Egg-Free, Milk-Free, Nut-Free Root Beer Cupcakes

By Kelley Lindberg


I’ve posted this super-easy allergy-friendly recipe for cupcakes before, but since I just made them in a different flavor for my son’s birthday, I thought I’d post it again. The cupcakes have only 2 ingredients: a box of safe cake mix, and a can of soda. I promise, it works, and it is ridiculously easy! Forget the instructions on the box, which call for oil, water, and eggs. Just use a can of club soda (my usual recipe) or regular soda. In this case, since I was making Root Beer cupcakes, I used a can of root beer. For the frosting, use your own recipe (or Pillsbury Creamy Supreme vanilla frosting, which contains soy), and add in some root beer concentrate.

(OK, I lied. If you live at high altitude, you'll want to add 2 Tbsp of flour to the cake mix. So there are 3 ingredients for high-altitude cooks.)

Duncan Hines makes several flavors of cake mix that are free from eggs, milk, and nuts. For my Root Beer cupcakes, I used the Duncan Hines Classic Yellow cake mix, which contains soy and wheat.

I haven’t tried it with a gluten-free cake mix yet, so if you try it, let me know if it works!

Root Beer Cupcakes

• 1 box safe cake mix (such as Duncan Hines Classic Yellow cake mix)
• high altitude only: 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 can root beer
• 2 tubs Pillsbury Creamy Supreme vanilla frosting (or other safe frosting)
• 1 - 2 Tbsp root beer concentrate (sold in the baking aisle, next to the vanilla extract)

Put the dry cake mix in a mixing bowl. (If you’re at high altitude, add 2 Tbsp flour to the cake mix.) Pour in the can of root beer. Beat on low for 30 seconds until mixed, then beat at a higher speed for 2 minutes. Pour into cupcake papers in a muffin tin. Bake according to the directions for cupcakes on the box (usually 350 degrees for 18 – 21 minutes). Cool on a rack.

When ready to frost, dump both tubs of frosting into a bowl, then add 1 Tbsp of the root beer concentrate and mix well. Add more root beer concentrate if you want a stronger flavor.

Frost. Serve. Enjoy. Smile gracefully at the compliments. Hand out seconds.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Super-Easy Allergy-Free Cupcake Recipe

by Kelley Lindberg


Six dozen cupcakes. 72. Way more than sane people make.

That’s what I made this weekend. My son’s soccer coach invited the whole team and their families to a barbeque to celebrate the end of the season. He provided the meat (a wonderful smoked brisket) and everyone else was supposed to bring a potluck dish to share.

My rule for parties is to always volunteer to bring the dessert. That is where nuts are most likely to appear (why are nuts an obligatory part of everyone’s favorite dessert recipe?), so I figure if I bring the dessert, I can control a lot of the nut contamination at the event. My son and his best friend are both on the team, so this time I knew we were dealing with not just my son’s peanut and nut allergy, but also his friend’s nut, milk, and egg allergy. So that made me even more determined to bring dessert – that way our boys would get the dessert, even if they couldn’t eat anything else. (The friend always brings his own bag of safe food to parties like this, because the risk of cross-contamination is just too high.)

So there I was, making six dozen cupcakes.

And you know what? It wasn’t that bad! In fact, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, because the allergic friend’s mom (Kim, my dear friend and partner-in-crime for the last 13 years of playdates, parties, school, and other events) gave me her new secret recipe for making super-easy safe cupcakes (milk-, egg-, and nut-free). Okay, it isn't really secret, and it was shared a while ago on the UFAN email list, but it was new to me, and it worked out really well, so...

Now I’m going to give you the recipe. Are you ready? Here it is:

    Super-Easy Allergy-Free Cupcake Recipe

• 1 box Duncan Hines cake mix
• 1 12-oz. can of club soda

    Mix, bake, frost, eat.

Seriously? Seriously. That’s all there is to it.

Duncan Hines makes several flavors (yellow, spice, chocolate, red velvet, lemon, etc.) that contain only wheat – no eggs, milk, or soy. Check ingredient labels carefully, because not all of their flavors are milk-free. You may have other cake mixes you like that are safe, and this should work just fine with those, too. It might even work with your favorite gluten-free cake mix, but I haven’t tried that yet. (Betty Crocker makes gluten-free yellow and devils-food chocolate cake mixes that are free from milk, eggs, and nuts, but they do contain soy or a soy warning.)

So grab a box of safe cake mix, pour in a can of club soda, mix it up, and bake according to the time on the box. Forget the oil and eggs that the box calls for. You don’t need ‘em.

I’ve heard you can also use a can of Sprite instead of the club soda. But that adds more sugar, so I like using club soda. (Cake mixes already have plenty of sugar – no need to add more.)

For frosting, I use Pillsbury Creamy Supreme, which contains soy, but is free from milk, eggs, and nuts. Then I sprinkle them with colored sugar or Enjoy Life Foods’ mini chocolate chips (or both). Voila! Instant cupcakes.

Here’s the best part. They seemed to be a big hit at the party. The team devoured them (most had multiple cupcakes), and I got lots of compliments from the parents, too.

And I didn’t have to tell a soul that they were milk-, egg-, and nut-free. No one could tell. If I had told people they were allergy-friendly, I wonder how many people would have declined them, thinking they would taste “off.” But I didn’t, no one knew any different, and everyone was happy. Especially the teenage soccer players, who all had seconds, thirds, and in at least one case, fourths.

Funny how hungry teen boys can make six dozen cupcakes disappear in a heartbeat! And it made me happy knowing that the treat was a safe way for our allergic boys to not feel left out of this sweet part of the party.

Allergy-Safe Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

by Kelley Lindberg


Over the weekend, we went to a Halloween party – kids and grownups alike dressed up and spent a fun evening eating and having a great time.

Here’s something crazy: Four of the six families there had kids with food allergies. We didn’t plan it that way. We didn’t go out and hunt for folks with allergies. Food allergies are just becoming that common.

So anyway, in addition to our usual prohibition of milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame seeds, fish, and shellfish (which we’ve been eliminating from our parties for years), at this party we also got to eliminate gluten and citrus fruits.

And it still worked out great, with plenty of food to spare! We had tacos with all the fixings (including Daiya cheese and Tofutti sour cream), salsa, corn chips, pinto beans, Spanish rice, Jell-O Jigglers, cornbread, and pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes. Those cupcakes were so good! I asked Cathy if I could post her recipe here, and she graciously said yes. They’re easy to make using an allergy-safe yellow cake mix! So here is her super-yummy recipe, just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving get-togethers.

Cathy’s Allergy-Safe Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

• 1 box safe yellow cake mix (Cathy used Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix)
• 1 15-oz can of pumpkin (make sure it’s canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/4 ground cloves)
• 1/4 c. rice milk
• 1/2 c. dairy-free, nut-free chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)
• Frosting
• Safe decorations, like colored sugar, safe sprinkles, or plastic spider rings

Mix the cake mix according to the directions on the box, then add in the pumpkin, spice, rice milk, and chocolate chips. Pour into paper cupcake liners, and bake according to the instructions on the box. (Cathy baked hers at 350 degrees for 18 – 20 minutes.) Cool, frost, and decorate!

For frosting, try Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Cream Cheese Frosting (warning: contains soy), or use your own safe recipe. Cathy used this recipe, which tasted amazing:

Cathy’s Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting (contains soy)

• 1/4 c Tofutti dairy-free cream cheese
• 1/4 c safe margarine (such as Earth Balance or Nucoa)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 c powdered sugar

Beat until smooth, then frost.

 

Thank you so much, Cathy!

Allergy-Free Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes!

by Kelley Lindberg


My son, the human whirlwind, just celebrated his birthday again. How he keeps getting so big while I stay so young is beyond me (although watching 17 kids race around Classic Fun Center skating, going wild on the bouncies, and shooting each other with laser tag aged me a few decades, I think). Anyway, he had a blast with all his best buddies.

Because my son and his best friend have food allergies, we’ve always had to make their birthday cakes and cupcakes. No adorable store-bought cakes for us, unfortunately. So over the years, some other moms and I have found some safe cake recipes, and I’ve often used Cherrybrook Kitchen’s yummy safe cake mixes. So out of necessity, I’ve learned how to make birthday cakes shaped like a skateboard, a jet plane, a space shuttle, a swimming pool, Pikachu, a Power Ranger, and Lego bricks. (Thank goodness for the internet and creative people – I can usually find simple instructions for making fun cakes online!) This year, he wanted cupcakes decorated to look like Pokéballs. (For those of you without pre-teen boys, those are balls that contain Pokémon critters when they aren’t battling each other or having adventures.)

A couple of months ago, a friend discovered that Duncan Hines now makes a few cake mixes without milk or eggs in them – just wheat. So I decided to give them a try. My son wanted the lemon cake and the red velvet cake flavors, so that’s what we bought.

Each mix calls for 3 eggs, so instead of the eggs, I substituted Ener-G egg replacer, and I had to add 1/4 cup flour to each because of the high altitude here, but they turned out great! The red velvet cake was a bit crumbly, but both cakes mixes turned out well, and I was able to frost them with Pillsbury Creamy Supreme frosting (contains soy) without any trouble. I used colored sprinkles for the colored half of the Pokéballs, Wilton’s Black Decorator Icing for the black lines (contains soy and wheat), and Smarties for the buttons. Voila! Mucho “cool mom” points.

So if you’re looking for an easy way to make your next birthday cake or cupcake, you might give those Duncan Hines cake mixes a try. These are the Duncan Hines cake flavors {http://www.duncanhines.com/products/cakes} that their web site says contain only wheat (but check labels carefully – ingredients can change at any time):

• Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix
• Classic Yellow Cake Mix
• Spice Premium Cake Mix
• Butter Recipe Fudge Cake Mix
• Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• Devil’s Food Cake Mix
• German Chocolate Cake Mix
• Red Velvet Cake Mix
• Swiss Chocolate Cake Mix
• Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
• Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix (contains soy and wheat)

Happy baking!

 

Gluten-Free Resources in Davis County

Yesterday, the Bizarro comic strip in the local newspaper was a cocktail party scene where a bunch of superheroes are standing around with little plates and drinks in hand. Wonder Woman says to Superman, “These are delicious! Have you tried the kryptonite puffs? Oops!... Sorry.”

Superman has a food allergy! Who knew?

For all you Super People in Davis County, Utah, for whom gluten or wheat is your own personal kryptonite, I have good news for you: I’ve found a couple of stores in Layton that stock gluten-free foods and supplies (like flour), as well as a new gluten-free bakery opening next week in Kaysville.

Gluten Free Foods in Layton is a completely gluten-free store! They’re located at 1596 N Hill Field Rd, in Layton, and they’re open Tuesday through Saturday (closed Sunday and Monday). Drop in and talk to the friendly owner about her great selection of gluten-free foods. 801-776-1330.

Harvest Moon Health Foods is a health food store whose owners avoid gluten in their own diets, so they have a good selection of everything from tortillas to bread to pastas, as well as lots of gluten-free protein drinks and supplements. They’re located in Layton at 2146 N Main in Antelope Square (in the strip mall next to Kmart), and they have another store in South Ogden at 1735 E. Skyline Dr. Layton store: 801-825-1389; South Ogden store: 801-479-9474.

Craving gluten-free treats like cookies, cupcakes, mini bundt cakes, or brownies? Your dreams are coming true! At our meeting last Wednesday, Allison Regan, owner of the gluten-free bakery Sweet Cake Bake Shop came to introduce herself and she brought free samples! Trust me, her chocolate chips cookies were unbelievably delicious. Big, soft, chocolaty, and yummy! She’s planning to have her bakery open next week, just in time to fill orders for dried bread cubes (to make gluten-free stuffing, and she’ll provide the recipe!) and gluten-free pie crusts for those holiday pies.

It’s really wonderful to have a resource like hers in this area. She said a grown man actually had tears in his eyes when he tried her chocolate cupcakes, because it had been so long since he’d had a good chocolate cake. When you can bring happiness like that to someone, you know you’re on the right track! Her store is located at 237 W. 200 N., in Kaysville. 801-444-3288.

If you have other food allergies, like nuts, milk, or eggs, note that Allison and other manufacturers often use nut flours in their baked goods, as well as milk and egg products. Allison did talk to us a lot at our meeting about products she could use that would eliminate milk from her baked goods, because so many people who have gluten issues also are allergic to milk. So that may happen in the future, but for now, know that if you have additional food allergies, call ahead to these stores or to Allison to find out if they have any products that are safe for your family.

But for people with celiac disease or wheat allergies, these resources may help bring a little sunshine into their lives! Enjoy!

Holiday Shopping

“Got your holiday shopping done yet?” everyone keeps asking.

Yeah, right. Christmas is still two and a half weeks away. What’s the rush? I’m still washing sand out of my swimsuit from my Thanksgiving trip. I’m still wearing tank tops because I haven’t had time to swap my summer shirts out of the closet and move the winter sweaters in. (It takes a lot of tank tops to stay warm.)

What’s worse is I’m hosting a holiday party tonight, and I still haven’t decorated my tree, hung a wreath, or figured out if I still have paper plates lying around somewhere I can use. I also haven’t cleaned the bathrooms, run the vacuum, or dusted. (Those shelves are supposed to be gray and fuzzy, right? Can I pretend it’s artificial snow and not dust?)

Procrastination seems to be my official vocabulary word for December.

I don’t have any idea what to get my son yet for the holidays. He seems to change his mind every other minute. Now he wants a Wii (fat chance). Yesterday he wanted a Nerf shoot-em-up assault something-or-other (mommy doesn’t do guns, remember dear?). The day before that, it was a PSP (but you already have a Nintendo DS!). Last week, there was something about Guitar Hero, or maybe a real electric guitar. And a boy-sized jeep that really runs (right, keep dreaming). Or a pet (ack!), or a giant Legos city, complete with working plumbing, a functioning government, and trade deals with Japan.

I think I’ll get him a rock. It always worked for Charlie Brown. Or maybe that was Halloween. I can’t keep anything straight these days.

Anyway, while I was flipping desperately through store ads in the paper last week, I came across the Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker. Seems that’s the popular item for girls this year. It looks kind of cool, but the pink would definitely not go over well with my son, despite the obvious cupcake appeal. I think the manufacturers shot themselves in the foot by making it pink. I know a lot of cupcake-eating boys, myself. Oh well. So far, it’s the only thing NOT on his list.

The really interesting thing about the Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker, however, is that the cupcake mixes are gluten-free. Who knew? It’s not really advertised anywhere that way – but it’s making the rounds in the food allergy network. The year’s “must have” toy for girls, and it’s gluten-free? That’s pretty remarkable.

Now, if I could just find something remarkable that’s on my son’s list and that doesn’t cost the equivalent of a college education. (Sorry, son, we would have sent you to college, but we got you that “starter” pack of Bakugan cards and figurines when you were 10 instead, remember?)

Good luck with your shopping! And let me know if you find Guitar Hero on sale, for like $1.98.