Hi,

I've said that I will attempt to make a cake for a friend who is on a wheat and dairy free diet.  I have a suitable cake recipe, and fondant is fine, but does anyone have any suggestions for a crumb coat/ undercoat?  Buttercream is out, obviously, and ganache.  I can't think of anything else :-(

If all else fails I can do a design which doesn't require a smooth finish to the fondant, but I'd like to try if I can.

Thanks,

Lizzie

AYou can make buttercream using soy-based margarine and high-ratio shortening, we used Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks (available from Whole Foods) and Sweetex.

Sorry, I should have pointed out that I'm in the UK.  Do you know if those products are available over here?

Thanks for your input, Jason, you're a great help on here :-)
 

Lizzie, would you be willing to share your dairy free cake recipe? 

Thankyou!

I have never tried it but Vitalite is dairy free margarine which may work and I think Cookeen might be an equivalent to high ratio shortening? Trying a post on the UK cupcake forum might get better substitues than my suggestions!

Just after thinking - Oatly have a dairy free cream substitute, would that and dairy free (dark) chocolate produce ganache?

Sorry they are more my rambling thoughts than a useful post!

Thanks (belatedly) for your suggestions.  I'll have a wee shop around and experiment for a bit.  If I succeed in getting something good then I'll post it here.
 

I've just done a dairy free cake (and am in the UK) and used Pure spread for the buttercream and soya milk which worked really well (it was chocolate buttercream so you don't miss the lack of butter flavour).

Last year, as a companion to the Leland Awards cake, I baked a single(!) cupcake for a severely dairy-allergic fellow docent, and frosted it with a simple maple-cinnamon glaze (I think it was Vermont Grade B thickened with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon). Earth Balance is not exactly cheap, and it wasn't something I particularly wanted to keep on hand.

Just an update, I used Soya Vitalite for the buttercream, and although it tasted ok, the consistency was a bit off.  I use a variant of the Hummingbird Bakery's American buttercream but with using the Vitalite instead of butter, I didn't need to add any milk, and it didn't crust as well.  I think a bit  more experimenting is needed.  The cake was fine, and the people I gave it too said it was "mouth-wateringly delicious", so that's ok!

SweetTreat, I just used this recipe: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.co.uk/2006/02/dark-goddess-cake.html, and subsituted the Vitalite instead of the butter.