Thursday 22 September 2011

A Sugar-Free Birthday Party!

A few days ago my little Einstein celebrated his sixth birthday. He was so excited about this year's birthday, counting down the days from about 3 weeks beforehand. And he was looking forward to his party in a big way. On the morning of his actual birthday he arrived into my room, way too early, about 6.15, full of excitement and happiness. I was way too tired to be that excited so I pulled him under the covers and said, "its very early, let's go back to sleep, please!". He was quiet for about half a minute then whispered, "Mom" he paused with a giddy smile, "I'm six!!!!" It was a perfect moment.

The party was the following day. Usually little Einstein's birthday parties are outdoor affairs where the kids run wild around the garden and the adults have very little to do but sit around and chat! Unfortunately this September the weather did not behave for us. It rained on and off, but we made the best of it, and the kids all got outside, from time to time, for brief spurts, usually legging it from the house to the treehouse, or running after a chicken and getting very muddy shoes.

The prospect of having a party without sugar had given me a few sleepless nights and I spent many hours on the web looking up recipes. I couldn't even picture what the table would look like without the usual party treats. No jellies, no sweets and none of my famous chocolate chip muffins. Crisps, popcorn and tortilla chips were all off the menu too. But I'm here to tell you that it IS completely possible to have a sugar-free party. We managed it, and it was a great success. I found plenty of recipes on www.pecanbread.com and www.scddatabase.com. I made marzipan sweets and toffee and presented them in cute coloured mini-muffin cases. My sister made gingerbread men, with cool currant faces and buttons, they looked fab! There was also orange jelly in a shaped mould, little bowls of strawberries, raspberries and raisins. Now, there were one or two of the kids who looked at the table despairingly, probably wondering "What's all this weird fruit and stuff?" But they all ate something. And they had fun. And no-one went home hyperactive!




The cake has always been an important element of parties at our house. I have often been up until 3am the night before a party, putting the finishing touches on a masterpiece, whether it be a fairy princess castle, a train or a pirate hat. This year I had accepted there would be nothing too fancy, no sugar means no sugarpaste icing and there are limits to using honey. Still, at least I would get to bed early! I've been making pineapple upside-down cake fairly regularly over the last few months so I decided that would serve well as a birthday cake and I adapted a recipe for meringue frosting to cover the cake. The final touch was to decorate with golden raisins. Simple but effective.

Pineapple upside-down cake
(from Raman Prasad's "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet")

220g almond flour
3 eggs
55g butter, melted
160g honey
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch cinnamon
230g fresh pineapple, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 180 C, gas mark 4. Grease a 20-23cm baking dish, I use a spring-form tin.
Mix all the ingredients, except the pineapple, in a food processor until smooth. Layer the pineapple slices on the bottom of the baking dish and then pour in the cake batter and spread it evenly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Take it out of the oven, allow it to cool for about 15 minutes and then carefully turn it out onto a plate (this is where the spring-form tin is very useful) so that the pineapple is on the top of the cake.

This cake is really delicious as the juice from the pineapple seeps into the cake, giving it a lovely flavour. The cake really doesn't need frosting, I just felt the need to have an iced cake for a birthday party!

Meringue Frosting

4 egg whites, at room temperature
dash of salt
160g honey, runny
150g unsalted butter, softened

Make sure your bowl and whipping attachment are dry as one drop of water will ruin your meringue.
Whip the egg whites until they are white and form soft peaks.
Slowly drizzle the honey while continuing to whisk, and add a dash of salt.

Beat the butter in a separate bowl until light and fluffy. Add the meringue gradually, beating well after each addition until thick and fluffy. Spread immediately over the cake and smooth with a palette knife.

You can flavour the icing with some grated lemon or orange rind, about 2 teaspoons of it is enough for a good sized cake. I haven't experimented with colouring yet, I will have to do that for the next birthday party!