Carrot Pineapple Cake

I am going to try to make most of my recipes using everyday ingredients.  However, on this one I used the ener-G egg replacer.  I love this cake so I hope you do too.

2 cups sugar
2/3 c. canola oil
2/3 c. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. baking soda
1 pound bag of shredded carrots
1 of the small cans crushed pineapple
4 1/2 tsp egg replacer +6Tbsp. seltzer water

Preheat the oven to 350*F and grease two 8 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
First mix the egg replacer and seltzer water and set aside, it will foam up.  In a large bowl I combined the sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla.  Separately I combined the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and baking soda then stir it into liquid bowl.  Add the pineapple and carrots.  Gently fold in the egg replacer, but make sure it is all combined.   Bake for approximately 45 minutes.

The first time I made this cake the outside was a bit crispy around the edge and it was rounded on the top(no good for stacking).  I bought these strips from Wilton that you soak in water then wrap around you cake pan while baking.  They work really well.  The second cake came out very moist and even, no crumbs or crunchy spots around the edges.  I am a cheater when it comes to frosting.  Pillsbury makes a few frostings that are safe for us, only wheat and soy, so I called to check for cross contamination and was told that  they use "may contain" statements on all their products, so it really is safe for us.  I used their cream cheese frosting and the cake turned out great!  I had to pull my daughter out of the kitchen several times over the last few days because she keeps snitching more bites.  For those of you who are disappointed in the canned frosting all I can say is that I plan to figure our how to make it from scratch, and will let you know when I do.

Mom I want some too!

Hi, my name is Aggie and I have a daughter with food allergies.  After months of dealing with a sick baby we found out that she was allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, and wheat.  In addition to those, we were told to avoid tree nuts and not to introduce fish or shellfish until she is much older.  Well My daughter is 4 now and has outgrown her wheat allergy.  I used to love to bake and spending time in the kitchen was relaxing for me.  For the first year after her diagnosis I hated the kitchen.  You see, our doctor (who I LOVE) sent us away from his office that first day with a four page list of ingredients I couldn't use, but didn't give any information on what we could have.  It kind of set my mind to a certain way of thinking that we couldn't have things.  In reality we can, and do, have all those things now.  It took my daughter looking at me, with her big sad eyes, and saying "Mom but I want some too"  That's when I really started doing research and found replacements for everything!  In the world of food allergies it is relatively easy to find something to eat, but not nearly as simple to find something good to eat.  My hope is that this blog will introduce delicious foods into some  limited diets, and hopefully it will expand my recipe book too.  My plan is to take a "normal" recipe and convert it into a "safe" one. I plan to attempt to conquer things like finding an adequate replacement for whipped cream, cheesecake, and making brownies.  To those of you who are new to food allergies, brownies are kind of impossible.  I will bake one each week all year and let you know how it goes, sharing both my successes and failures.  Hope you like a few.