Good morning,

I'm pretty new to this whole cake thing. I have a friend that has to stay away from gluten, dairy, soy and sugar. I searched for recipes and found the Gluten, Free, Celiac Safe white cake.....but it has sugar in it. Does anyone have a recipe that eliminates all of these things? Is it possible? Would it taste good? Haha! Also....if there is a recipe....what would I cover the cake in that doesn't contain sugar? HELP! I want my friend to be able to celebrate her birthday with a cake.

Thanks,
Amy

Couldnt you just use that recipe you found and substitute splenda or some other non-sugar sweetener? IDK if that would change the consistancy of the cake though.... I would try it and see how it came out before I did her cake for sure.

I've used splenda in place of sugar for gfcf foods before. It alters the taste a little, but generally bakes pretty close to the same.

You dont think she would be interested in a different dessert other than a <cough> nasty <cough> GF cake?? I have to eat GF, but when you put GF and sugar free and dairy free and soy free all together, the end result is kinda gross. (No offense intended to all of you GF bakers out there, but ew, just ew.)

We can come up with something else, I know we can! I have a Fabulous Flourless Chocolate torte recipe that is light on the sugar. Very chocolaty, very dense, very scrumptious.

I would say cheesecake, but no dairy.....I have heard that cheesecake can be made with silken tofu, but I havent ever tried it.

Ummm, give me time to look. I will be back...

Thank you so much, Jayde!!! I'm willing to try anything....but yeah....when you take all those things away, how can it possibly be tasty...haha! I appreciate you taking the time to look around....I do want it to be tasty...because if it's not, what's the point?

Ok, so after 1 full day of looking around, I came up with not a whole lot. I did find some recipes for flourless carrot cake, but they sounded really dense, almost like a fruit cake.

Even though I am GF, I can still eat dairy, so I eat and have perfected a lot of cheesecake recipes. So the best thing that I have is my fabulous chocolate torte recipe, which has been tweaked ever so slightly from the Carnival Cruise lines recipe. I also have a recipe for small chocolate souffles which are very good, but are best made individually in small rammekins. I will post both.


Fabulous Flourless Chocolate Torte

Ingredients:
16 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips (60% cacao, if you can find it)
1/2 cup of butter
5 large eggs, separated
1 tbsp. of vanilla extract
1 tbsp. of instant espresso powder steeped in 2 tbsp of boiling water
1/4 cup of sugar + 2 tbsp.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Grease an 8-inch spring form pan liberally with butter.

3. Melt chocolate and butter in a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is NOT touching the water. Stir until smooth.

4. Whisk egg yolks, vanilla and 1/4 cup of sugar until the yolks turn pale yellow. Slowly add cooled chocolate mixture, mixing until well blended.

5. Beat egg white at high speed until soft peaks just begin to form. Slowly add 2 tbsp. of sugar and mix until the sugar has dissolved and stiff peaks form.

6. Fold 1/3 of egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture, stirring until no white remains. Gently fold in remaining 2/3 of egg whites, stirring until the whites are completely incorporated into the chocolate.. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.

7. Bake for 30 minutes until just set, do not over bake. The middle will still jiggle a bit. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Chill torte in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours. Serve with whipped cream, raspberries, and dust with unsweetened cocoa powder.


Individual Chocolate Souffles

5 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 tablespoon softened, remaining butter cut into 1/4-inch chunks)
1/3 cup granulated sugar , plus 1 tablespoon for coating the dishes
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarse
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
8 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon of espresso powder steeped in 1 tbsp boiling water

1.Coat eight 1-cup ramekins with 1 tablespoon butter, then coat inside of dish evenly with the 1 tablespoon sugar; refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Melt chocolate and remaining butter in medium bowl set over pan of simmering water. Turn off heat, stir in salt, espresso mixture, and vanilla; set aside.

3. Bring the 1/3 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons water to boil in small saucepan, then simmer until sugar dissolves. With mixer running, slowly add this sugar syrup to egg yolks; beat until mixture triples in volume, about 3 minutes. Fold into chocolate mixture. Clean beaters.

4. Beat egg whites until frothy; add cream of tartar and beat to soft peaks; add confectioners sugar; continue beating to stiff peaks.
5. Vigorously stir one-quarter of whipped whites into chocolate mixture. Gently fold remaining whites into mixture until just incorporated. Fill each ramekin almost to rim, wiping excess filling from rim with wet paper towel. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

6. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake until fully risen, about 16 to 18 minutes. (Soufflé is done when fragrant and fully risen. Use two large spoons to pull open the top and peek inside. If not yet done, place back in oven.) Serve immediately.

Forgot to add, both recipes call for butter and it is always best if you use real butter. Since she is dairy free as well, I would find yourself a good butter substitute.

Which means that I would probably use a good dairy free margarine and some shortening. I would use a 1:1 ratio. So if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter, use 1/4c of margarine and 1/4 cup of shortening. Mix well, before adding any other ingredients.

I don't know if this is written above, but if you can't have sugar, you can't have splenda. Splenda is a sugar derivitave.

For a sugar substitute, you need to look at maple, agave, stevia, etc. But you also need to know what the problem with sugar is. If it's a diabetic thing, then maple is out too because it has to do with the glycemic factor/scale. Think about this from a frosting stand point too.

Now, if she's allergic to soy, that cuts out soy butter and all shortenings other than actual lard (but check the label on that) because shortening is a soy base. You could look into a canola spread like Smart Balance or Olivio but check the labels. You are probably better off using a non hydrogenated canola oil recipe.

For the gluten free, you can substitute potato, tapioca or rice flour, or even the Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour.

You might be able to do a gluten free apple snack cake Assuming you can use eggs, you would just need to figure out what the substitute of agave would be for the sugar, keeping in mind that the agave will add a little liquid to the mixture. Use half rice flour, half potato startch for the flour. Or use the GF all purpose flour mix.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazing-Apple-Cake/Detail.aspx

The texture will be different. You can't expect a cake to be just like a cake when you take out all the main components that make a cake a cake. But it would still be tasty.

Thank you so much! You have all been very helpful! All I have to say is THANK GOODNESS I don't have to stay away from all of that because I would go insane! I'll definitely be filing those recipes away for future use for someone that is gluten free.....I'm thinking it's almost impossible to make something tasty after eliminating all that is good! Everyone on this site is so helpful, and I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer and search for recipes! Maybe I'll give her an apple!

I am sorry, I didnt know about the soy-shortening thing. I had already figured that you would have to replace the sugar with something comparable.

I am ok at alternative gluten free desserts, we get a couple orders a year at the bakery, but as far as everything free? Sheesh, go and get a nice fruit platter or edible arrangement someplace. These people think that we can work miracles with cake, but once you take out the butter, flour, sugar, shortening, all that is left is eggs and vanilla....