The Big 2 – 0

Nineteen was a tough year and I can’t say I was sad to let it go when I turned twenty yesterday. My younger sister, Jane, and Dad left for Spring Break in the UK yesterday morning, so my mum, a good friend of ours and I had a little celebration last night. It was a really enjoyable evening. We chatted for three and a half hours (time really does fly), so by the time I got home I didn’t feel the need to blog about birthday cake.

I thought birthday cake was a difficult proposition for last year’s gluten-free birthday – well, that’s nothing compared to a low fat, starch-free cake! Obviously such a specific cake doesn’t exist (ok, you could technically make a cake out of broccoli and carrots, but that is totally not the point of a birthday). Instead or dappling with totally starch-free baking, I used the same recipe that I created last year for a gluten-free yellow cake. Again it turned out quite well. Here’s what the recipe entails: (it’s embarrassing to admit, but…) the cake begins with a Betty Crocker gluten-free yellow cake mix. I have yet to come up with a gluten-free flour combo that doesn’t taste like volcanic ash and this brand of mixes turns our surprisingly well. The mix calls for water and butter. I do not use these ingredients; in an effort to create a taste and texture similar to the wonderful yellow cake we’ve made for years I substitute white wine for the water and oil for the butter. This year, to lessen the fat content and make the treat more tolerable for a gastroparesis diet, I used 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of applesauce. Still, the cake (or cupcakes rather) turned out beautifully and quite similar to the “real thing.”

I have lots of other news from the past week, but we’ll save that for a more involved post in the coming days.