Wendy Willard

We’ve been accustomed to cooking dairy-free for over 10 years, because my oldest daughter (who is 10) turned up with a dairy allergy pretty much as soon as she came into this world. So we’ve become good at knowing which brand of cake mix or granola bar, for example, typically doesn’t include dairy. We’ve also been adventurous in trying to make our own dairy-free cakes and granola bars (some good, some not-so-much), among other things, thanks to web sites like The Food Allergy Mama and Go Dairy Free.

Then we met a family that just moved here from the left side of the country, whose daughter is not only allergic to dairy, but also soy. Yikes!  I did not realize how lucky we were until I tried cooking without dairy or soy! We typically replace dairy with soy products, like dairy-free margarine (which is soy-based) and soy milk. Did you know even many canned spaghetti sauces contain soy products? (I found that out when I considered preparing spaghetti the first night we had our new friends over.)

Tonight we were invited to our new friends’ home, and asked to bring a dessert. Great! I love making desserts. I decided to make a chocolate cake because, well, who doesn’t like chocolate cake? I’ve frequently made dairy-free chocolate cakes, which are yummy, so I figured it wouldn’t be that hard, right? Hmmm. There are a few dairy- and soy-free chocolate cake recipes, but not very many with good reviews, except this one. It’s called the “Easiest Chocolate Cake Recipe” and it really is easy. I had all the ingredients on-hand, which was a bonus.

After I got the cake into the oven, I started searching for a frosting recipe. Here’s where things really got sticky (pardon the pun ). Virtually *all* the frosting recipes I found included some form or dairy or margarine. And lest you think I could use shortening, no! That is soy-based! So I went out on a limb and tried a powdered sugar/water combination, plus a tad bit of oil, some cocoa powder, and a little raspberry flavoring for good measure.

You can see the result in the photo. Now I don’t normally cut into cakes before taking them to someone’s home, but I was really nervous about this one (and maybe a little hungry), so I had to do it. The frosting was really really sweet, so I was afraid it would ruin the cake. But… (insert drum roll here)… it was good! The frosting *is* sweet, but the cake is moist, rich, and melt-in-my-mouth-yummy. Overall, it’s something I’m pleased to take to a friend’s house. I hope the girls all love it too! (I might need to admit to our hostess why I’m not so hungry for dinner now…)

As far as what I’d do differently next time, I think this cake would go well with a home-made whipped cream (of course I would use soy creamer, but that wouldn’t work for our soy-free friend). The whipped cream might be served on the side, so those who couldn’t eat the cream would still be able to enjoy the cake (which really is delicious enough to stand on its own, without any frosting at all).

P.S. A few people have asked why I didn’t just make two desserts – one for the girls with allergies, and one for everyone else. To those people I say: you obviously have never lived with someone affected by food allergies! Unfortunately, when eating out, at parties or with guests, those with food allergies are forced to eat separate meals *most* of their lives. Whenever possible, I try to prepare meals everyone in the family can enjoy, regardless of their food allergies. Of course this is not always feasible, but I like to at least try. And hey, it makes for some interesting experiments sometimes!