A Gluten/Dairy/Egg Free Birthday Celebration

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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!!