Dairy-Free White Cake with Vegan Buttercream Frosting

Do you have a child with a dairy allergy or sensitivity to dairy? We do! And it made coming up with a birthday cake a challenge. After testing out a few different recipes, I found one that turned out so delicious that our guests didn't even realize I hadn't used milk or butter. Yes, it really is that good!

You may remember me telling you in this post that my youngest son Caleb is highly allergic to milk. Early tests even indicated the possibility of a soy allergy. We found out about all of this when Caleb was about one-month-old.

It has made the introduction of solid foods a challenge, but we have gradually been figuring it all out. He drinks rice milk instead of cow's milk. Almond milk isn't an option because my picky little guy hates it. (Update: As he got older, he started loving almond milk.) I have baked with almond milk to sneak it into his diet since certain types have more protein. Even though there are a lot of foods he can't or won't eat, one of his favorite things is vanilla yogurt made from coconut milk.

Neither Lydia Grace or Eli, my other two children--have a milk allergy, so it has certainly been a new adventure for us. Figuring out a cake option for his first birthday was a full-on kitchen quest. I came up with some delicious options, though. As my mother was eating a slice, she made sure to ask, "You wrote down everything you did, right?" Yes, I did! And I'm even sharing it with you today...

White Cake
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (You could also use vegan butter.)
• 1 cup rice or almond milk (vanilla or regular)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 egg whites (If you want the cake to be vegan, substitute the egg whites for 1/2 cup of non-dairy yogurt.)

Directions:
Grease (with vegetable shortening) and flour two round baking pans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the sugar and shortening together. I would recommend using a mixer. Stir in the almond milk, vanilla, and egg whites. Mix the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually pour the dry ingredients into your batter and mix until smooth. Pour the batter evenly into the two pans. Bake for around 30 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before removing the cakes from their pans.

Vegan Frosting
Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup vegan butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk 
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat vegan butter in a mixer until creamy. Add rice milk, salt, vanilla, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Blend the ingredients together. Continue adding 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar at a time. Mix until smooth. (If the frosting is too runny or too thick, you can add a little more sugar or non-dairy milk.)

Frosting the cake:
 Make sure the layers have cooled completely before frosting. Place pieces of parchment paper all around the edges of the cake stand. You want to be able to pull it away once you are done frosting the cake. Cut off the top of the layer you are going to use as the bottom of the cake. You want this layer to be as flat as possible. Place it on the cake stand. Spread a thick layer of frosting over the top and pull the icing to the edges and down the sides. Put the next layer on top. Use the same technique to frost this layer by spreading the frosting in the middle first and then pulling it to the edges and down the sides. Add more frosting to the sides, if needed, smoothing it out as you go. Pull away the parchment paper.