Hello!

I am looking for advice on this. When I get an order for a "white" cake I always use the WASC (White Almond Sour Cream) cake recipe and I haven't specifically told customers that it contains almond flavoring since that is what makes it different from other cakes. I have an order for 75 cupcakes for a child to bring to school for her birthday for tomorrow. I got to thinking how relatively common it is for kids to have nut allergies. If a child is allergic to nuts I'd think they'd be allergic to almond flavoring, wouldn't they? Has anyone used the recipe without the almond flavoring? Do you increase the vanilla? Does it still taste as good?

Should I be directly telling my customers that my white cake contains almond flavoring? I feel like a dummy never thinking of this before. I'd hate to put someone in danger from eating my cake!

Julie

When your not sure if you have people with allergies then just use vanilla instead of the almond. But in all honesty, if your child had a kid with nut allergies in thier class, they would most likely know it, and so would you

just make sure you make it clear you are not promising this is nut (or other) allergy free, regardless of what you do. Most kids who have such allergies have it pounded into them that they cannot have food from someone/somewhere their parents don't know.

Thanks Peg. This is an order for a customer, not my own child, so I don't know if there are allergies or not. I live in Saudi Arabia so things are a little different here, not sure if that sort of information would be known amongst classmates/parents-I used to teach English in a Saudi school and there was no mention of the health issues of my students by the administration to me. If I use just the vanilla should I just add the 2 t vanilla, or extra since I'm not adding the almond (recipe also calls for 2 t almond flavoring)?

Thanks!

Julie

Good point JMT, I was thinking kids might not suspect nuts in cake but as you say, parents have probably warned them against baked goods of all kinds since people that bake cakes most likely bake things with nuts in them which would "contaminate" the kitchen as far as nut allergies are concerned. Maybe I'm just being a little paranoid.

I just baked a cupcake with only the vanilla, off to taste-test it!

Julie

I don't like almond extract myself, so when I use the WASC recipe I substitute butter flavoring for the almond. It tastes great! That might be an option for you if you aren't usre about the almond.

HTH!
Anya

Back from the taste-test. I added just the 2 t of vanilla and it still tastes yummy! In the future I will offer white or white almond to my customers just to make sure they are aware of the almond flavoring. I guess better safe than sorry!

Julie

You may want to check with your extract. If it is artifical then I don't think it contains almonds in it and is safe. If it is the real deal then you probably want to leave it out or replace it with something else. That is the safe thing to do since most people aren't going to think almond in the 'traditional' white cake flavor.