A Dairy, Soy, and Egg Free Cake

My good friend M recently found out that her sweet newborn baby F is intolerant to dairy, soy, and eggs.  If a baby can't eat these items, it means the mommy can't either!  M had a birthday recently and as someone who fully believes in the right to everyone to have birthday cake, no matter what their food allergies, I wanted to make sure that she got a cake she could eat.

I started searching for vegan cakes and frostings, since that would cover the dairy and egg free requirements.  The only issue after that was finding a recipe that didn't use a soy product like soy-based shortening.

I've made "wacky cake" before and think it is a great vegan option.  I made this version, in three 6" cake pans (I only used two of the layers for this cake).  Unfortunately, I had a lot of issues unmolding the cakes for some reason, so I needed to do some strategic covering up with frosting. 

I love peanut butter cups, so I thought a chocolate peanut butter frosting sounded good.  I found this frosting, although I substituted the unsweetened chocolate with Enjoy Life guaranteed dairy/soy free chocolate chips to be extra sure.  I cut down slightly on the amount of confectioner's sugar to compensate.  The frosting was a loose ganache texture at first, but thickened up considerably after some time in the refrigerator.  I poured the ganache between the layers and over the whole cake when it was first made (you can see the glossy top of the cake), but then spread the thickened frosting around the sides to smooth out the edges caused by the deformed cakes.  I could have spread it on top as well, but I liked the glossy look.  The thick frosting meant that I could also pipe some fun decorations on the cake :)  My only gripe about this frosting?  I HATE working with natural peanut butter.  I can't get the oil incorporated without getting it all over myself and my kitchen.  Worth it for an allergen free cake, though!

I can't wait to explore different flavor combination for dairy/egg/soy free cakes in the future.  Even my fiance A, who is skeptical of allergen free foods, thought this cake tasted great.

Bonus: for those who need a gluten free cake, in addition to vegan/soy free, Four Chickens has a GF version of the wacky cake.