Hey guys,

So, I'm doing my little girl's birthday party in a couple of weeks, and one of her little friends is mild on the autism spectrum, and his mom is very careful about a gluten/casein-free diet. She very sweetly asked me what color cake and what kinds of treats I would be serving so that she could bring something similar for her son to eat so he wouldn't feel left out. Still, I feel bad not having anything as an option for him. I'm a doctor, so you'd think I'd have given this more thought, but I've never actually been in a caking situation with this diet before ... I usually work with Sugarshack's icing, a WASC variation of cake, and fondant. What are my options for offering at least one of the cakes (I'm planning on makins several tiers) so he can have some? Or should I just not worry about it, since his mom very readily offered to bring her own food for him?

Unless you list out for her all the ingredients in all the products or tell her all products so she can check the ingredients then she probably will feel better bringing her own. You'd pretty much have to bake Vegan and gluten free.

sugarshack's icing would be okay... SatinIce is gluten free, but I don't know if there is any dairy... I'm GF myself and really like Pamelas GF chocolate cake...

Sugarshack's icing won't work if you use creamer in it. Even the non-dairy creamer contains casein.

My son is GFCF because he is also on the autism spectrum (Aspergers). If you make a tier that is gfcf and it touches the other tiers - he can't eat it anyway. I usually ask what the treats are going to be at a party too so that he can have something similar. And I totally don't mind doing it. Of course, my son (6) is terrific about his diet and even turns away candy offered by other kids on the playground because he's on a "special diet!"

I'm personally more comfortable making something myself knowing that if cross-contamination occurs in my own kitchen there's no one to blame but myself. BUT if someone told me that they were going to make something gfcf specially for my son - and it turns out there was accidentally gluten or casein in it - I would be upset. Make sense? Cross-contamination can happen so easily - for your own well-being (and especially the child's) it would be better to just let the mom do it.

Most of us moms who have special needs regarding our children's diets are pretty good about providing something special so they can participate right along with everybody else. Of course, there are some people who think that everybody should cater to the special needs of their one child, but that's not really fair IMO. If the party was for THAT child it would be different.

Long story short - don't feel bad! It's sweet that you think that way though!

I agree with Jonah's mom - I bake exclusively gluten free and do offer casein free options, but whenever friends offer to make special treats for my son who has celiac disease I always politely decline - it's just not worth the risk of cross contamination. Especially if you are a baker - there's probably flour flying around your kitchen that you wouldn't even notice - that's enough to make my son very ill! I always really appreciate my friends' offers though and I'm sure your friend feels the same way about you!

baking gluten free in Washington, DC!

It's been so long since I made her icing that I forgot about the creamer! I'm sorry!

Thanks so much for the great feedback, everybody! Okay, good to know ... so I guess I won't try my hand at the GFCF diet this time 'round. My friend did not ask for it at any point, I just thought it would be the decent thing to do, heehee ... but you're right, it's probably best all the way around to let her take care of it, if I'm not planning on making the whole cake in the same way.

This community always has so much to offer! Thanks again, everyone!

-Emi.