Cathal's cookbook allergy free chocolate cake recipe

We’ve known Marie Killeen as a customer for a number of years now. Six years ago her son Cathal was born with multiple severe food intolerances and her progression from knowing nothing about allergy free cooking to being an expert in the field, blogger and willing helpmate to others who’ve found themselves in similar situations is nothing short of inspirational. And the really good news is that Marie is about to give a number of Cookery Demonstrations starting with ‘Cooking for Coeliacs’ in Joyces of Wexford on the 4th of November. This is Marie’s story in her own words with an example of her cooking creativity for you to try.

Hi my name is Marie Killeen from www.cathalscookbookallergyfree.com. I set up this website to help anyone who found themselves in the same situation as I was in. This is my story!!

My little boy Cathal was born in 2007 with severe and multiple food allergies and severe eczema (both are commonly linked).

Although I was already passionate about cooking at home, I still found it difficult to cater for Cathal, until I learned how to cook allergy free meals, and so I developed lots of recipes suitable for him. He is now a happy, healthy 6 year old, and you would never know that he still has food allergies, or eczema.

The first thing I had to do was get his eczema under control. Then I concentrated on his food allergies. If you would like to know how I got Cathal’s skin under control find out at http://cathalscookbookallergyfree.com/cathals-story/

With regard to Cathal’s food allergies, I suspected from almost the outset that Cathal’s severe eczema was being caused by food allergies, as it is most unusual for a baby to be BORN with a rash that turns out to be eczema. We attended a specialist, and a RAST blood test for food allergies was undertaken. This told us exactly what foods I had suspected he was allergic to. I could then concentrate on what foods Cathal could eat, and I tried not to focus on the foods he couldn’t eat! This is one of my important messages to Allergy Parents – focus on what your child can eat, not on what they can’t!

As mentioned above, Cathal is now a healthy happy 6 year old, and he has no patches of eczema. Of course, we have to be very careful with his food, his clothes, and the allergens he comes into contact with. There are plenty of questions around these areas, if you want to ask me about my experience, just contact me. This is why I have started this site – to bring more awareness to the area of allergies, and to help people through having experienced them first hand with Cathal.

I am opening a Free from Bakery in my home. It’s called Cathal’s Free From Kitchen. I am baking Breads , Birthday cakes, Christmas cakes , desserts and much more…..

I am also doing Cooking Demonstrations, I will be starting in Joyces of Wexford on the 4^th of November , Cooking for Coeliacs .

If you want more information contact me @ cathalscookbookallergyfree@gmail.com

Allergy free chocolate cake !!

This is a lovely fluffy sponge cake. You could make double the mixture for a very impressive 4 tier birthday cake. It is wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free and nut free.

Ingredients

225g Dairy free margarine(I use “Pure” sunflower or soya)

200g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

2 small eating pears pureed

150g gluten free and wheat free plain flour(I use a brand called “Doves Farm”)

15g dairy free cocoa powder

1tsp xanthan gum

2tsp gluten free and wheat free baking powder

Pinch of salt

Chocolate butter icing

100g dairy free margarine