Allergy friendly. cupcake happy!

Last year for my son Landon’s 2nd birthday, I created a beach theme setup of cupcakes. I bought non-edible cupcake toppers, including tiny drink umbrellas and flip flops (keychains from Party City) and flip flop candles (Wilton). For the sand, I dipped frosted cupcakes into crushed graham crackers. And I frosted a few cupcakes with blue frosting to represent the ocean. Pretty easy, and everybody loved them.

Birthday and other celebration cakes are probably one of the biggest challenges for those of us in the allergen-free world. If you’re not lucky enough to have an allergen-friendly bakery near you, you may have to bake your own cake. Personally, I see this more as an adventure than a challenge.

The hard part is finding the perfect recipe. I’ve tried several cake recipes by different bloggers and cookbook authors. Here in my blog, I provide you with my favorite “go-to” recipes. The recipe on this post is a basic vanilla cupcake. For a good chocolate cupcake recipe, see my post on Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.

Once you have the right recipes, all you need is inspiration. With the internet at our fingertips, there are so many ideas out there, and you don’t need to take a cake decorating class or buy expensive equipment to make them happen. Do a Google search on theme cakes, get ideas from bakery websites, or check out birthday cakes on bettycrocker.com (great for video tutorials). You’ll eventually find an idea that will work for your event. True, this is not as easy as buying a cake from the store, but that’s what Cupcake Love is all about. As allergy moms, we sometimes have to go the extra mile for our kids. For me, it was well worth the effort to see the smile on Savannah’s face when she got the panda cake that she wanted so badly on her birthday.

Frosting tips: In the recipe below, I use shortening in order to get a pure white frosting, which is easier to tint with food coloring than a frosting made with margarine. To save a few steps, you can buy canned frostings (many brands are dairy-free). After certain holidays, I sometimes buy the colored frostings on clearance to keep on hand for the next special occasion cake I need to make.

I hope you enjoy your baking adventures as much as I do!

Adapted from chefchloe.com

VEGAN VANILLA CUPCAKES WITH VANILLA FROSTING
Makes 24 Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups coconut milk or other non-dairy milk
1 cup canola oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract or seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with paper liners. Spray with allergen-free baking spray.
2. Whisk together the sugar, baking soda, salt, and flour into a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the non-dairy milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla until smooth.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix with a whisk.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners until each cup is 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool in pans ten minutes. Remove from pans to cool completely.

Vanilla Frosting
8 cups confectioners’ sugar, preferably organic
1 cup allergen-free shortening (recommended: Earth Balance Non-Hydrogenated shortening sticks)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract (if you want a PURE white frosting, use Wilton brand Clear Vanilla Extract)
1/2 cup water

Procedure

1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, margarine, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. With the mixer running, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time, until the desired buttercream consistency.
3. Tint frosting as needed.