Gluten Free Birthday Party

This afternoon, Rosa and Jacob attended a young friend's birthday party. As those of you who have been reading my blog know, Jacob is on a wheat free diet. This diet has greatly improved his symptoms of ADHD and Jacob no longer has the digestive issues that had been an ongoing issue since he was very little. I just wanted to share with others how you can easily handle the cake part of a birthday party without exposing your child to wheat or gluten. This can be done without making your child feel left out. I had made a chocolate fudge cake from the cookbook, The 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes, over a month ago. I individually wrapped six pieces of the chocolate cake in saran and then placed them all in a zip lock freezer bag and froze them. Today, I took out two pieces of the chocolate cake and let them thaw out before we headed to the party. One of the pieces was for me because I am also on a wheat free diet. I would suggest joining your child in eating wheat free cake so they are not the only ones eating something different.

We have also eliminated most dyes and preservatives from Jacob's diet. I had some organic gluten free chocolate syrup on hand and dye free sprinkles that I had bought at our health food store. I brought the pieces of cake, the syrup, and the sprinkles to the party. When the cake was being cut, I went to the kitchen to pour chocolate syrup on our cake and then added the sprinkles on top. Jacob loves this cake with the chocolate syrup and sprinkles. It is a yummy and festive looking alternative. Jacob did ask twice to have some cupcakes being served at the party but he handled it fine when I told him they had wheat and he was getting his own cake with sprinkles instead. If you don't have time to make a cake and freeze slices, another great option is to buy the Foods By George Brownies which are absolutely delicious. They are available frozen in most health food stores and even in our medium size grocery store. You could bring a couple of those to a party and add the chocolate syrup and sprinkles. I also called ahead to find out what kind of ice cream would be served. We would have brought our own ice cream if the ice cream being served wasn't something Jacob could have.

The 125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook, where I got the chocolate fudge cake recipe, is a fabulous cookbook. I have made the chocolate fudge cake, brown bread, white bread, and thin pizza crust. All the recipes have turned out great and they are not difficult. The brown bread recipe is so good you can't tell that it is wheat and gluten free. I did not expect to find a bread recipe that tasted so good and you can make this in a bread machine as well.

I should add that Jacob did great at the birthday party and did not get all wound up like he used to. One Mom I had never met before, commented on how sweet Jacob was. It is so nice to get positive comments about my children from other people.