Gluten Free Birthday Cake

[mama2two]

my kids birthdays are coming up next month and I will be making their cakes, gluten free of course, and I want to decorate them and of course they want fun cakes, so we have looked at plastic figures(cake toppers) or edible cake images but I hate to purchase more plasic that will eventually end up in a landfill or an edible cake image that is full of artificial flavors, colors, etc. Any ideas for a cute and healthful birthday cake or do I just give in to an unhealthy, not earth-friendly cake toppers?

[betty6333]

i try to make the cake toppers actual toys, like for my 6 year old i put a hot wheels car on it, an the he can pick off the toys and they are pratical.

[purple]

Here is what we like to do. We live about 125 miles round trip to Dairy Queen. My daughter's birthday is mid July so its impossible to get an ice cream cake home. We tried dry ice once. So we make an ice cream cake ourselves. Bake the 9x13"cake or brownies the day before. (You could make 2- 8x8 's with different flavors). Cool it. Remove it from the pan (bake on oiled foil and lift out then flip it, if it breaks its ok) putting it in a larger plastic container as you flip it, don't forget to buy one big enough if you need to. Cover with waxed paper and a lid. You can put tiny yummys in the cake before baking it, up to a cup full.

Next morning or night before. Heat up a jar of ice cream topping, fudge or caramel, to pouring consistency about a minute or less. Pour on top of cake. Freeze cake again. Crumb some gluten-free cookies about 1 1/2 cups, Pam's, homemade cookies, brownies, etc. Sprinkle on top of cake. Freeze again.

Soften the ice cream in order to cut it or spread it. For a 9x13 inch cake you need 1/2 gallon of ice cream. Cut the ice cream into slices to top the cake and the sides, then smooth it out. Or just spread it on. Freeze cake again several hours until ice cream refreezes.

Choose how you want to decorate it. Write HB____! with chocolate chips, M&M's (all one color is easier to read), etc. Or pipe frosting letters, swirls or flowers.

Sprinkle yummys on top. You could reuse plastic from previous birthdays if desired or stick party favors in it.

Thaw cake a few minutes before cutting it. Don't forget the candles

Yummys: M&M's, choc or pb chips, mini chips or m&m's, nuts, cookie crumbs, mini candy bars, cake sprinkles, coconut, ice cream sprinkles, etc. Be sure your child gets their "favorite" piece.

Fun, easy, cheaper than store bought, nothing to throw away, group effort, and make ahead of time.

Let the kids choose all the flavors and yummys and let them help spread, sprinkle and decorate it!!!

[cyberprof]

I had several things that I did when my kids were little (and this was pre-gluten free but it should still work). One was a dinosaur theme, and I got plastic dinos, fake palm trees etc. The kids played with them for years. I used colored sugar sprinkles for grass (green), mountains (purple) and lava (red or red icing).

I made a three level cake to look like a carousel wheel and had brightly colored frosted sugar cookies cut into shapes of lions, giraffes, ponies, elephants etc., and put the cookies all around on the different levels. You should be able to get cookie cutters at a good kitchen store or online.

I did a brightly colored blue and yellow cake and put a small plastic sailboat on the top. Used fish- and anchor-shaped cookies to decorate the sides.

There should be some good ideas online for other projects.

I've also seen cakes shaped like butterflies, ladybugs. Oh, and a caterpillar-shaped cake for little ones.

Have fun!

~Laura

[Cinnamon]

Here are some cakes that we've done, though you would never call them healthful. You might be able to modify to suit your tastes, though.

Hamburger Cake - bake a two layer 8 inch round cake, and another 1/2 recipe cake batter in a metal bowl the size that would be comparable to the round cake pans. Mix white frosting with some chocolate to make a tan color and frost the bowl cake and one of the rounds. That's the bun. The other round frost chocolate, and that's the burger. Assemble the burger on the bun and then use green gum drop flattened to insert around the burger for the lettuce, and red and yellow decorator frosting to make blobs of ketchup and mustard. Yes, it's a food coloring nightmare, but you only get one birthday a year.

Sun Cake - bake a two layer round cake, frost with white frosting, sprinkle with yellow sugar. Place little treats such as wrapped candies or whatever inside each of 8 ice cream cones, the sugar cones not the cake cones. I've only seen gluten-free ice cream cones once, so I don't know how hard it is to find them and we weren't gluten-free yet when I made this, so I don't know if gluten-free cones are good or not. But anyway, insert a little piece of plastic wrap into the filled cones to protect from frosting, and insert them around the sides of the cake to make the sun's rays. Make sunglasses for the sun's face with chocolate cookies and black licorice -check the licorice as many contain gluten.

Present Cake - Bake a 2-layer square cake and frost with white frosting. Use fruit leather such as fruit-by-the-foot to make "ribbon" up each of the 4 sides, and using strips of fruit leather, make a bow on top. The bow was hard for me to make, but I finally got it to look right. You can put polka dots on the cake with round candies such as Necco, or decorate the "wrapping paper" as you wish.

Treasure Chest- Bake a cake in a loaf pan, and when cool, freeze. It's easier to cut cleanly and with fewer crumbs when a cake is frozen. Cut loaf cake in 1/2 and in bottom 1/2 cut out a hollow, but not too deep or you will need a lot of candy to fill it. Frost and decorate with candies if you like. Put back in the freezer to harden. Attach top to bottom only at the back, and prop up lid using gluten-free pretzel sticks so the lid is partly open. Fill chest with candy necklaces and chocolate coins, etc.

Character or Animal cakes - bake cake in a 9x 13 pan, then cut out the desired shape and frost and decorate.

[mama2two]

Here are some cakes that we've done, though you would never call them healthful. You might be able to modify to suit your tastes, though.

Hamburger Cake - bake a two layer 8 inch round cake, and another 1/2 recipe cake batter in a metal bowl the size that would be comparable to the round cake pans. Mix white frosting with some chocolate to make a tan color and frost the bowl cake and one of the rounds. That's the bun. The other round frost chocolate, and that's the burger. Assemble the burger on the bun and then use green gum drop flattened to insert around the burger for the lettuce, and red and yellow decorator frosting to make blobs of ketchup and mustard. Yes, it's a food coloring nightmare, but you only get one birthday a year.

Sun Cake - bake a two layer round cake, frost with white frosting, sprinkle with yellow sugar. Place little treats such as wrapped candies or whatever inside each of 8 ice cream cones, the sugar cones not the cake cones. I've only seen gluten-free ice cream cones once, so I don't know how hard it is to find them and we weren't gluten-free yet when I made this, so I don't know if gluten-free cones are good or not. But anyway, insert a little piece of plastic wrap into the filled cones to protect from frosting, and insert them around the sides of the cake to make the sun's rays. Make sunglasses for the sun's face with chocolate cookies and black licorice -check the licorice as many contain gluten.

Present Cake - Bake a 2-layer square cake and frost with white frosting. Use fruit leather such as fruit-by-the-foot to make "ribbon" up each of the 4 sides, and using strips of fruit leather, make a bow on top. The bow was hard for me to make, but I finally got it to look right. You can put polka dots on the cake with round candies such as Necco, or decorate the "wrapping paper" as you wish.

Treasure Chest- Bake a cake in a loaf pan, and when cool, freeze. It's easier to cut cleanly and with fewer crumbs when a cake is frozen. Cut loaf cake in 1/2 and in bottom 1/2 cut out a hollow, but not too deep or you will need a lot of candy to fill it. Frost and decorate with candies if you like. Put back in the freezer to harden. Attach top to bottom only at the back, and prop up lid using gluten-free pretzel sticks so the lid is partly open. Fill chest with candy necklaces and chocolate coins, etc.

Character or Animal cakes - bake cake in a 9x 13 pan, then cut out the desired shape and frost and decorate.

[mama2two]

Here are some cakes that we've done, though you would never call them healthful. You might be able to modify to suit your tastes, though.

Hamburger Cake - bake a two layer 8 inch round cake, and another 1/2 recipe cake batter in a metal bowl the size that would be comparable to the round cake pans. Mix white frosting with some chocolate to make a tan color and frost the bowl cake and one of the rounds. That's the bun. The other round frost chocolate, and that's the burger. Assemble the burger on the bun and then use green gum drop flattened to insert around the burger for the lettuce, and red and yellow decorator frosting to make blobs of ketchup and mustard. Yes, it's a food coloring nightmare, but you only get one birthday a year.

Sun Cake - bake a two layer round cake, frost with white frosting, sprinkle with yellow sugar. Place little treats such as wrapped candies or whatever inside each of 8 ice cream cones, the sugar cones not the cake cones. I've only seen gluten-free ice cream cones once, so I don't know how hard it is to find them and we weren't gluten-free yet when I made this, so I don't know if gluten-free cones are good or not. But anyway, insert a little piece of plastic wrap into the filled cones to protect from frosting, and insert them around the sides of the cake to make the sun's rays. Make sunglasses for the sun's face with chocolate cookies and black licorice -check the licorice as many contain gluten.

Present Cake - Bake a 2-layer square cake and frost with white frosting. Use fruit leather such as fruit-by-the-foot to make "ribbon" up each of the 4 sides, and using strips of fruit leather, make a bow on top. The bow was hard for me to make, but I finally got it to look right. You can put polka dots on the cake with round candies such as Necco, or decorate the "wrapping paper" as you wish.

Treasure Chest- Bake a cake in a loaf pan, and when cool, freeze. It's easier to cut cleanly and with fewer crumbs when a cake is frozen. Cut loaf cake in 1/2 and in bottom 1/2 cut out a hollow, but not too deep or you will need a lot of candy to fill it. Frost and decorate with candies if you like. Put back in the freezer to harden. Attach top to bottom only at the back, and prop up lid using gluten-free pretzel sticks so the lid is partly open. Fill chest with candy necklaces and chocolate coins, etc.

Character or Animal cakes - bake cake in a 9x 13 pan, then cut out the desired shape and frost and decorate.

thanks for all your fun ideas, I really like the treasure chest one and the present cake, I'm thinking fruit a bu, fruit roll-ups would work well for ribbon, the ice cream cake sounds yummy too. I will try to be creative, thanks for all who shared their ideas.

[Dyan]

I saw in King Arthur (Bakers) catalog the cutest cake pan. It is shaped like a giant cupcake. It bakes in 2 parts and then you put it together with frosting. But the hamburger and present ideas sound really cute. ANd you probably don't need to buy anything.

[home-based-mom]

A lady in my church used to decorate cakes professionally. Once a theme was chosen, she would often use small toys that could later be played with. Cars, dinosaurs, Disney Princesses, there really are no limitations other that what is available and your imagination!

Just be sure to thoroughly wash the toys before and after use.

[CeliacMom2008]

My son just had his 9th bday and chose Transformers as the theme. I baked a 3 layer 8 x 8 cake and frosted it with grey icing. Then I made a darker grey/almost black and made straight lines around the cake in funky maze like patterns. The lines even blended into the Happy 9th! I had written on top. The hardest parts were linig up the layers and keepign the lines straight (my hands were shaking!). The kids htought it was a cool Allspark and were pretty amazed that I did it!

Also, there are a lot of shaped cake pans available. You can bake a cake in any shape you want and then make then frost it with a cake decorating tip to make star shapes and start filling in the colors like you want. It ends up looking really good and isn't all that hard. It just takes a lot of time.

Good luck!

[Kibbie]

my kids birthdays are coming up next month and I will be making their cakes, gluten free of course, and I want to decorate them and of course they want fun cakes, so we have looked at plastic figures(cake toppers) or edible cake images but I hate to purchase more plasic that will eventually end up in a landfill or an edible cake image that is full of artificial flavors, colors, etc. Any ideas for a cute and healthful birthday cake or do I just give in to an unhealthy, not earth-friendly cake toppers?

I go all out for birthday cakes and buy the best quality ingrediants I can (baked goods are a special treat in my house so I don't sweat all the artificial stuff) I use real chocolate, real Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, and then for icing colors I use the Wilton color gels. The way I see it is that since we avoid most of the artificial stuff the rest of the year a slice or two of cake isn't going to hurt anything plus I like the fact that my daughter sees that somethign like this is a Special Occasion thing and not an everyday think like some of the kids we know.

As far as cake toppers I typically just decorate with frosting (you can transfer images onto a frosted cake using piping gel and then frost over it) I can tell you how if you want to know. If its something that is way too complicated I typically just purchase a toy that I know my daughter will play with and that I can donate when she gets sick of it and use that instead.

What type of birthday cake do you have in mind???

[slmprofesseur]

How do you get the cakes to stay together? It it the eggs? Mine are always crumbly for some reason. I have tried vinegar/oil/baking powder for eggs, yeast + water, and fruit pectin. I hope he outgrows the egg allergy at some point. It will make baking more fun!

[Kibbie]

How do you get the cakes to stay together? It it the eggs? Mine are always crumbly for some reason. I have tried vinegar/oil/baking powder for eggs, yeast + water, and fruit pectin. I hope he outgrows the egg allergy at some point. It will make baking more fun!

Here is the recipe I use for cake: (I always use Tom Sawyer Flour because I have great luck with it) I also cool and freeze the cake several days before I frost it and then I let it thaw out and do a crumb coat and once that is dry a second coat of frosting. (This is the way my grandma always did it with full of gluten cakes so I just do it that way naturally)

Chocolate Cake Recipe: (I made a few chances from Martha Stewart's Chocolate Cake recpie) Adding more fat and an extra egg plus I beat in egg whites (I have done one cake with an egg replacer it wasn't as fluffy but still tasted great)

Baking Time: 45 to 55 minutes

Cooling Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 55 minutes

1 1/2 Cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

1 1/2 Teaspoons salt

3 Heaping Cups Tom Sawyer Gluten Free Flour

1 Tablespoon baking soda

3/4 Cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 Cups buttermilk

3 Cups sugar

1 1/2 Teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder

4 large eggs, separated* (See directions), and lightly beaten

1 1/2 Cups hot water

2 8-by-2 inch round cake pans

Parchment paper

Flour sifter

Electric mixer and bowl

Rubber spatula

Long serrated knife

Directions

*Egg separation note: Reserve 2 egg whites from your 4 eggs for use at the end of the mixing process!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees;. Butter cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter paper. Dust the pans with cocoa; tap out extra.

2. Sift cocoa, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar into bowl. Beat in oil, buttermilk, vanilla, eggs, and hot water one at a time, using a mixer set at low. Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

3. In Another bowl beat the remaining egg whites until stiff peaks form.

4. Fold egg whites into batter.

5. Pour batter into pans. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean; an adult should rotate the pans halfway through and remove cakes from the oven.

6. Let cakes cool in pans on wire racks, 20 minutes, before inverting to remove.Discard paper. Cool completely on racks, top side up

[mcsteffi]

my kids birthdays are coming up next month and I will be making their cakes, gluten free of course, and I want to decorate them and of course they want fun cakes, so we have looked at plastic figures(cake toppers) or edible cake images but I hate to purchase more plasic that will eventually end up in a landfill or an edible cake image that is full of artificial flavors, colors, etc. Any ideas for a cute and healthful birthday cake or do I just give in to an unhealthy, not earth-friendly cake toppers?

A friend told me about making plain cupcakes and getting lots of toppings and letting the kids do the decorating themselves. I have a 4 yr old so he will love doing that.

Also, I just went to a party that had a cupcake cake. It had 12 cupcakes all together and the icing put on so it looked like a cake. But no cutting.... everyone just pulled out a cupcake. It was very neat!

stef.

[kbtoyssni]

How do you get the cakes to stay together? It it the eggs? Mine are always crumbly for some reason. I have tried vinegar/oil/baking powder for eggs, yeast + water, and fruit pectin. I hope he outgrows the egg allergy at some point. It will make baking more fun!

Do you add enough xantham gum? I usually add 1/2-1 tsp per cake. Some baked goods also have gelatin and/or egg replacer to help things stick together.