3 Baking Recipes Every Food Allergy Mom Needs!

The most requested recipes by food allergy moms is for allergy friendly sugar cookies (for every holiday) and cake /cupcakes / smash cakes. Why? Because these are the hardest allergy friendly treats to find in stores and depending on your child’s food allergies, it can feel impossible. As a food allergy mom, it’s a great asset to have these recipes ready to go and to get baking!

I’m sharing my favorite and easiest recipes for allergy friendly sugar cookies, chocolate cake and vanilla icing to make your life easier (which is what Food Allergy Parenting is all about). And these are very straightforward recipes with simple ingredients. They are raved about by kids and adults and no one can detect anything’s missing!

I’ve been a food allergy mom for over nineteen years and I can honestly say these are the only two goodies you really need to know how to bake to manage all the things so your child with food allergies can be safe and included!

Allergy friendly baking is a necessity for most food allergy moms

There are many reasons why you may turn to baking as a food allergy mom. Here are some.

After my daughter had an allergic reaction from a store bought cake, I started baking. The first few years of baking, I tried various recipes and wound up throwing most of the baked goods away. I’d feel defeated, incredibly frustrated and sometimes I’d cry. But over time, I found these three recipes and they are truly all I needed for most celebrations, holidays and events. They can be successfully adapted to be top 9 allergen free.

FoodAllergyParenting.com is not a recipe site. It’s about making food allergy parenting easier. And these three recipes have you covered…

• Need easy allergy friendly holiday cookies? Check!
• Need allergy friendly gingerbread men cookies to decorate? Check!
• Need an allergy friendly birthday cake for your child (that everyone will love)? Check!
• Need to keep allergy friendly cupcakes in the freezer to pull out at a moment’s notice for your kid to have cake at their friend’s birthday party? Check!
• Need to bring your friend a delicious dessert when invited to their home – one that’s also safe for your child? Check! Check!

Allergy Free Baking

If you are a newbie to baking, give yourself patience and grace! It may take longer the first time you make a recipe but the more you do it the easier it gets. I promise.

Tip to make life easier: keep baking ingredients stocked in your kitchen at all times.

Stock the pantry with these items and you can bake on a moment’s notice.

• flours
• sugar
• powdered sugar
• non-dairy butter (or regular butter)
• non-dairy milk (or regular milk)
• vanilla extract
• baking soda
• baking powder
• cooking oils (I actually bake with olive oil and ya wouldn’t know it!)
• cupcake liners
• club soda (for the cake recipe below)

For the chocolate cake recipe in this article you do need one additional refrigerated ingredient. But having a stocked baking pantry makes it easier to just pick one thing up at the market when you decide to bake a chocolate cake.

1. Easy Allergy Friendly Sugar Cookies

This recipe is easy in every way. Easy to make and easy to work with. These sugar cookies are so wonderful you can make the dough then roll it out to create cookie shapes immediately (no chilling required). Alternatively, you can refrigerate the dough for 3 days or freeze for 3 months before making them.

These sugar cookies are egg free though you would never know it. They’re also delicious gluten free and dairy free. No matter how you make them, no one will know there are substitutions!

Cookie Ingredients:

• ½ cup non-dairy butter or regular butter(room temperature)*
• ¾ cups white granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour or gluten free flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp any non-dairy milk alternative or milk (use a little more if needed after mixing)

*To soften cold butter, microwave a tall glass with water for a minute. Carefully remove the glass from the microwave, dump out the water and immediately place the glass over a stick of butter. Let the butter soften for 5 minutes.

Decorative Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp any non-dairy milk alternative or milk

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
• Using a hand held or stand mixer – Cream the dairy free butter and sugar together and then add the vanilla extract.
• In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix by hand until crumbly. Add non-dairy milk and mix to create a big ball of dough. If your dough is too crumbly to form a ball, add in a little more milk until it does. (mix dough well by hand- it will form together)
• Flour your hands and a large cutting board or baking mat. 
• Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on the cutting board or baking mat to around ¼ inch thick. 
• Use cookie cutters to make cookie shapes.
• Transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking tray. 
• With the remaining dough, form it into a ball and then roll it out again and repeat.
• If you want round cookies and don’t want to make shapes, then you don’t need to roll out the dough, you can simply tear off pieces of the dough, roll into balls and place the balls onto a parchment lined baking tray. Flour the bottom of a glass and use that to press down on the balls to flatten them neatly before baking- or just use your hands 🙂.
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before decorating.
• Prepare your decorative frosting by mixing the powdered sugar, vanilla and non-dairy milk/regular milk in a mixing bowl. The consistency should be very sticky, almost gluey. If you want to make different colors, separate into 2 bowls. Add a drop of food coloring into each bowl and mix in.
• Decorate the cookies and allow the icing to harden before serving. (The icing hardens pretty quickly. But to speed it up you can chill them for a short time.)

Notes:

1. Flour – To measure correctly, use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup. 
2. Cookie Cutting  if needed, dip a cookie cutter into flour so it doesn’t stick and cut out your cookies
3. Storing: Keep your cookies stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week. They can also be stored in the fridge.
4. Freezing: The cookies are freezer friendly for up to 3 months. They can be frozen with or without frosting.

Adapted from LovingitVegan.com by Alison Andrews

2. Easy One Bowl Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is a huge family favorite and truly loved by friends and relatives. It’s super moist and chocolatey. Even if you adapt it to be dairy and gluten free it’s still fabulous (and no one can tell it’s any different!) Seriously, you can’t ruin this cake!

Ingredients:

• 1 ⅔ cups unbleached all-purpose flour or gluten free flour
• 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup cocoa powder (the better the quality, the better the taste)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ⅓  cup sour cream or 1 cup non-dairy sour cream (note the different measurements)-see Notes for links to non-dairy sour cream brands
• ½ cup oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup club soda

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly butter a 9×13 inch pan.
• In a large bowl with a hand held or stand mixer set on medium speed, beat all ingredients for 3 minutes or until completely mixed.
• Pour into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes
• Cool completely in pan on wire rack: then invert onto a platter.

Notes

• Sour cream measurement is different depending on which one you use. Original recipe calls for 1 cup. But if you are using regular sour cream, 1 ⅓ cup comes out better.
• Non-dairy Sour Cream brands you can check on: Kite Hill (works great in this recipe), Violife, Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream and WayFare Dairy free sour cream(top 11 free). Please read all food labels and contact the manufacturer to check if a product is safe for your child.
• For Convection oven cook 9×13 inch cake at 325°F for 24 minutes
• For two 9 inch round pans, split batter and cook for 16 minutes.
• For cupcakes put in a 12 muffin cup pan with liners and bake on 350°F for 15 or 20 minutes. For convection oven bake them at 325°F for 18 minutes.
• Test if the cake is ready by taking it out of the oven and doing the toothpick test- if a toothpick comes out clean, it’s ready.
• Time Hack: To keep your own “cake mixes” on hand- fill a few gallon zip lock bags with the dry ingredients only. Label and keep in your pantry to half the prep time!

This cake freezes really well! For Cake decorating shortcuts, cupcake tricks and strategies on how to handle making your child feel included when they can’t eat a treat at a party read : The Magic of Food Allergy Friendly Cupcakes HERE.

If you cannot find the non-dairy sour cream and you want an alternative recipe using ingredients in your stocked pantry, you can make Chocolate Wacky Cake (also known as Depression Cake- because it does not call for eggs, butter or milk). You can find the recipe HERE.

This chocolate cake recipe is adapted from Bakin’ Without Eggs. A wonderful cookbook by Rosemarie Emro.

3. Allergy Friendly Icing

This icing is delish! You want to double it for making a layer cake.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup unsalted non-dairy butter or butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted (I use powdered sugar and don’t sift and it’s fine 😂)
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons any non-dairy milk alternative or milk
• 3 drops food coloring, or as needed (optional)

Instructions:

• Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or hand mixer) until smooth and fluffy.
• Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated.
• Beat in vanilla extract.
• Add milk and beat for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add food coloring, if using, and beat for thirty seconds until smooth or until desired color is reached.
• Use immediately or store buttercream in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

Notes:

• Mixing gets easier as you go. Once the milk goes in the magic happens!!
• Icing looks white in the end but you can use food coloring for decorating.

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

You got this!

I’m so excited to share these recipes with you. You. Got. This! The more you bake the easier it gets. Once you get the hang of it, bake with your child to make great memories and empower them to bake. A tip if you have a really little one “bake with you”: have them be the one to dump your pre-measured ingredients into the bowl (just remind them…”low to the bowl” or you’ll have clouds of flour 🙂

Don’t forget to bookmark this post! And share it with anyone you know who needs it. 

Want guidance, tips, and support from me right in your inbox? Get my Newsletter – Click Here (I’ll never share your email and no spamming – I can’t stand that either!)

Hi, I’m Debra Bloom and I’ve been a food allergy mom for over 19 years. I’m the founder of Food Allergy Parenting, creator of The Safe Snack Guide, and co-founder of Snack Safely. I’m a food allergy parenting coach passionate about teaching you how to keep your child with food allergies safe and included from tot through teen. Sign up for my newsletter to get guidance and support right in your inbox!

Feeling food allergy parenting stress? Get emotional support with my free guide, How to Stay Sane as a Food Allergy Parent Click HERE!

Go from fear to confidence – get the guidebook, How to Keep Your Child With Food Allergies Safe & Included at Every Age. It’s what I wish the allergist would have handed me many years ago to learn how to navigate raising my daughter with allergies to peanuts and eggs. But doctors only diagnose disease- they don’t help with lifestyle. I learned throughout my daughter’s childhood working behind the scenes to keep her safe and included so she could do everything. I wrote How to Keep Your Child with Food Allergies Safe & Included at Every Age in guidebook form rather than book form because I didn’t want to fill it with fluff.  I do tell stories to help you learn but I wanted you to have a clear readable “How to” that you could reference as needed. It’s only available HERE, not on Amazon, because I want to be able to send you updates (you’ll get updates when food labeling laws change and new epinephrine delivery devices come on the market). 

It’s a practical guidebook to help you go from fear to confidence while raising your child with food allergies. I share lived knowledge and heart. Currently discounted for the holidays! To order- CLICK HERE!