THE IMPOSSIBLE BIRTHDAY CAKE

  Take a regular birthday cake. Now remove all dairy, wheat, eggs, and most of the sugar. Impossible? What is left is what I served at our son´s 9th birthday party. No kidding. Sounds totally uninviting and lame, but here is what I conjured up:

A mint cake from heaven! Naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, cholesterol-free, and low in added sugar. Yet delicious, believe it or not!

Creamy, lucious, whipped "cream" came straight out of the box. Luckily there are good alternatives to dairy these days!

A carb-free alternative for decoration is lemon balm. I chopped it finely and sprinkled over the whole cake. It gave a mild, citrus-like twist, which went nicely with the minty filling inside.

And happy birthday to me too! I turned 36 years young today. I definitely have no age crisis, but I´m glad forty is the new twenty nowadays!  =)  Just take a look at Mimi Kirk!

  The recipe:

 sponge cake:
1 1/2 dl sugar
2-4 dl naturally gluten-free flour (the amount depends on the brand used)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 dl soymilk
1 dl vegan margarine

+ Whip together the sugar and margarine. Mix the dry ingredients together, add to the margarine mixture. Add the milk. Pour in to a baking sheet covered pie tin, and bake in an oven at 200 Celsius for 15-20 min.

filling:
2 bananas
1 very ripe pear
4 drops of essential peppermint oil

+ Mix all in a food processor. Spread over the sponge cake (once it is cooled down).

topping:
1 package of vegan whipped cream (I used Alpro Airy & Creamy)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
10 drops of liquid stevia sweetener

+ Mix all and whip up until stiff enough for spreading.

Decorate with finely chopped lemon balm, dark cocoa powder, or shredded dark chocolate (sweetened with stevia for the least carbs).

  The reason I tried to reduce sugar in this recipe is that my diabetic son could get as big a chunk of this cake as possible, without getting immense amounts of carbs. After all, there were also lollipops, pizza, popcorn, cookies, and gummy bears on the menu...  =)
  I try to keep my boy´s life as "normal" as possible, despite his restrictive food allergies and now diabetes. I need to remind myself, and teach him, that we eat to live, not vice versa (which is what media seems to teach us in order to sell more).