Strawberry Shortcake

It's strawberry season!  We always had a strawberry patch growing up, and I have fond memories of strawberry picking.  I ate most of what I picked as I went and ended up with strawberry juice all over my face and shirt.  Another tradition was homemade strawberry shortcake.  My mom typically made a spongy, yellow cake to serve as shortcake.  While I live in the suburbs with my kids, there are still strawberries to pick at grandma's house, and they love buying fresh strawberries at the farmer's market on Saturday mornings.  I searched the Internet for a shortcake recipe that might allow me to share my memories of my favorite desert growing up with my own children.  I found this recipe that not only tastes great, but it also very easy to make with simple ingredients.  No trip to the specialty food store necessary.  I wasn't sure about the pinch of nutmeg, but it gave the cakes a great flavor.    

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/gluten-free-strawberry-shortcake/

Although the coconut milk topping sounds great, I just used pre-made TruWhip.

Let Her Eat Cake

Let's face it.  When your kids have food allergies, birthday parties can be a bit tricky.  When my son was younger, he had a friend with a peanut allergy who had never been to a birthday party before because his mother was so worried about him having an allergic reaction.  Since my son also had a peanut allergy, I was able to convince her that our party would be peanut free which meant making our own pizza, cake, and ice cream for the party from scratch in our peanut free kitchen because she was so worried about cross-contamination.  I have to admit that I didn't normally go to the same extreme for my son with the same allergy, but I was willing to do whatever it took for the poor child to be able to come to the party and actually participate in a sleepover.  He was thrilled which made the extra effort well worth it.  

Thankfully, gluten allergies are typically not as extreme, but still pose significant problems when most of the typical party food is full of gluten.  My daughter is young enough that I am still able to attend the parties with her and monitor her food choices, but eventually she will need to learn to navigate these types of social situations on her own.  For now, we just bring her own cupcakes to celebrations with us.

Homemade Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix

I make these cupcakes ahead of time and keep them in the freezer ready to take with us for special occasions that come up.  Since my daughter can tolerate dairy products just fine, I make this recipe with milk and eggs.  Sometimes I make my own butter cream icing, but you can also use Betty Crocker icings which are all gluten free according to the company website.  Two cupcakes fit well in an old, plastic lunch meat container which is nice because I don't have to worry about bringing the container home with us.  When cake is served, she just gets out her own cupcakes, and most of the time nobody has even noticed that she had anything different.  The one time a friend asked her about it, she just told them that she had special cake that didn't hurt her tummy.  No big deal!  For other things, she is already learning to ask whether items are gluten free before eating them.  As long as she has cake, she is happy!

I have tried the Gluten Free Betty Crocker cake mixes, but we do not like them as well as this recipe.  They just don't have the sponge-like texture that we like.