Wheat free birthday treat for first year party?

[Sarah]

My baby seems to not be tolerating wheat in his diet very much (fussy, runny poops, waking at night back asrching crying). He's only one- so I don't know where this is going long term- he seems OK with rice and barley and oats... he's had a small amount of dairy and egg. All along I'd been imagining his cute birthday cake with one candle on it- and now I don't know what to do. His birthday is tomorrow.

I'm open to suggestions- right now I'm leaning toward rice krispie treats- I have to check- are rice krispies just rice? Ice cream seems a little too much of a whallop of dairy.

[wendy1221]

You can sub barley flour in any recipe you have. THe texture and taste will be a little different, but it's pretty good.

[jocelyndale]

You can sub in barley flour. It contains gluten, so it generally works just fine.

If you want to avoid any wheat cross-contamination, try this cake:

Moist Chocolate Cake

4 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups rice flour (i used mochiko and sorghum)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
1 cup of mayonnaise
2/3 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
I also added about a teaspoon of cinnamon.

-Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
-sift flours with baking soda, baking poder and cocoa, then add to egg
mixture.
-Add water and mayo and blend well. The batter will be VERY thin.
-Pour into 2 greased round layer pans or 1 9 x 13 rect. pan.
-Bake at 350 degrees: 30 - 35 min. for two layers, or 40 min. for 9 x 13
pan.
-Toothpick test in center for doness. Cool in pan(s) for 10 min. before
removing.
-Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

I have no idea where this recipe originally came from. It's yummy, tasty, and everyone loves it. Sometimes it takes longer to cook. Just keep an eye on the edges--when the start to pull away from the pan, it's usually done.

As for rice krispies, they contain barley. I don't know about wheat, since I have to avoid barley, too.

[BrooklynDoula]

We use organic white spelt flour in all sorts of recipes and it subs perfectly. I made pies yesterday with spelt, I have also made cakes, cookies, etc. There are mixes too if you have a health food store around, you can often get a wheat-free cake mix. When ds turned one I made a cake with spelt flour and apple sauce and such and it was wonderful and low sugar for his crew of 1 year old friends.

[Momtwice]

Spelt works for some people but not others. I can't eat wheat or spelt. It's a cousin of wheat isn't it?

Have you googled "Wheat free birthday cake" or "gluten free birthday cake?" (Gluten is a substance many people are sensitive too, and it is found in wheat, (and wheat "cousins" like spelt), barley and rye and sometimes oats.)

And then if there are flours you haven't heard of such as tapioca starch, check the natural section of your health food store, or the kosher section for potato starch flour, or a health food store. Good luck!

[Momtwice]

About rice krispies...if barley is a concern, Erewhon, a natural brand, has a few varities of natural crispy brown rice cereal. The one labelled "gluten free" has no barley.

[Sarah]

He seems OK with barley, I have some rice flour- but I am scared to use it when I haven't practiced. I made some oatmeal cookies with it last week and they were very crumbly when warm- but seemed to harden up well after they were refrigerated.

That moist chocolate cake sounds yummy- but the mayo is alarming- who thought of that!? It's reasonable enough thought, just the idea thakes some getting used to.

The applesauce cake sounds good too! I think I'm going to just have to buckle down and learn some of these techniques huh? I'm really praying that this does not wind up to be a lifelong situation- I hope it's something he can grow out of as his system matures- I'm just thinking about all those standards- like pasta and pizza and burgers on buns... (sing it like Julie Andrews favorite things)

I checked the rice krispie ingredient list and they are pretty straightforward... just rice with some corn syrup and malt flavor so I think I'm going to spare myself some stress and take the easy way out today. I am pretty high stress right now and I think I'd just cry if I goofed this. Thank you for your suggestions and support.

[CurlyTop]

I've been using Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour with good results. The site has lots of recipes too.

[Momtwice]

When you substitute rice for wheat flour you need more of a binding agent to hold it together..another egg or two, or xanthan or guar gum.

If you don't want to experiment with recipes in the future, check out gluten free cookbooks by Bette Hagman or Carol Fenster. They've already done the experimenting and their recipes are great.

[tamagotchi]

We avoided the issue completely and had sushi for DS's first birthday... he loves mackerel and salmon roe! We had also considered just making meatballs and putting a birthday candle in a meatball.

[jocelyndale]

Originally Posted by Sarah

That moist chocolate cake sounds yummy- but the mayo is alarming- who thought of that!? It's reasonable enough thought, just the idea thakes some getting used to.

Mayo cakes aren't unheard of, they just sound scary. The cake is super moist and rich. I serve it at every party and take it with me to other folks' homes. It's always a hit. I often use sweet white sorghum flour instead of rice.

As for the spelt comment, spelt *is* a type of wheat. Some folks with wheat allergies tolerate it, but nobody with a true gluten allergy or celiac disease can tolerate it. Not everyone allergic to wheat is allergic to gliadin/gluten (there are other proteins: prolamins, albumen, etc). Spelt does contain omega-5-gliadin, which causes allergic reactions in *some* folks with a wheat allergy.

[Momtwice]

Mayo has eggs and oil in it...which are in cakes too. Not so weird.

Also some health food stores/natural foods sections of larger stores have gluten free cake mixes that make life MUCH easier but they are a lot more expensive than your average wheat mix.