Today is my husband’s 39th birthday and tomorrow is my soon to be 4-year-old’s birthday. Even though their birthdays are back to back I plan on making two varieties of cakes; vanilla with vanilla frosting and chocolate with chocolate frosting. The latter is for my chocoholic husband who delights in anything made from cacao beans. My little guy Matthew prefers vanilla. I could make the NYC favorite black and white cookies and just be done with it, but I think birthdays have to be celebrated with a homemade cake.
This year my husband asked for cupcakes and Matthew wants a square cake. The square cake lends itself to so many decorating ideas. Our kids love to throw on all their favorite sprinkles and allergen free candies. Matthew wanted to add a little Nesquik syrup but I nixed the idea for obvious reasons. I think next year I might bake their favorite cakes in mini cake pans rather than one big cake; less chance of sibling rivalry among who gets the last green sprinkle!
Here’s my favorite dairy, egg and nut free chocolate cake with chocolate frosting recipe. This recipe can be made in a 13 x 9 glass cake pan, as a 9-inch layer cake or my favorite, plain old but still fabulous cupcakes. Enjoy!
Yield: One 9-inch layer cake or one 13×9-inch cake.
Dairy, Egg and Nut Free Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup dairy-free shortening (I use plain Crisco)
11/2 cups dairy-free buttermilk (Mix 1 1/2 cups soy milk with 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar)
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
11/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
11/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine shortening, buttermilk, water, and vanilla until thoroughly mixed. In a separate medium bowl, combine cake flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt with a wire whisk. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, and beat on high speed 3 to 4 minutes, occasionally scraping sides with a rubber spatula.
Preheat oven to 350ºF, and spray two 9-inch round cake pans or a 13×9-inch glass baking dish with dairy-free baking spray. Pour batter into prepared pans, and bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
Classic Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes
Prepare Classic Chocolate Birthday Cake recipe as directed. Line 24 cupcake molds with paper liners. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.
Creamy Dairy Free Chocolate Frosting
Yield: 2 cups
1 cup dairy-free margarine (I use Fleischman’s Unsalted Margarine)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup soy or rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the margarine and cocoa powder until smooth. Add soy milk, vanilla, and salt, and mix thoroughly. Slowly add in the confectioners’ sugar, mixing on low for 1 minute. Increase speed to medium, and beat 4 to 6 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Here’s my favorite chocolate cake recipe:
http://www.foodallergyassistant.com/buildpage.php?cpage=recipes#ChocolateCake
Don’t mention the zucchini- they’ll never know that’s what makes it so moist!
My kids like to put drops of food coloring on top of the cake, randomly. Then use a spaghetti noodle and drag it through each drop to make streaks of color. You can do this repeatedly, until you have something that resembles a firework exploding. They love being able to say they decorated the cake, and it is impossible to do it wrong. It looks adorable, covered with fireworks to celebrate the birthday. Very proud kiddos. I hope that made sense.
Kelly, I just made this cake as a layer cake and cupcakes for my youngest son’s first birthday. IT WAS FANTASTIC!! My 85 year old grandma, who used to work in a bakery, could not BELIEVE there were no eggs in this cake, she was in shock
I will have to send you a picture of my little guy with this cake smeared all over him! Everyone loved it!
What an awesome thing to hear your grandmother say…she would know! I love it. And I love that your one year old loved his birthday cake!! Send photos and I will post!
We tried this over the weekend–but son has recently come to the conclusion that he doesn’t like the recipe I have for his sister for white cake anymore. So, I like to be able to make things that they both can have, so I tried this. Big hit! Thanks again!
This cake is so delicious. Light, fluffy and full of chocolately goodness. A couple questions Kelly: the cake is a little too light, ie, it falls apart very easily. Is there something causing this? It tastes wonderful and the family loves it but I am hoping to serve it for my son’s birthday and want it to hold together better. Any help you have is appreciated. Also, the cake flour I found is bleached. Do you have a non-bleached brand that you use? Thanks
Hi Robyn! I’m not sure why the cake is too light. Can you give some more details about how you’re mixing the ingredients, how long you baked the cake, etc.? So many factors can affect an individual result. I hope I can help before your son’s bday!
Also, I only use Swan’s Cake Flour. There are are some cake flours that contain milk products so you must be careful and read packaging. Thanks so much!!
I’m so glad I found this recipe. My daughter’s 5th birthday is this weekend and one of her new friends has a dairy and egg allergy. I’d love for her friend to be able to eat cake with the rest of the kids, while still honoring my daughter’s desire to have chocolate cake. My back up plan was to make rice krispie treats (non- dairy of course.) I won’t have time for a test run. I’d love any advice you have. Thank you so much!
How did the cake work out Renee? My back up advice is always Divvies cupcakes! LOL…but seriously….I know how hard it is to try a new recipe and hope and pray it turns out the way it is supposed to. Been there myself.
Let me know! xoxo
Kelly, my family loves this chocolate cake recipe! It is the best cake and/or cupcakes I have ever made! I was wondering if you have ever tried making it in a shaped Wilton type pan before and how it came out? I wanted to try making it in one for my son’s birthday. Thank you for your wonderful recipes and blog. I have your cookbook and love it!
By the way I have been making Hostess type cupcakes with these and they are delish! I just used your white frosting recipe and filled them and then make the Texas Sheet cake frosting with more powder sugar so it wasn’t too runny and frost on top. I even took leftover white frosting and did the curly q’s on top.
Hi Kelly, Altitude adjustments!
I’ve made this cake three times now, and I’ve finally figured it out! The first time, I used the Lightning McQueen Wilton cake pan, and the cake boiled over, and took three times as long to bake before it finally firmed up, but then it was really dense and almost brownie-like. The second time, I made cupcakes, and they too boiled over, and were flat….no shape, and took extra time to bake, then fell apart when taking them out of the paper liners. They were yummy, but no shape! I was so frustrated! This time, for my son’s two-year birthday cake yesterday, I looked up what your altitude is near Chicago, and then found my Food Science notes on high-altitude baking. I live in Utah, at 4700 feet above sea level–that’s roughly 4000 feet above you! It turned out great today, and looked so nice! Here are my adjustments: First, I used my Pyrex 9×13 to be safe. Then I used a freshly-opened box of baking soda, well-within the expiration date. Next, I used regular all-purpose flour instead of adjusting for cake flour, and then added 1 1/2 tbsp more flour. Then I added one more tbsp of milk. Then I adjusted the oven temp to 365, and I needed to bake it for the full 30 minutes. (And by the way, I’m not allergic to milk so I used regular cow’s milk.) Skadoosh! It raised wonderfully and looked so pretty before frosting, and tasted wonderful too! My relatives still can’t believe it’s made without eggs. I’m going to have to keep MY ALTITUDE in mind as I continue working my way through your book. I hope this helps your other readers. Thanks for a yummy recipe!
hi!
Correction on my adjustments: I added TWO total extra tablespoons of milk, and subtracted 1 tbsp sugar.
[...] made Allergy Free Cupcakes thanks to Food Allergy Mama. She has wonderful recipes that are perfect for families overcoming food allergies. Then, I [...]
Hi Kelly, I want to try out this recipe for my son’s birthday,but there’s an inconsitency that I want to double check with you. where you say what it yields it says 1 9inch layer cake, but in the directions where it says to prepare the pans, you say prepare two 9 inch layer cake pans. Which is it? I want to make it a high cake so two layers, but not sure if I’ll have to make the recipe twoce or one wil be enough.
Thanks!
Hi Kelley,
I cannot thank you enough. Birthday parties were really a struggle for me and I think for my son. I baked 12 cupcakes and a small rectangular cake from your recipe. Children decorated their individual cupcakes while I did a Safari themed birthday cake! Your recipe brought back the fun to our celebrations!
http://freetocook.blogspot.com/2012/01/to-eat-or-not-to-eat.html
http://freetocook.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=12
[...] I thought I would share our favorite cupcake recipe, it comes from Food Allergy Mama and can be found on her post for Chocolate Cake. She also provides an allergy free frosting [...]