When love for a little one fills your heart, you'd climb the highest mountain to make her birthday wish come true. Fortunately, it wasn't Everest this mom had to conquer (this round). Instead, she channeled her inner baker...
“…there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child.” —Anne Lamott, Author
I am a member of the NNMG Food Allergic Families Forum and in that forum I find a caring community that shares their fears, learnings, joys and sorrows openly to help each other and celebrate successes. It’s a comfort to me as the mom of a sweet daughter with multiple food allergies.
I just want to say thank you to all the people in the NNMG group who deal with food allergies every day, for understanding me and making me feel like I am not insane when it comes to how I choose to handle my daughter’s allergies.
My little one is anaphylactic to eggs and some tree nuts, though we recently took coconut off the list. Recently she’s begun to react to food dyes, though, further complicating our food allergy journey.
She was turning four in April. As her birthday approached, my daughter’s only wish was to have a ‘pretty' cake. She sees her friends’ birthday cakes at birthday parties and wanted to have a 'pretty' one, too.
For her third birthday, I made her a beautiful cake with white frosting and sprinkles, but this year I knew I needed to do more. I wanted to make her wish come true. Her new allergies to food dyes daunted me, though. I’ll be honest. Thankfully I have friends who are accomplished bakers and who share advice and guidance.
My sweet girl is a fantastic artist, at just four years of age, so I challenged myself to an art-themed cake and took a stab at making her something amazing.
"I poured my heart into the baking project."
I baked a nut free, dye free and egg free cake (the canvas), along with cookies (the artist palettes). I made egg free, dye free royal icing to put the art into the ‘Art’. I crafted all of the colors from pure and natural foods, using turmeric (for yellow), beetroot (for rosy pink), spinach (for green) and butterfly pea flower (for ocean blue). {You can learn more about butterfly pea flower or ‘blue tea flower’ here.}
I am a software engineer by day, and was a baker by night. My daughter’s art cake was a great learning experience for me — a novice baker. It pushed me to research, problem solve and innovate in similar yet different ways than I do every day in my professional role and my blogging.
When my daughter saw it, she exclaimed, “Wow! This cake is so beautiful!”.
I cried.
About the Author: My name is Zalak Dedhia. I am mom to my full of life daughter 24:7, a software engineer by day, a small business* owner (The Pinwheelers) by night, with some baking moments and blogging added to the mix. My more than full life is punctuated by laughter, hugs, and awe at this little human being whom my husband and I love with all our hearts. My daughter and I love to dance it out, bake together, color mandalas, and solve puzzles. Our little one lights up my days and challenges me to be the best version of myself — heart, mind and soul — each and every day. ‘Quality Over Quantity and Re-use When You Can’ is my mantra for everyday living.
Image Credit: Thank you Zalak for use of the images with permission
*The author co-founded The Pinwheelers, inspired by her daughter, for safer meal packing options. Pinwheelers offers super cute, eco-friendly lunch boxes in different sizes, fun vibrant colors, and designs that are easy to carry when out and about. They let your loved one enjoy food on-the-go while still staying safe.
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