So, my middle son turns 2 next week. In preparing for his birthday, I've had the challenge of keeping several allergies in mind. I can't order a cake from a bakery, because my oldest son can't have artificial food dyes. So that leaves me to make the birthday cake (or else make a separate one for Xander, and if I'm going to make one, might as well just make the whole cake, anyway). In addition to the dyes, a guest at the party is allergic to soy, dairy, eggs, and nuts (among others), so I wanted the cake to be safe for him, as well.
I found a boxed cake mix that was free of all his allergens, so that part was easy. Next I came to the icing. Now, I knew I could make a basic icing with shortening (non-hydrogenated palm shortening by Spectrum, of course) and powdered sugar, but I really wanted something less sweet. I was led to this link for cooked frosting, which has the bonus of using regular sugar instead of powdered. But of course, it contains milk. So I decided to experiment. What I ended up with was a fabulous, not-too-sweet dairy-free icing. Here was my final recipe (if you want to duplicate it, please read the entire link I posted - they have lots of important tips and detailed instructions):
1/2 cup coconut milk (the canned kind, not the sweetened version in the refrigerated section)
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Spectrum shortening
It turned out yummy, with only a slight coconut flavor. I plan to try once more with a few changes - I want to use sucanat instead of sugar (I'll run it through the food processor first) and add cocoa powder to make a chocolate frosting (which should cover up both the coconut taste and the brown color from the sucanat). I'll update on how that turns out.
To decorate the cake in addition to the frosting, I found naturally-colored sugar crystals at Whole Food's, as well as chocolate candy covered sunflower seeds at Trader Joe's (also naturally dyed - they look similar to pastel M&Ms). I can't wait for our beautiful allergy-free cake for my baby's second birthday.
Yay! :D
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