part of Good Friday baking Easter biscuits and Simnel Cake for M and G to enjoy.  My experience of these 2 culinary delights is limited; I have had the odd Easter biscuit to eat in the past 30-odd years, but have to confess that I’ve never even nibbled at a slice of Simnel Cake.  What possessed me to try my hand at a cake that I couldn’t pick out of a blind taste test, I have no idea, but I was inspired to produce adequate alternatives and let M and G try some traditional treats.

I expected Simnel cake to be my biggest challenge and decided to start researching a relatively easy recipe to adapt for M.  To my surprise and absolute delight, my Google search uncovered this wonderful recipe for gluten-, dairy- and egg-free SImnel cake that was published in The Guardian newspaper on April 12th.  I don’t think I have ever seen a recipe that is so allergy-friendly in the mainstream media and I couldn’t wait to start baking.

Not bad for a first attempt!

Not bad for a first attempt!

I was thrilled with the end result and decided to decorate it in a manner that dates back to the Victorian era.  Traditionally, 11 balls of marzipan are rolled and used, with the story that these represent the 12 apostles minus Judas, though you can also use 12 marzipan balls for Jesus, the 12 apostles minus Judas.  In trying to understand the meaning behind this decoration, I discovered that Simnel cake was traditionally baked on the middle Sunday of Lent, which is also Mothering Sunday in the UK, and allows a relaxing of the 40-day fast typically followed during Lent.

 

First item ticked off the list and it was time to move on to the Easter biscuits.  Having grown up in the West Country, I decided to use another traditional recipe and use Cassia Oil to flavour these delicate biscuits, instead of the usual mix of cinnamon and mixed spice.  Thanks to the amazing blog, Alimentary Bites, I was presented with not just one recipe, but 2 to choose from.  I picked one at random, made a few minor adjustments to accommodate M’s dietary needs and whipped up a batch for the children to try.  There’s nothing to match the delicious smell of home-baking filling the house and G and M quickly gathered around the oven to make their claim as the biscuits emerged from the oven.

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All in all, a winning baking session and 2 more recipes to add to my M-friendly repetoire. Both biscuits and cake were delicious, scored full marks from my discerning duo and disappeared quickly over the Easter weekend.  Children and adults alike complimented me on the flavour of these goodies and I’m thrilled to have successfully navigated another festival with some wonderful and safe treats.