Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

Dairy and Soy Free chocolate cupcakes for Graham's third birthday party.  His mama is also dairy and soy free while nursing Graham's new baby brother so she enjoyed these as well!  Happy family!

As I nursed my daughter tonight, my thoughts turned once again to the breastfeeding journey we have been on over the last year.  Becoming a family of four has been wonderful and special, but it has also been extremely trying.  For me, breastfeeding Liz has been difficult, due to her food intolerances. My experience living on a restricted diet makes baking allergen free cakes very personal for me.  Over the last few months, I have made gluten free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, nut free, vegan, and sugar free cakes and cupcakes for people all around my area, and it has been an extremely rewarding and emotional experience. 

Both of my children suffered from intolerances as infants.  My son Sully was dairy and soy intolerant, and I cut these elements out of my own diet for the ten months I was nursing him.  My daughter was a little more complicated.  After several different issues during her first few weeks of life, including a meningitis scare, she was diagnosed with dairy, soy, egg, nut, and wheat intolerance, but I was determined to breastfeed her.  Although my first reason was the benefits breast milk gives, I also wanted to nurse because I knew she would be my last baby, and therefore my last chance to experience this part of motherhood.  I cut all these elements out of my diet which was, to say the least, difficult.  My wonderful husband was able to cook delicious meals for me and somehow we got through it.  Looking back, I’m not sure what I ate during those times.  Although Lizzy is now over a year and I’m still nursing, I have been able to work all these allergens back into our diets.  Miraculously, neither of my children have so far exhibited lasting allergies - I am definitely grateful.

I have heard a lot of debate concerning why so many children have allergies.  For me, when I cut out allergens from my diet, my babies were happier, so I was happy.  And now, I’m a baker and I’m in the business of making other people happy.

I think it is a great privilege to make allergen free cakes for special occasions.  When I deliver a birthday cake or cupcakes for a child with allergies, I do so with a great awareness of how he or she feels.  I am all too aware of what it’s like to be deprived of delicious food at most parties and when out at restaurants: although you feel like you've explained your restrictions a hundred times, people continue to offer you foods you can't have.  Then there's the explaining the restrictions to servers who often are rude and condescending.  Then of course there's the individuals who want to spark a debate about the validity of food sensitivities in children.  I can’t imagine going through this as a child.  To go to a friend’s birthday party and see a fantastic cake, and feel that you can’t have the same for your birthday.  I love the idea of giving these children that fabulous cake, and proving that it can not only look great, but taste great as well!  When I’m up late making a special birthday cake and I start to get tired, I think about that little guy the next day who hasn’t had a piece of cake at his friends’ parties, and I get my second wind.

When I was nursing my first baby, on Valentines Day my husband came home with a dozen cupcakes from a specialty baker located about 20 miles from our house.  They were dairy and soy free.  It had been months since I had had cake, or any dessert at all, which for me is an eternity.  Those cupcakes were the most delicious things I had EVER tasted, and I think will ever taste.  That gift was one of the best gifts I have ever received.  The experience gave me the idea of starting a business on the north shore specializing in baking for nursing moms and children with allergies.  Eating food together is a special part of being a family, and sharing a birthday cake is a very special part of being a kid.  I love being a part of making that possible for everyone!

Let them {all} eat {good} cake!

~Sugar Dish  

A Very Busy Few Weeks!

The last month has been so busy for Sugar Dish, that I haven't had the time to write about it!  But fortunately, I have had the opportunity to work on some great cakes and cupcakes! Here's a bit about what I've been working on.

Valentine's Day was very exciting. A few weeks beforehand, I created this truffle cupcake box to use as an entry in the Macaroni Kid Valentine's Cupcake Contest. When thinking of my concept for the design, I didn't want to consult Pinterest or any cookbooks for ideas. So I headed to the store and bought a big ole box of chocolates, made a bunch of mini chocolate cupcakes, and frosted them with a traditional fudge frosting. Every now and then, when you start making something, for one reason or another you think, "Damn this is going to be good." And this was one of those times. It was kismet, and the cupcakes were awesome. After frosting, I topped with a chocolate truffle and dipped the cupcake in chocolate ganache. I then decorated with sprinkles, tinted sugar, conversation hearts, melted white chocolate, and nuts.  Then I popped them into the now empty chocolate box.  I was so happy with the outcome - it was beautiful!  But most importantly, these cupcakes tasted like chocolate orgasms, to steal a phrase from Judy Rosenberg.  I posted the pictures on Sugar Dish Bakery's Facebook page, and immediately began to receive orders, including dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free versions!  I then sent the photo to Macaroni Kid for the contest, and gee wiz, a few weeks later I found out I was one of the five winners!  Hot damn!

Spurred by my creative genius, I decided to make a cupcake bouquet of roses for Valentines Day as well.  I made 12 vanilla cupcakes and decorated them like light and dark pink roses.  Check out this Rosette Tutorial for details.  Then, I headed to the local florist shop to buy a foam ball and some greenery.  As I am a genius after all, I took my two year old along for the ride.  He loved the florist shop, but it was one of the most stressful 10 minutes of my life being alone with a toddler loose in a flower shop.  You thought a bull in a china shop was supposed to be bad?  Awesome.  Anyway, I filled a small vase with greenery, plopped the foam ball in it, and used two tooth pics per cupcake to stick them into the foam ball.  I also used the greenery as filler in the spots you could see the foam.  I posted the photos on Facebook as well, and they were a smash hit!  More orders, many allergen free, ensued.  BOOM!

The two weeks leading up to Valentine's Day were a bit of a sugar blur, but here are some more photos of my orders:

Three beauties.

Dairy and soy free mini cupcakes

Shortbread cookies dipped in ganache!

 After Valentine's Day, I took a deep breath and had a large glass of wine.  Then, I made some mini Thomas the Train cupcakes.  These guys are dairy, soy, and nut free, and each Thomas is about one inch tall!  Choo Choo!

Next up was my sweet baby Lizzy's first birthday, so I focused my efforts, as I needed to make a two tier birthday cake, a smash cake, and 80 cupcakes for her party.

For her smash cake, I made a completely allergen free vanilla cake with rosette frosting.  No dairy, soy, eggs, nuts, or gluten in this one!  Lizzy loved it and looked adorable in her photos!

Then, for the main event!  The birthday cake had a vanilla first tier, and the second tier was an allergen free vanilla cake, using the same recipe as Lizzy's smash cake.  I covered both layers with a white fondant, and did ombre style fondant ruffles on the bottom layer.  For the top layer, I cut out fondant circles and sprayed with an edible gold spray to get the confetti look.  I wanted the confetti to match the confetti balloons at her party.  It was a huge success and I love the way it turned out!

Phew.  I'd like to say that I am so exhausted that I'm taking a long vacation.  But I'm not!  It is now March, which I have always called "birthday month!"  It seems that people really like to make babies during the summer months, because a lot of people (including me!) were born in March.  I will be very busy!!!

Mama needs a drink...