VEGAN-ISH BIRTHDAY CAKE

So I never thought I would be this person...I was such a snob during my pre-motherhood years. I couldn't fathom why anyone would even try to make vegan dessert: "like if you cant eat non-vegan, is it really even worth it? It's not like it will even taste good!" - yikes how judgmental was I? So much cringe. Good thing parenthood is like one giant swift kick in the pride every day, constantly, for eternity.

Anyways, with three different major food group allergies between our two boys, we've obviously had to make some food adjustments. Between that and realizing that: no, I can't eat a whole bag of cheetos anymore like when I was 18 without looking like a lumpy cheeto myself, our meal planning looks a whole lot different. All I can say is, thank GOD Dave can cook. Our meals would be a lot sadder without him.

So I was DETERMINED to bake a cake for Braden's birthday. I knew I could use the Ener-G Egg replacer for the eggs (found in Whole Foods!!), but I was unsure about the milk and butter substitutes. Crisco and Earth's Choice vegan butter did GREAT for our frosting - but I am still a little on the fence with how the coconut milk and coconut oil we used in the cake turned out. It was alright and it tasted pretty good, but it wasn't as moist as I would have liked...sadly I don't get a lot of chances to bake so it'll be awhile before I revisit this recipe. 

I followed this recipe, only used real flour and fake eggs instead of gluten free flour and egg whites. There were only a few almost disasters...I had to spoon excess oil out of the cake pans mid-way through because it was separating and rising to the top and not cooking fully. And then I wasted an entire batch of nice specialty powdered sugar cause I thought I could do just crisco instead of half crisco, half vegan butter for the frosting...DON'T do that by the way...that was an epic mistake. Also I added blue sprinkles to try to make it more blue and then clogged my piping kit and had to go up to a larger size...but you can't tell I made all those mistakes by the end product right?? ;)

Oh adventures in baking for kids with allergies....what fun. What are your favorite recipes for your kids with allergies?? Love to hear your stories

xoxo