The cake should serve as the center piece of a birthday party. You need to worry about flavor, texture, and appearance. After buying birthday cakes from the store and being very disappointed, I started making my own. Sometimes I use a box cake mix and sometimes I find a recipe online to try. Because of my girl’s reactions to dairy, I generally make them a cake that won’t cause a nasty rash. What birthday girl wants a rash right?

Dairy Free Basic yellow Cake

Makes 2 8″ cakes or 1 8″ layer cake

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups cake flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) dairy-free soy margarine, slightly cooler than room temperature
• 2 cups and 2 T. granulated sugar
• 1 ½ t. vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, soy milk or rice milk

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Lightly grease (with dairy-free margarine) two 8″ round cake pans, line with greased parchment and lightly flour, tapping out excess. Set aside.

2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In another medium-large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat together the soy margarine and sugar until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla, beating until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the margarine mixture, followed by 1/3 cup of the almond milk, and continue adding the remaining ingredients in two more additions, beating well before adding the next. Mix until just combined.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops with an offset spatula. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes in the pans before transferring the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Frost with Dairy Free Chocolate Frosting.

Makes about 2 cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups organic powdered sugar
• ¼ cup (½ stick) dairy-free soy margarine, softened
• ¼ cup plain unsweetened almond milk or soymilk
• ¾ cup unsweetened pure cocoa powder
• ½ t. vanilla

Preparation:

1. In a medium-large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream the powdered sugar with the soy margarine until mixture is thick but well combined. Add the almond milk, cocoa powder and vanilla, and continue to mix until smooth.