Food Allergies

It seems our church is a Mecca for people with food allergies. We have the gluten intolerant crowd, the lactose intolerant, and a new one for me, cane sugar intolerant. With all of these allergies, and me being the “Cake Guy” at church, what is one to do when it comes time to bringing sweets? Have a recipe that tackles all three at the same time.

I developed this recipe based off of a couple of others I had found, replacing sugar with honey and butter with shortening and milk with water and generally played around until I found something that I would actually eat. The following is my Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Cane Sugar-Free Honey Cakes with Fluffy Honey Frosting.

Honey Cakes

2 cups gluten-free Hodgson Mill Multi Purpose baking mix
1 ½ cups honey
1 teaspoon salt
3 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup shortening
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Spray a generous dose of Pam Nonstick Cooking Spray in a 13 X 9 X 2 pan or 2 round layer pans or for cupcakes (muffin tins) - use paper liners. Measure all ingredients into a large bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans. Bake 40-45 minutes for oblong, 30-35 for round, and 15-20 for cupcakes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.

Fluffy Honey Frosting

1 cup honey
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a small saucepan or double boiler heat honey to boiling. In a bowl combine unbeaten egg whites, salt and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until whites are stiff but not dry. Slowly pour in hot honey; beat for 5-7 minutes until frosting holds shape. Frosts two 8 or 9 inch layer cakes or one 4 layer cake.

This recipe is easily halved, just use 2 eggs instead of trying to weigh out the difference for the cake, and a pinch of salt if you don’t have a 1/8 teaspoon. It is also easily adapted to replacing the water with milk and the shortening with butter if you don’t have to worry about lactose. What I usually do is make a half recipe of the cake and make a dozen cupcakes, and use powdered egg whites or meringue powder instead of fresh egg whites, and pipe big swirls on top of the cupcakes. This frosting pipes beautifully and does not require refrigeration unless it won’t be consumed for more than two days.

So next time you have an event where you know there will be people with food allergies, bring this cake along. Just make sure you clean and rinse your pans really well, and wipe them down with vinegar to get any possible allergens off… this is why I usually make cupcakes, as they are all individually wrapped!