'Homemade' Dairy Free Cake Hack -

If you are dairy free, enjoy cake and want a super simple life, read on to see how you can whip up dairy free cakes at home for those special occasions without all the guesswork, faffing and stress using a simple ready-made cake mix…

Homemade birthday cakes

From day dot, I’ve made my boys birthday cakes from scratch. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing it but in all honesty, it was down to allergy. My eldest was diagnosed with a Cows Milk Protein allergy at just over 6 months. With most shop bought cakes containing milk, and with his 1st birthday approaching I set out to make him a cake that he could enjoy. Fast forward a few years (and a few kids later) when life is busy and time is precious, I stumbled upon a packet mix that was accidentally dairy free!! CAKE GAME CHANGED!

Look, I’m not claiming to be any kind of professional baker and my cakes look far from it, but they are dairy free, are fun and you know what, the kids love them – They taste pretty darn good too!

Tesco packet cake mix

This cake mix is super simple and so cheap at just 1 pound per packet! All you need to add is eggs! Find it here : Tesco Packet cake mix

PACKET MIX INGREDIENTS:

Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin),
Sugar,
Palm Oil,
Raising Agents (Potassium Bicarbonate, Calcium Phosphate, Glucono-Delta-Lactone),
Rapeseed Oil,
Dextrose,
Flavourings.

It’s available in a chocolate sponge too – Also dairy free!

Method as per Tesco site :

To see how to make the cakes using the cake mix, Click here.

To make the cakes as I did, you will need two packets. One per cake tin. I baked in the oven for 35 minutes at 200 degrees as the cake is deeper (as opposed to splitting the mixture like the packet states). I then cut each of the cakes in half so my cakes were actually 4 sponge layers deep.

Other ingredients for decorating

dairy free cake — Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Icing | Fondant Icing | Dr Otcker food colourings

Dairy free — Share your dairy free finds with the dairy free community of Instagram by using the hashtag #Dairyfreefindsuk

The Bear Cake…

Okay, so he’s not perfect, but he’s kind of cute!

For the bear cake, I followed the baking instructions as per the packet (as above) but tweaked them slightly…

Grease the cake tin with dairy-free spread. I also use greaseproof paper to line it so I get sharper edges and so it comes out easily.

I added the eggs and water to the cake mix and then whisked with an electric mixer.

As all the cake mix went into one tin, I baked at 200 degrees for 35 minutes.

I let the cake cool before adding the frosting layer.

Using the cake cutter, I cut a layer off the second cake, then using a round cutter cut out two ear shapes and a snout.

A cut straw pushed through the ears and the head acts as a support to keep them in place.

I used Betty Crocker’s icing pots for the icing. I did a coating all over then popped it in the fridge to set before adding the details.

Drip Cakes

If you are even shorter on time, a drip cake is a sure-fire way of making a cake look good with minimal effort. After you have applied a layer of frosting and chilled the cake in the fridge, drip melted dairy free chocolate over the cake, throw on some of your favourite treats, like party rings, or Oreos (also accidentally dairy free) or some of your kids favourite characters and bob’s your uncle!! A fab looking drip cake.

Here are a few others I’ve done over the years…