cake recipe for special diet?

and can you pull a rabbit out of a hat too?

My God. These are the orders I just refuse to take.

But apparently you do. So let me get this straight.......
you need a frosted cake with no:
gluten,
dairy,
sugar (I'm assuming that by sugar you mean white refined sugar, since honeys and syrups are also basically sugars)
and no artificial sweeteners.

Ok, the gluten thing is easy enough to get around. Oat or soy flour I suppose.

No dairy means no eggs or milk.....I guess you can get around that with applesauce or prune puree.

But saying "no sugar" but also "no artificial sugar substitutes"....that rules out Splenda for sure.

You know I really don't know how you can make any kind of decent "cake" without some sort of sugar. Would they accept something like organic evaporated cane juice sugar? I use that to keep my vegans happy. If you used honey, molasses, or the like, your "cake" would just seem like a major sog fest.

The ganache part is easy....there was another thread where people were saying soy creamer worked for ganache ok.

Hope you can work something out.

If it were me, I'm sure the money they'd be willing to pay me to research and make the cake wouldn't even be worth it.

honey cake, etc

I'm pretty sure the reason for the pan of water under the honey cake as it's baking has to do with creating a little steam in the oven. The steam prevents a skin or crust from forming prematurely on the top of the cake, allowing it to expand to it's full potential. Much the same principle for getting a full oven jump and a crisp crust from a loaf of french bread.

I did a little Googling for vegan recipes, and there's quite a lot to choose from on the web. Here's one in particular:http://www.recipezaar.com/123615
I think you could sub the wheat flour with the oat flour and it would be ok. Perhaps a bit crumbly at the worst.

In fact, you might find something more to your liking here:http://www.recipezaar.com/r/168/173

But do note that most of the cake recipes do contain some sort of sugar.
Evaporated cane juice sugar is most used by vegan bakeries.

Sometimes it helps to know why your client is saying "no" to sugar. A lot of people can be misinformed about ingredients and not actually know what they are talking about. When this client says "the kid can't have sugar", ask them to explain...."do you mean refined sugar? can they have fructose? Is it a medical condition or a dietary preference?"

Some people don't even KNOW about the existence of non-refined organic sugars....you can educate them and make your life easier too.

I happen to live in a town FULL of vegans. I kind of know the whole deal with them. I'm not saying your clients are actually vegans, but their dietary restrictions sound like that's pretty close. Sometimes you have to say to your clients, "Look, I can't bake any kind of decent cake with the restrictions you have given me......I think we have to look at alternatives." There's always fruit tarts, or fruit based desserts that are suitable.....and also, you may want to ask "why cake?' Must it be cake?"

I have a philosophy that I will not make anything that I feel tastes like crap. If someone tells me "I want cake, but I don't want sugar, flour, eggs or other dairy" then I tell them, "you know what? I can't make a cake I would feel good about considering those restrictions." Then I try to steer them toward something that will taste GOOD and satisfy their dietary needs.

Ok, I admit it. I hate vegans. They make my life hard. They want their diet but they want the fun stuff too. I say if you choose to be freakin' vegan, then live in your own little ****.
Don't ask me to bend over backwards for you.
/ok, end rant.

Oh, and for the decorating/writing part of the cake......you could just do a little red and blue on the top with some strawberries and blueberries, then on a strip of cut-out marzipan, write "Happy 4th of July" in your thickened soy ganache.......then place that on top of the berries.......

Instead of the papercut outs for happy fourth of July, try some strawberries, blueberries, bananas in a old glory red/white/blue pattern. I've done this taking the banana slices and cutting them into star shapes and laying all the fruit in strips, etc.
Or, Puree fruit with gelaten after it sets up, cut out red and blue stars, layout across the cake. Take it from my experiance though, don't count on this one on a very hot day.
The cake also sounds like a candidate for lush decorations out of fresh summer flowers.

Hi Lentil,

Cooking/Baking for those of us with dietary requirements is not always easy. It gets even harder when you increase the number of items in the NO column. I might ask if Stevia be an acceptable sub for sugar. It's natural and diabetic friendly.

You might check thru a few of these recipes shown below. GF = Gluten Free, CF = Casein Free or Dairy Free.

One other thing you need to be concerned about is cross contamination. For a Celiac, even a crumb can make people sick. If you want to be safe - new pans [never having touched gluten] should be used. Gluten can remain in scratches and cut marks. Wooden spoons [used for gluten] are not to be used. Any porous surfaces are suspect and should not be used. Everything must be meticulously clean. This may sound like I'm being picky or fussy - it's not because I want to be. It's not a just a matter of likes or dislikes - it's a matter of health, a medical necessity. I don't want to scare anyone in your profession away from this, but it can be done. With a little knowledge, a little planning..it's a piece of cake! :) :p From experience, I can tell you, the extra work you put into this to make your customer happy & healthy will be appreciated beyond on belief! We are a loyal bunch. If we know we can eat out safely - we rarely will turn our backs!

Flourless Banana Cake

GFCF Basic Chocolate Cake - milk subsititue can be Rice milk [NOT Rice Dream - it's not GF], Silk Soy Milk, Almond Breeze. Some recipes you could probably get by with Coconut milk.

Here's an index of other GF baked goodies. You will find the 2 above in this list.

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Oat flour would not be acceptable for someone on a gluten free diet. While pure, uncontaminated oats can be tolerated by many on a GF diet - it's probably safer to stay away from oats all together.

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There are many flours that can be substituted in place of regular flour when baking gluten-free products. This list does not mention them all. When baking it's always best to combine several flours together to get the best taste & texture. Here's a chart on mixing flours (keep scrolling till you see it]. Here are some Flour mix recipes.

Amaryth flour adds a good flavor but since it does not stick together well when cooked on its own, it should be used in combination with other flours, to make cakes, biscuits and pancakes.

Buckwheat flour should be used in small amounts only because it has a very strong flavor and is sometimes difficult to digest.

Carob flour can be used in cakes, biscuits, drinks, desserts and sweets.

Corn flour can be blended with cornmeal when making corn breads or muffins.

Millet flour tends to make breads dry and course so substitute only 1/5 of the flour mixture with this flour.

Nut or legume flours can be used in small portions to enhance the taste of puddings, cookies, or homemade pasta.

Potato starch flour is excellent for baking when used with other flours.

Chestnut Flour Stone milled, gluten free, very sweet It is a good thickening agent for cream soups.

Quinnoa flour makes excellent biscuits and pancakes although imparting a slightly bitter flavor.

Rice flour, brown or white, is a good substitution when thickening gravies, sauces, and cream pies.

Sorghum flour, excellent for all baking purposes, is the best general purpose gluten-free flour.

Soy flour has a nutty flavor and should be used in combination with other flours in baked products that contain nuts, chocolate, or fruit.

Tapioca flour imparts the chew factor to baked goods and is excellent if used in small quantities.


More GF Grains & Flours

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You also might want to look in to Xanthan Gum. Since gluten has been removed, you need something to help hold things together.

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Eggs are not dairy and are OK to use in dairy free cooking or baking. Unless someone needs to stay away from eggs.

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You also might look into mixes to get some ideas as to the ingredient make up of products. Some of my favorites...

'Cause Your Special Mixes
Gluten Free Pantry Dairy Free Mixes


I hope this helped in some small way. BTW - I hold no financial interest in any of the products I have linked.

Lentil, I bake cakes for the local Celiacs in our town. My hat is off to you on the job you have undertaken. :chef: At least you can still use eggs! Might I make a suggestion that you could use for the writing? They make a soy substitute for cream cheese. If you whip the cream cheese and sweeten it with honey or maple syrup you would be able to write on the cake.

I have a chart that I follow. I found it somewhere on the web........It is not mine orginally and I have not tried all of the substitutes that are mentioned.

Sweetener Equivalents for 1/2 Cup of Sugar


Agave Nectar: 3/8 cup (reduce other liquids by 1/3)
Brown Sugar 1/2 cup
Corn Sweetener 1/2 cup
Date Sugar: 1 cup
Fruit Juice Concentrate: equal to sugar (reduce other liquids by 1/3)
Granular Fruit Sweeteners: equal to sugar
Honey: 1/3 cup (reduce other liquids by 1/3)
Maple Syrup: equal to sugar (reduce other liquids by 1/3)
Molasses: 1/3 cup
Raw or Organic Sugar: 1/2 cup
Rice Syrup: 1 1/4 cup
Sorghum Syrup: 1/3 cup
Splenda: 1/2 cup
Stevia Powder (SweetLeaf Brand) 1 Tbsp.
Stevia Liquid (Sunnydew or Sweetleaf Brands) 1/2 tsp.
Sucanat: equal to sugar
Turbinado: 1/2 cup



If your clients said they can not have GLUTEN, then I think she is misinformed about using OAT FLOUR.........the cross contamination is very risky.

I have a recipe for an Angel Food cake............you could slice it into layers for your fruit spread and possibly come up with some type of fireworks display in the center hole. This would leave the actual cake top open for your writing.

If you would like the recipe, please let me know and I will give it to you. I also havea cream cheese sheet cake recipe. (you could use the soy cream cheese.)

Angel Food Cake

1 cup Featherlight Mix
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups (12) egg whites
1 1/2 tsps cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
3/4 cup sugar

Sift flour along with 3/4 cup sugar 2 times and then set aside. Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar, salt and vanilla until soft peaks form, but still moist and shiney. Add remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 2 Tbls at a time, continuing to beat until egg whites hold stiff peaks.

Sift about 1/4 of the flour mixture over egg whites; fold in. Repeat, folding in the remaining flour by fourths. Bake in an ungreased 10-inch tupe pan at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Invert the cake in pan until it is fully cooled. (If you have a long necked glass bottle, this makes a good cooling stand.)

I think that FRUCTOSE might be a 'do-able" for this reciepe. (I have also seen honey granulated sugar and cactus granulated sugar in the Asian Market.)

CREAM CHEESE SHEET CAKE

1 cup plus 2 Tbls. butter (softened) (they make a SOY butter that is DF..)

2 packages 3 ounces each Cream Cheese (soy based that is DF)

2 1/4 Cups sugar (you would have to experiment or replacement)

6 eggs

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups cake flour (I used the Featherlight flour mix.....)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Beat in vanilla. Add flour; mix well. Pour into a greased 15 in/ 10 in baking pan. Bake at 325 F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (I use a 9 x 13 pan for a higher 1 layer cake. If you use the larger pan, you will probably need to make this recipe twice and make 2 layers.)


FeatherLight Mix

3 cups (4c) Rice Flour
3 cups (4c) Tapioca Flour
3 cups (4c) Cornstarch
3 Tbs. (4 Tbs.) Potato flour

I hope this helps you out. These are proven (can't tell it is GF) recipes in their form as typed. Changing the ingredients to meet their needs is a gamble at best, but at least you have a working base to start playing with.

GF cakes do better in smaller pans. When you put them in larger pans they tend to be flatter than normal.

These 2 cakes, the texture is good. If you have to do many more cakes, you have to realise that GF cakes tend to not have the same texture as wheat based cakes. They taste really good though! If you ever need any other help, let me know. I have more cake recipes and quick breads as well as cookies that might help you and this family out.

Educate yourself so you can educate them. There is plenty of information on cold sores and sugar. It's refined sugar and sugar products like glucose, fructose, etc. which contribute to cold sores just as much as stress and a weakened immune system. There is plenty of information on this online.

Sounds like you've got options to explore now, kudos to you for taking on the challenge.

Hi Chefpeon,

That makes perfect sense! It's your reputation/business that you're presenting, you want it perfect! Very understandable.

Please know one thing from a gluten intolerant tastebud :). What might taste like GF crap to you, more than likely will be heavenly to us! Our tasebuds and palates change. I can't remember what wheat tastes like anymore, I've been GF for 3 years. My wife [not GF] will taste the GF baked goodies she makes for me and say "Wow - this tastes pretty darn close to the wheat version I make" [In the GF world the goal is to replicate the taste & texture of glutened items]. When I taste it - there is a bitter undertone. Not unpleasant - just different.

Well, I am exaggerating a tad bit. :)

There's a world of difference between GF Baking and GF Cooking. Hence the reason I don't bake LOL!! Baking is way to precise for me!! I tell my wife that I haven't figured out how to run a measuring cup. :) GF baking takes some time getting to know what works and what doesn't. Lord knows I've eaten my fair share of flops from my dear wifes attempts during the past 3 years. She has spoiled me rotten by converting all my non-GF favorites.

You are right to be concerned about safety when dealing with food allergens. But as I said...with a bit of knowledge and planning it's very doable.

I would venture to guess many of the dishes you [chefs] make from scratch are close to being GF or could easily be made GF. I've seen some of the recipes posted here. It's when processed foods are used that it tends to cause problems. It always best to verify the GF status of a food product with the manufacture. Many times gluten can be hidden in "Modified Food Starch" or "Natural Flavors", Caramel Color. One resource that is extremely helpful is Celiac.com's Safe & Forbidden Food Ingredient List. This lists various food ingredients and their status.

I do commend you for branching out into this. You will be hearing more about this in the near future. This is not just a fad diet like the Low Carb diets - this diet is for life. In reality, it's more than a diet - it's a lifestyle.

You asked about dining out and eating at friends houses. Yup - it's an issue. Hence we don't eat out that much. I always take food with me to family events or friend gatherings.

Here's something you guys might see. It's a dining card that I take with me and present to the server or the chef. Please know I use the word "allergy" only to make things simpler for the others to understand. Celiac is not an allergy.

I wish you well!! I have much respect for those in your profession that go out of their way to help me and others like me!


Hey MrsP - Thanks for answering so quickly!! Wow, I was just going to bed when you posted that LOL!!

yeah, I'm kinda mean

As lentil says, it's not really much of a "piece of cake" when you are a regular shop making regular stuff for regular diets.

From a business standpoint, it ends up either highly reducing any possible profit you make or perhaps you might lose money on a job, if you decide to try to accomodate a special diet (when you're really not set up for it). Especially when it comes to celiac disease. The time it would take to make sure all porous tools and pans were not used and checking over and over again for cross contamination, would take too much time, and as we all know, time is money.

I know that if I try to accomodate special diets, I end up in the red because of the time and research it takes. Not to mention special ordering ingredients I rarely use.

More and more, you see shops opening up just to accomodate special diets, or to be organic (which is the new hot trend right now). I see that as a very good thing, because now, instead of telling my special diet clients to go away, now I can tell them where to go. :p

Uh,,, but the chocolate in the soy ganache has sugar in it?

:eek:

You might want to look into some "War Cake" recipes. Designed during a time of extreme rationing of ingredients.

Maybe one will work.

April

Oh, wait...Splenda...

I've heard that it works pretty good for a sugar sub. Sucralose...refined sugar alcohol.

I can't really vouch for it since I've never used it.

April

Lentil, I am praying that your cake turns out well! I forgot to mention to you that if you taste the batter before you cook it, it may taste a little grainy. That should go completely away during the cooking process.

I know that the flours are expensive. If it is any consolation, I keep my flour mix in Rubbermaid and out on the shelf. Granted, I use mine more than you do, but I have not had any problem in the 2 1/2 yrs that we have been cooking this way with the flour going bad.

If this goes well for you, you might mention that you could make them another cake or some muffins. (I have a recipe that I make that turns out really well that requires no milk...........you would just have to figure out a way around the sugar.)

I know that it is difficult to cook for gluten free clients, but they usually have no source for freshly baked foods. (cakes, cookies, pies, muffins) The foods that are on the market and sold in packages fill the gap, but the taste on many of the items is not even close to the real thing!

GF people get so excited over having an item that tastes like 'real food' that they spread the word and return again for more.

I would love to be able to have a small cafe that caters to this field of clients, but alas, I do not have the financial means to bring it into reality. The client base would be terrific. I would have a monopoly in a large part of our state. (I have had 2 clients that are 100 miles away.)

I won't get into all the details here, but I want others to know the reality...CD or Gluten Sensitivity...requires the same diet. Gluten is gluten - no matter what you have - it still affects you. I too am "just" gluten sensitive, struggled with being severely sick for 1.5 years [the average is 11 years] before I figured out what the problem was.

Good luck on the cake!!

Yeah I know some people think it's funny to mess with our health like that. Like I said - I don't eat out much. When I do, it's at places I trust.

I feel you are correct on the monopoly. Make it GF, and they will come. Too bad we didnt live closer, we'd do it together!!

This is a topic for another thread ;)

Let me run go and check my printed out version. I copied my internet recipe file.

Whew, the cream cheese cake is the correct recipe!

the Angel food only has the salt and cream of tartar.

Praying that it rises well for you! Remember they will not be like what you are used to with the wheat cakes, but it does rise.

The cream cheese one should be similar to a pound cake..........only much thinner.

Did you cut it open to see if it fell? do you think that it could be sugar substitute?

Once due to the humidity, I had a cake come out heavy.......I refused to accept it for my customer. My family and a few friends ate off of it instead. Everyone really liked it because it had the consistancy of Tirimisu (sp.) the Italian cake.

My hubby asks if he can bump the stove to do a repeat. Of course I think that he is :crazy: and threaten him with the spatuala for even walking into my kitchen.