I know that I have mentioned that in an effort to stop taking allergy medication 365 days a year I had my blood tested in December and found out that I am allergic to everything. It's really not different than what happened when I had a skin test at the age of 16 and found out I was allergic to everything. Except this time, it's food. DARN IT. No wheat, no dairy, no eggs, no soy, no cinnamon, no vanilla, no cocoa, no garlic, no onions, no lettuce, etc. The list goes on and on. For 6 months I have to eliminate these things. The only things that I have "cheated" on are cocoa and vanilla. Come on, you can't take those two things away from a baker!
Due to the magic of Facebook, I found out that my friend Melissa is also doing food-elimination for the health of her nursing baby. She has had much success and it's been great to be able to support each other in this effort. As we were talking, she asked me if I would try gluten-free, dairy-free baking and make some cupcakes for her daughter's first birthday party on February 18th. I got excited - I am always up for a challenge! (You saw my first-attempt with my V-Day cupcakes. Here are the finished product for my first gluten-free, dairy-free cupcake order!)
Since I knew that I wouldn't be able to do a lot of decorations (and Melissa wasn't going to want to pay for a lot of decorations even if I could figure it out) I decided to use these beautiful liners and toppers that I bought last fall.
Aren't they just perfect for a One-Year-Old girl's party?
Have I taken a photo yet of these really sweet cupcake spoons and cups that I found? They are used for decoration more than anything at this point!
Many of my normal cups were dirty so I brought out the Matroishka dolls - they always make me so happy.
When baking in a gluten-free manner, there are many, many flours involved. There is really no "one-substitute" for wheat flour, so most recipes and professional bakers encourage you to use a mixture.
When I bought the pretty cupcake liners and toppers, the gentleman at the store encouraged me not to bake the cupcakes in the liners, because they loose their color. I have seen a lot of bakeries use an extra liner for decor, so this is what I did here!
Melissa ordered 36 cupcakes and the doubled recipe I used made exactly 38. So Steve and I each got to try one! (Baked in silicone from my great friend Joe.)
Here are the cupcakes, resting and waiting for frosting.
After tasting the vanilla cupcakes, Melissa asked if I would do half of the cupcakes with chocolate frosting. According to the "list of common food allergies and when to give them to your child," children aren't supposed to have chocolate before the age of 3. However, she thought it would be nice for the adults.
Let me just tell you, she was right. Whereas the vanilla cupcakes taste good but still taste not-like-a-normal-cupcake, the chocolate frosted cupcakes were 100% amazing. AMAZING.
They sure aren't as pretty as the ones with the bird toppers, but I still think they have just the right amount of color.
I think the colors of the sprinkles really picks up the colors of the birds, and they made a nice presentation.
The cupcake tower!!! All decked out with my pretty gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free cupcakes! (These are even yeast-free, too!)
I just love these - I think I make the cutest cupcakes ever, don't you!?!?
yes!
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