I received the sweetest email a few days ago from a reader named Ella.
Her note was short but really spoke to me in so many ways.
Ella is from Stockholm, Sweden.
(And, can I stop there and just say, Wow! This whole blogging thing is still so surreal to me. It’s hard to believe the little things I make, reach out to people in so many places. Some near and some so very far away from my ordinary kitchen. But, I’m glad they do. It wouldn’t be the same around here without all of you.)
Ella’s six-year old daughter, Emelie has celiaki, which I can only assume is the same as what is called Celiac’s Disease in the U.S.
I have to admit, I’m not very familiar with it. I don’t know anyone that suffers from it. But in a nutshell, she cannot have anything that contains gluten which makes baking a little more complicated. Ella is having to learn a new way to do things for her little girl.
And thanks to a lot of snow and cold this Christmas in Sweden, Ella and Emelie came up with this fun food alternative.
Presenting Delicious Icy Cakes from Emelie.
I think this is just the sweetest thing. These little cakes made of colored ice really warm my heart. Notice the coordinating doilies? Swoon.
I about teared up when I saw these and how much it reminds me that the best memories can be from the the simplest things.
I wanna play.
I know I wasn’t this creative as a child. Not at all.
These little lawn figures make me happy. So whimsical. It feels like a scene straight out of a fairy tale. Don’t know which one, but definitely a sweet one.
I could only be happier if Emelie’s face was looking at the camera here. I know she would be smiling with pride.
Emelie, with your lovely red locks, you rock!
And, since I’m not much help, if anyone knows any good baking resources for those with Celiac’s Disease, please share. I’m sure Ella and others would appreciate it.
But if you don’t know either, just give a shoutout where you’re from. I’d love to hear.
Hugs.
Thank you very much for this icy cakes!
I like cakes, these cakes seems to be tasty too
Looks amazing, thanks for inspiration!
Those cakes are so cute!
I love how creative this little girl is! So cute!
I live in the UK and have a friend who is a coeliac (as it’s spelt over here). She went to boarding school for a while and she had a leaving party for which I baked a gluten-free cake using Dove’s flour :) It turned out better than my normal sponge!
I decorated it with roll out icing which is naturally gluten free :D
I’m from Martinsville, Indiana
In Sweden, there is a brand called Fria that do delicious gluten free baked goods. In England we have a campaign to get them over here!
Hi.
Still sometimes reading all the comments, wow, it really is amazing how many people cvared and send many vary useful links and ideas.
I have learned more and more about baking without gluten and cupcakes are Emelies big favourite rigt now, when she just turned 8. Thank you once again Bakerella for seeing us! You´re the best!!
Hugs from summer Sweden and sand-cakes on the beach:)
Ella and Emelie
Never seen snow, so in awe over how beautiful this is. Beautiful, talented little angel, all my love from heat soaked South Australia
I’m Elke and I’m 13 years old…
I finally found my passion! And it’s baking.. Especially cupcakes and other sweet things like Cake Pops and cookies!
I read your site for the first time and I love it allready!
I hope I’ll be as good as you are soon!
Many love Elke from the Netherlands! =]
I am a recent Baking/Pastry Arts grad. and there are several gluten free recipes in my textbook. Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen. I recently tried the flourless chocolate cookies and they were great. If you can’t locate the book, I would be happy to scan and e-mail the recipes.
I’m from Seattle, WA… My sister has Celiac, and also Chron’s, I had never heard of either of these diseases before my sister was diagnosed, but now I know that there are so many gluten free options out there. So many restaurants and grocery stores are carrying gluten free products. Someone already mentioned, but Bob’s Red Mill is a great brand with lots of gluten free products. I’ve recently noticed some grocery stores with a whole gluten free section, it’s great!!
I remember make ice sculptures out of colored water in first grade. I wanna do this again. (:
Hi!
I really don’t no anything about this illness, but as I like and visit this blog all the time I just came here to give my suport and let you know that if something apears or if I just find some good baking resources for this creative little girl and others I’ll surely let you know!
I’m from a veeery very far away land and even though my country is very hot and I surely couldn’t bake these cakes like her I certainly would eat them with pelasure, It would be refreshing. I’m from Brazil.
Beijos!
I also have Celiac disease and in the last five years, my brother and three other friends have also been diagnosed. It’s becoming more and more common all the time. It seems like a lot of people don’t exhibit severe symptoms until their 30s. Which makes sense….it takes a while for the damage to your stomach to reach the point where you start having severe and immediate reactions.
Anyway, it’s a bummer having Celiac because for a long time there were no good alternatives, though they’re getting better all time.
I like http://www.glutenfreeda.com for recipes. A couple people have also mentioned the Living Without magazine, which is a good source.
And there are more and more bakeries that are doing gluten-free goods. My sister found an awesome bakery in Kent, Washington, called Haley’s Corner, http://www.haleyscorner.com/ So anyone from the Seattle area, check it out!
Its so wonderful to see everyone posting to try to help her find more recipes for Ella:)
Hy, also from Vienna – Austria.
My dream is, that you could teach classes in Europe. I would take part in every class.
I’m from Spain! ;P
Wow! The icy cakes are great. I love the wintertime :-)
Best greetings to all and specialy to the young ice artist.
I am from Vienna (Austria)
(please, forgive my lousy english!)
hello from cambodia!!
my four year old daughter is coeliac. we have found that with a little bit of imagination we can still come up with some yummy treats. the key is to have a gluten free flour mix…and an open mind. my ten year old daughter keeps surprising us with beautiful desserts that she comes up with…all gluten, egg and dairy free. when we go back to australia for a few weeks we are going to attempt to make the cake-pops….gluten free of course!!!
http://www.nourishingmeals.com/
I have a gluten-free blog called GF in the City and am constantly working on new GF baked goodies. There are a few on the site already and I have many more in the works that I’ll be posting soon.
http://www.gfinthecity.com
Also, other good sites to check out:
http://www.elanaspantry.com
http://glutenfreegirl.com
http://www.mytartelette.com
Babycakes bakery…one in LA and NYC. She has a cookbook out with many yummy gluten free recipes!
Oh! And to Sara from Belgium, comment 524. There are webstores here in the Netherlands with tons of Wilton things, maybe they ship to you? Or if you can cross over to Den Bosch, there is a store there that i know of.
Plenty links here;
http://www.funcakes.nl/?Verkoopadressen
Of course, she might not even read this.. :P
Originally from Östersund, Sweden. But live in the Netherlands now.
I’m lactose-intolerant myself (plus a billion fruit-allergies), but had a time when we suspected gluten-intolerance aswell.
Some swedish links are here;
http://glutenfritt.blogg.se/
http://glutenfrimat.se/
http://www.allergimat.com/
http://www.glutenfriatorget.se/
Maybe she already has some of the links, but I do hope it’ll help. Tasteline also has a bunch of recipes and so do many other recipe-databases.
Bakerella, I adore your blog, and this is the first time I comment so, hugs for you. Am planning on making the s’mores cupcakes and the valentine chocolatebox-cake as soon as I can find the things I’ll need.
Luxembourg! You know where that is?
These are beautiful! What also caught my eye was her daughters name is spelled exactly like mine! I don’t see that too often!
I’m another one of your swedish fans, from Stockholm as well.
I loooove your blog, you take amazing pictures!
I love baking, but it’s so hard not eating the whole batch once you make something sweet. That’s why I read your blog when I crave something sweet but I don’t want all the calories… :)
I have a friend with Celiacs Disease. She finds baking quite easy though. I am from Australia, though currently living in japan (I cannot cook here, which really annoys me…my host family-get this-HAS NO OVEN so i just look at your website, occasionaly getting cross at you, as you can cook AND I CAN”T IN THIS COUNTRY. But anyway, as I was saying, my friend finds baking quite easy. In Australia, you can get glutton free icing sugar, which is the best type anyway. You can also still use cocoa powder. But with the wheat, my friend gets glutton free flour. It is basically flour made from a different source than wheat. Like soymilk, for people allergic to milk. Last weekend i found an amazing recipe for vegan biscuits told her, and i said, BUT WAIT you cant eat those! so we are now going to make, when i come home, gutton free, vegan chocoate cookies. YUM!