Allergen-Free Cupcakes

Julia's school will celebrate their 20th birthday tomorrow, and the students are going to enjoy cupcakes at the party.  As one of the room parents for Julia's Kindergarten class, I am in charge of coordinating cupcakes for the class.  Even though neither of my girls has food allergies, it is important to me that the children with allergies are offered the same sweets as the kids without allergies.  Over the years, we have catered to the dietary needs of friends; the kids enjoy not being singled out, and the parents take comfort in knowing their kids will enjoy safe foods.

The food allergies I had to work with for Julia's class were - peanut, nut, milk/dairy and egg.  My egg-free chocolate cake recipe meets all of those allergen requirements (just bake cupcakes for about 19 minutes).  As for non-chocolate cupcakes, I cheated...I made yellow cupcakes using a Cherrybrook Kitchen cake mix and Earth Balance "butter."

 What about frosting?  Since I already had the Earth Balance spread, I substituted that for the butter in my homemade frosting recipes.  Instead of using one ounce of melted unsweetened chocolate in the chocolate frosting (which sometimes contains milk), I used 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.  Most frosting recipes call for milk to thin the frosting; I just used water.  Using the tips mentioned above, you can turn any regular frosting recipe into dairy-free frosting.

Anyone concerned about taste needn't be.  Our family has made and eaten both the chocolate and yellow nut/peanut/milk/egg-free cupcakes before...and they're delicious!