gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

gluten free mini muds

I got a bit experimental today with one of our favourite mudcake mixes. The Deliciously Free mix by Naturally Good was one of our faves when we did our recent choccy cake bakeoff.

It has an enticing blurb on the back called Cup Cake Ideas in which it suggests you use the mix in this way. The only thing holding me back was the lack of detail on the pack about actual execution of these ideas. There was nothing about how long to cook them or how many cupcakes it could produce.

Given my penchant for mudcake, though, it was only a matter of time before I took the plunge. Turns out that half an hour is enough (about half the time of the large cake version) and it makes about a dozen medium-sized cupcakes.

Because this mix does not include frosting, I topped it with gran’s chocolate icing recipe which is nice and shiny and hardens nicely.

You mix together a a knob of butter, about half a cup of icing sugar and a few tablespoons of cocoa (until it looks right) over a little heat. You will also need a dash of milk, enough to make it nice and shiny and runny enough to spread.

I found the cupcakes a little less spongy and moist that the larger mudcake – but on the upside, they are very cute, handy and freezable.

MB

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gluten free kids birthday

It’s bumper to bumper birthdays in our house at the moment.  All four of us get a year older within the space of a few months and fittingly, we do this in age order from oldest to youngest.

With the final celebration nearly upon us, it is time to dust off our gluten free party food ideas.

These will have to please not only our gluten free birthday girl but also her gluten-quaffing kindy buddies.

So I am busy workshopping ideas:

Potato chips, corn chips, rice crackers & cheese and popcorn are shoo-ins.

I’m also thinking little jellies. Individual tubs with fruit are great if the invite list doesn’t get too long.

Then there are chocolate dipped strawberries. I have never quite gotten these right but when you do they are strangely compelling to all age groups. Read the rest of this entry »

Lets face it, kids’ birthday parties are glorified gluten-fests.

Okay, so they also mark the glorious growth milestones of our friends and family… with cake, fairy bread, nuggets, sausage rolls, hot dogs and … well you get the picture.

Navigating the giddy round of festivities on behalf of your gluten free offspring can therefore be tricky. So with a couple of years’ experience under my belt, I have put together a list of suggestions. The only problem is that most of them suck:

1. Decide to boycott parties altogether and deprive you and your child of this great social ritual. By the way this option never goes down well with the little ones.

2. Become an ace helicopter pilot and steer them toward the chips and jelly with military precision. This one requires CIA-style vigilance. It also makes you feel like a great big wowser.

3. Drop them off with a few of their own treats including a squishy slab of gluten free cake you whipped up earlier. This obviously requires forethought and can potentially offend.

4. Offer to bake the cake for every party you plan to attend. This may win you popularity with your parent peers but could also backfire if the cake comes out of the oven concave.

5. Bribe your child wtih something extra delicious for after the party if they manage to stay with the program without doing the big sad eyes thing to you or the host.

6. When the birthday candles are lit and start reflecting in their teary little eyes, give in and say they can have a small piece of cake just this once as a special treat and then regret your decision for the rest of the week.

My strategy? I pick and choose from the above list depending on the situation.

Happy hovering!

MB

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