Elmo Birthday Cake

For Camden's 2nd birthday, his big brother Brek and I decided we would throw him an Elmo themed birthday party. At that time, he still couldn't eat dairy, chicken eggs, and corn. Since he had a pumpkin muffin for his 1st birthday treat, I really wanted to bake him an actual birthday cake. I could bake a cake that was free from dairy, chicken eggs, and corn. The problem was how I'd decorate it. To this day, I cannot find a corn free food coloring.

One day, we were watching Sesame Street movie on DVD. At the end credits, Brek saw a lot of food art in all kinds of Sesame Street characters. So the food art gave me an idea. I could bake a cake and decorate it using fruits and vegetables.

After searching for a cake recipe in cookbooks and on the internet, I found a Strawberry Cream Cake recipe at William-Sonoma website that I thought I could modify to accommodate Camden's diet. At that time, Camden could have quail eggs. I calculated that I'd need to crack open about 25 to 30 quail eggs. Separating the yolks was another challenge.

The cake turned out very light and fluffy. I highly recommend using kitchen scale to measure the flour, sugar, and eggs. Quail eggs are found in Asian grocery. You can substitute quail eggs with 3 duck eggs or 5 large chicken eggs.

Camden's Elmo Cake

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Strawberry Cream Cake

serves 8 to 10       

1 1/4 cups (5 oz) all-purpose flour (King Arthur)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (Featherweight or homemade)

25 - 30 quail eggs (8.5 oz), separated

1 1/4 cups (8.7 oz) granulated sugar

5 Tablespoons boiling water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (homemade)

1. Preheat an oven to 350°F. Spray Elmo cake pan with oil. Set aside.
2. To make the cake, sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Using a hand mixer, whip together egg yolks and sugar on medium speed.
4. Add the boiling water and vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combine.
6. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites on medium speed until thick (soft peak). 
7. Fold the whipped egg whites into the batter.
8. Spread the batter into Elmo cake pan.
9. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
10. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
11. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan.
12. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and let it cool completely before decorating.

Decoration:

2 pints fresh blackberries... for Elmo's mouth and eyes

2 pints fresh strawberries... for Elmo's face

1 pint fresh raspberries... for any small space between strawberries

1 apple, halved... or his nose

Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread

1 cup chocolate chips, melted (Enjoy Life)

1. Wash, dry, and cut all berries in half. Spread coconut spread lightly on the cake. (Coconut spread is used to glue the berries on to the cake. You can also try nut butter or homemade frosting.)
2. Place the berries and apple onto Elmo cake as noted above.
3. Use melted chocolate to write "Happy Birthday" message.
4. Keep the cake refrigerated. Let the cake come to room temperature for 30 minutes before serve. Enjoy a slice of cake with ice cream.

Allergy Info: Camden's Elmo cake is free from or can be made without dairy, chicken eggs, legumes (soy), nuts (not coconut), and fish. If Enjoy Life chocolate chips and Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread aren't used, then this cake is also corn free. Be creative with writing "Happy Birthday" message by using printed texts or fruits.

Kitchen equipment and gadgets

Don't run out and buy new kitchen equipment and gadgets unless they have been contaminated with years of cooking foods you are now allergic to. Visit my Pinterest and click on "my fav kitchen gadgets" to see the pictures of products I have used and luv in my kitchen. Remember, I'm not promoting these products, and I'm not getting paid in any way (would be nice though).

1. Food processor
Cuisinart 11 cups is a must have for shredding potatoes, cheeses, and cabbages. I sometimes use it to make dough. I have two of these. One of them is dedicated to raw meat since I cannot find a good meat grinder. I also have hand grater for a smaller job.

2. Hand mixer

Save your money on stand alone mixer... unless you wanna make marshmallow. I bought Cuisinart HM-70 Power Advantage 7-Speed Hand Mixer at Amazon. This one comes with chef's whisk... perfect for whisking one egg white. The free spatula is a bonus, and it's a perfect gadget for bread making.

3. Green pan

I found them at Target. I have three: a grill pan, an open fry pan, and open wok. You can read more about their products at the Green Pan website. I bought a universal cover for the wok at local Asian grocery store.

4. Kitchen scale

Have you ever baked something that turned out soooo good... then tried baking it again and you wondered "what happened"? Well, every time you measure the all purpose flour by a measuring cup, the flour in that cup is never the same. So enter, a kitchen scale. After I read many products' reviews at Amazon, I bought Kitrics Stainless Steel Scale. I've used this scale to measure everything from flour to sugar to eggs.

5. Bakeware and gadgets
I'm sucker for bakeware, especially gadgets. The best and most often used are Wilton large cookie sheet (great as a pizza stone), airbake cookie sheets (also great as a pizza peel), 12 cups muffin pan, 24 cups mini muffin pan, USA Pans 15 x 6 x 1.5 Inch New England Hot Dog Pan, Chicago Metallic Commercial II Non-Stick Perforated French Bread Pan and Baguette Pan.

I have a lot of measuring spoons, and I am still looking for more. The best one is Farberware 7pc Measuring Spoon Set, sold at Walmart. I have different sizes of ice cream or cookie scoops. OK, I have 5 sizes: XS, S, M, L, and XL. I've used them all at one point.

Cuisinart Round Classic Waffle Maker is great for making breakfast waffles from scratch. Yes, they are much healthier and yummier than the frozen waffles. Chef's Choice 835 Pizzelle Pro Express Bake is great for making very thin waffles... a fun factor purchase. I also bought Danish Ebleskiver Iron... again for fun factor. Remember, I have two boys, and I luv making them fun food. You can see more products at my fav kitchen gadgets.

Can you tell by this list that I need a bigger kitchen... or at least more storage? Yes, I do. When I find new products I really luv, I'll let you know.

Life is like a box of chocolates

Forrest Gump said "My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." If I knew his momma, I'd tell her that she would find some sort of food allergen in that box of chocolates. Seriously, I thought I was a pretty smart shopper, reading ingredients and doing all the jazzy research. I thought I was a smart mom who bought the finest products for her son Brek. Nope, not even closed. When I gave birth to Camden, he gave me and my family the biggest lesson in life... learning how to eat the right food.

I knew Camden would have issue with dairy. Since I was breastfeeding him, I started the food elimination. First, it was no dairy. When he wasn't feeling better, chicken eggs were eliminated. After 4 months, he was the same but inconstant. Some days were great, napping and nursing well. Some days weren't so great, screaming for hours. Then one night, I scanned a cookbook's glossary. There it was... caramel color is a product derived from corn. Light bulb moment. Long story short, I started to eliminate corn from my diet.

I was determine to cook and bake dairy, chicken eggs and corn free food for myself. After all, I was breastfeeding Camden, so I'd be the only one who needed this diet, right? Wrong! Corn is in everything! It was a challenge. Then all of the sudden, Nicole Jurain, founder of Corn Freedom, found me on Facebook support group and reached out to help me eliminate corn from my diet... well, pretty much from my life. With her help, it took another 4 months to eliminate corn and to see how happy Camden was.

Anybody can do this, right? Of course. Just take time and practice. I make it a mission!

Mission #1: learn to bake bread

I really missed eating bread as there wasn't a loaf of corn free bread in the supermarket. This mission became my 2011 New Year's Resolution. Mission was accomplished before the year ended. But I'm still perfecting a few recipes.



Camden's Elmo Birthday Cake

Mission #2: learn to make or bake something sweeter
I thought Brek only had dairy intolerance. After I witnessed Camden's reactions to corn, it brought back a lot of bad memories of night waking and similar reactions, including hiccups. Brek luvs sweet, and he always asks me for "something sweeter". I can't buy sweets because there is always the possibility of cross contamination. So why not learn to make them! This mission is on going. But I can tell you this much. Since I've baked nearly every day, I was able to bake Camden's 2nd birthday cake... his first birthday cake... which was free from dairy, chicken eggs, and corn. (He had a pumpkin muffin for his 1st birthday. Yes, I was still learning to bake back then).

Mission #3: learn to read labels and about the makeup of the raw or packaged food

This mission is on going. Com'on! Seriously! Do you know that lemons are coated with wax? Corn! Oh, you knew that? How about this one... pineapples were gassed to make them ripen faster? Yeah, that one was new to me too.

Mission #4: share my recipes and help others with similar food allergy/intolerance

Ta-da! I'm learning how to blog. I called my blog "Something Sweeter" as a dedication to my boys because life should include something sweeter... before, between, and after a good meal. I want to share recipes that I adapted from others and maybe able to help you learn how to make adjustments from your own favorite recipes. Of course, I'll add other savoury recipes too.

Let's get started.