A Gluten/Dairy/Egg Free Birthday Celebration is easier to make than you might expect.
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| Gluten/Dairy/Egg Free Strawberry Shortcake with Dairy Free Strawberry Ice Cream |
Last week we celebrated my hubby’s birthday. It was a bittersweet birthday as it’s the first birthday he’s had without his dad. My 8-year old commented on how sad it was that Ye Ye (referring to his paternal grandfather in Mandarin Chinese) had passed away just a few weeks before daddy’s birthday.
With that said, I knew I needed to come up with something special for this birthday celebration, breaking tradition with our standard birthday cake. I hoped that mixing it up a bit might take away some of the sadness surrounding this birthday.Â
As I agonized over what kind of birthday cake to make, I came across Kim’s recipe for The Most Unbelievable Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Strawberry Shortcake on her Cook It Allergy Free blog. Although we only have one person in our family that has a gluten/dairy/egg allergy, I wanted to make just one cake for everyone, but I knew it had to be really good.Â
Most store bought gluten free cake mixes use white rice flour, not whole grain flours; I wanted a cake that was healthier and tasted good. What I like about Kim’s recipe is that it not only uses nut flour and whole grain flours, but Kim also provides suggestions for milk and egg substitutions (including one I had never used before). I used hazelnut flour, Soy Free Earth Balance, So Delicious Plain Coconut Milk Yogurt (we also have almond and soy allergies), and Kim’s suggested egg substitution. The batter was nice and light, and the cake came out really moist and rich.
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| The batter for this cake is nice and light like regular cake batter. I sprinkled some coconut on top. |
Served with ice cream, this gluten-free Strawberry Shortcake tasted just like the real deal. Fortuitously, this past week, I also came upon a recipe for Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Strawberry Ice Cream from Living Without on Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom’s  Weekly Menu Plan.  I haven’t seen dairy/soy free strawberry ice cream in the stores yet, so I decided to try making this dairy-free strawberry ice cream recipe which uses coconut milk and lots of fresh strawberries. Paired with the Strawberry Shortcake, this birthday dessert was a hit! With or without allergies, everyone loved this cake and ice cream combination.Â
Thanks Kim from Cook It Allergy Free and Heidi from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom for providing me with such timely recipes and for making this birthday cheery! You brought smiles to everyone’s faces!!
Gluten Free Fruit and Nut Snack Bars {Nature Valley $500 Gift Card Sweepstakes}
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I am so happy to hear that you were able to provide a wonderful birthday treat for the whole family. This sounds and looks delicious. Yummy!
Wow! That looks incredible, Jeanette! Thanks so much for sharing.
Happy birthday to your husband! Great way to celebrate:)
Thanks everyone! The combination of the strawberry shortcake and strawberry ice cream was perfect for a birthday celebration!
Your photos are absolutely divine, Jeanette!
Thanks Meg, when you're working with fresh ingredients, it's hard to take a bad picture!
This looks great. Do you think it could be made as cupcakes? My son’s birthday is coming up, and I want to take a treat to his preschool, but I have to accomodate gluten, dairy, soy, and egg allergies, which doesn’t leave me with a lot of options. Since it is a small class of students, though, it would be nice to bring cupcakes rather than a big cake.
I don’t know if this would well for cupcakes. From what I remember, this cake is very moist, so it’s fine as a cake, but might not hold up too well in cupcake form. If you’re looking for something easy to make, perhaps try using Bob’s Red Mill GF Cake Mix or King Arthur Flour GF Cake Mix and substituting chia “eggs” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 3 tablespoons water – mix and let it sit for a few minutes – it will become gelatinous). Dairy-free milk and Earth Balance Buttery Sticks work well as dairy-free replacements, and sometimes olive oil can be used as well depending on if the recipe calls for softened butter (I would use Earth Balance here) or melted butter (olive oil would be fine here).