A Berry Sweet Time!

I really enjoyed making this cake! Even with the struggles I always face when making an egg-free/dairy-free cake; it is still a joy to make something special for my daughter.

Here she is...so happy to be 5! :)



This cake was gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. Supposedly it is yellow cake, but given I don't use eggs it is more like a dense white cake. I have to say the 1-2-3 Gluten Free Cake Mix is my new favorite! I am fan of the box mixes for Gluten-Free baking simply because doubling recipes to make a tiered cake can often mess up the structure of an egg-free/gluten-free cake. I find when I do make it from scratch I NEVER have enough batter. This box mix made 2x as much as any other one I would buy and tasted much better than the other vanilla cake mix I used for her 4th birthday cake (the rainbow one). So I'm hooked! Thank you 1-2-3 Gluten Free!! The only modification I might try (when I make something smaller) is using oil instead of shortening. Since most recipes call for butter, shortening is a great substitute, but I've found it to create a very dense cake. Using oil seems to give a moister softer consistency. It will have to be an Easter Experiment! :)

Strawberry Shortcake is hand molded from gumpaste. I couldn't use the usual meringue powder glue to hold her together due to my girl's egg allergies. Which, well, was challenging. BUT toothpicks saved the day. In lieu of spaghetti and eggwhite glue we did toothpicks and tiny bits of water or corn syrup. It was difficult and time consuming, but this piece was the one thing she said she really wanted. How do you not make that happen!?!?! :)



Wishing you a Berry Sweet Day!