Ask the parents -- "Is there a recipe you'd recommend, or would you feel safer just bringing your own? I'm happy to bake something without nuts or dairy, but I won't be offended you'd rather take care of this yourself."

Anonymous wrote:Let the allergy kids parents deal with this, not you. They will bring a treat for their child.

In my experience with hosting a ton of birthday parties, this is always the case. Do not make a special cake. You have enough to worry about.

Anonymous wrote:There's a recipe somewhere online for a fabulous nut- and dairy-free chocolate cake. It's only a few ingredients & it's kosher as well. You just mix it in a 9 x 13 pan and bake it. I wish I could post the link but I can't remember what it's called.

Wacky Cake?
http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocolatecakes/r/bl01018c.htm

It's really nice of you to consider your guests. But as PPs stated, if anyone has a "severe" allergy, there is no way they would eat your food anyway, especially baked goods. Typically, we email or call the parents hosting the party a couple of days ahead to ask what the menu is and then we make something at home to "match" the food. It is not a big deal for food allergy families to do this and we certainly would never want hosts to go out of the way to make something that we likely wouldn't eat anyway (possible cross contamination issues).

If it's really gnawing at you, you could be proactive and send them an email or call them and say "Hey, I know Larla has a severe nut allergy. We will be serving pizza from Pete's (egg and nut free and no issues), fruit and yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I hope that Larla can eat that, but if not, I wanted to be sure you knew our menu in case you were going to bring food from home."

I hope this helps. Signed, mom of egg and nut allergic kid.

Angel food cake?
Honestly, I'd just get some packaged baked goods for the allergic kids with nice reassuring no nut, no dairy labels on them.

I do this recipe as cupcakes and everyone loves them. You barely need to frost them.

That said, most parents of kids with allergies didn't trust me to bake for their kids until I knew them well. They were always happy to bring a cupcake for the kid with allergies.

This one is nut and dairy-free.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wacky-cake-recipe/index.html

I usually do cupcakes. Works great and is always very moist.

There's a recipe somewhere online for a fabulous nut- and dairy-free chocolate cake. It's only a few ingredients & it's kosher as well. You just mix it in a 9 x 13 pan and bake it. I wish I could post the link but I can't remember what it's called.

Anonymous wrote:Cupcakes. One color frosting nut free, other dairy free. Done.

If you're going to go to the trouble of making nut free cupcakes (e.g. cleaning things and picking a nut free recipe) then you might as well make all the cupcakes nut free. Same with dairy free.

I agree with others who say it's fine to ask the allergy parents to bring their own, but if you are going to try and make allergy free cupcakes, it's easier just to make one batch that's free of both nuts and dairy.

You can either buy a boxed mix (some of the regular ones at the store are nut free, but I've heard the Duncan Hines isn't) or bake them from scratch.

Let the allergy kids parents deal with this, not you. They will bring a treat for their child.

Cupcakes. One color frosting nut free, other dairy free. Done.

Anonymous wrote:Sticky Fingers bakery in Columbia Heights. Amazing cakes. Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, awesome.

I love Sticky Fingers. It's not a nut-free facility though. You could ask the kid with the nut allergy if this is an issue though.

Also, the Giant on Westbard in MoCo has a freezer of cakes/cupcakes that have a "nut free" label on them indicating that they were made in a nut-free facility. Doesn't cover the dairy allergy and I'm not sure if all Giants carry these items.

Sticky Fingers bakery in Columbia Heights. Amazing cakes. Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, awesome.

Just do a regular cake. Have a treat available that they can eat (like popsickles)

Moms are likely used to bringing their own treats.

Signed-mom of nut allergic kid

Help! I am trying to figure out the cake for bday party (especially the cake), when I have one kid guest with severe nut allergy and another with an allergy to dairy. Thanks!