I made a cake the day my son was first diagnosed with food allergies. No, not to celebrate. I was taking a cake decorating class and had made it in preparation. Before his appointment, I suspected he was allergic to milk but it wasn’t until after that we learned about his egg allergy.

And I had made the cake with eggs. I didn’t know any other way to bake a cake.

Now I had this delicious yellow cake ready to eat and I couldn’t take a bite because I was breastfeeding and he was allergic to its ingredients.

I was heartbroken.

That seems silly now given that its just a cake but I love to bake and it looked like my new hobby was coming to a screeching halt.

Since that day, though, I’ve discovered numerous recipes for baked goods – some good, some not so much – that are dairy, egg and nut-free. One source in particular is the Food Allergy Mama blog.

I’ve been following Kelly Rudnicki’s blog for a while now. I think she hooked me with a confessed love for anything apple – or maybe it was pumpkin.

I resisted buying her cookbook though because so many of her recipes are online.  But then I tried a recipe. And then another. And then another. And I loved them all (well, except the cornbread one, couldn’t get that one to turn out right).

So I added her cookbook, The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book, to my birthday wish list and was delighted when my mother-in-law bought it for me. I now use it regularly – it was like my Bible for baked goods during the holidays.

I’ve made the French Puff Muffins, the Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins (a family fav now), the Chocolate Chip Brownies, the Chocolate Chip Cookies, the Pumpkin Pie (twice), and the Hot Cocoa recipe. And there are so many more recipes in her book that I want to try.

What I love about her recipes is that they are simple and don’t involve weird ingredients that you have to hunt down at a specialty food store. The weirdest was silken tofu, which I easily found for $1.99 at the organic market. Its perfect when you need a cream substitute. (Just don’t breathe through your noise when baking with it if you have a sensitive stomach. Fortunately, you won’t taste it.)

I highly recommend this book and feel its a must have for any food allergy mom who likes to bake or who just wants their food allergic child to eat cake once in a awhile.

Disclosure: No one paid me to write this or even asked me to. I just love this book and think you will too! The link is an Amazon affiliate link but you don’t have to click on it or buy the book.