The Incredible Edible Egg!

I can't believe it, I made a grain free Birthday Cake!  And it was a complete hit.  Now the cake was for my third child Andrew's 4th Birthday and it was my attempt to make something that was GAPS friendly as well as something I could allow my son Henry to try.  Now, I know what some of your are thinking right now, how in the world could you give this to your son who is on the intro diet for GAPS.  I am going to stop you right there and make a confession.  I am NOT going to be the person to show you how to do the GAPS intro diet perfectly.  I am going to admit that I really struggle when my little son who has been struggling to gain weight, is crying and asking for food that is good for him, like an apple and having to tell him no.  I have allowed Henry to have some apple in the past weeks.  I try to limit him as I know that the apple would be a sweeter food and potentially allow bad bacteria to over populate his gut during this intro stage.  However, for some reason I'm not seeing any noticeable side effects with the apple right now.   I did however, repent of my not so wise choice to allow him to try strawberries, which he did not tolerate and that was obvious.   That disclaimer given, lets get on to the recipe. 

Now, if you want the exact recipe you'll need to pick up the GAPS book by Dr. Natasha Campbell- McBrided which I highly recommend regarardless of what aliment you have, it offers a wealth of knowledge and will change your thinking about health completely.  I tweaked the original recipe it to make a cake the size that I wanted and the way I wanted.

Eggs have gotten a bad wrap as far as cholesterol goes but let me tell you they are my new favorite food.  Of course we know that the cholesterol in eggs is actually not bad for you and that cholesterol is needed for a healthy brain and body.  I started with whipping up raw egg yokes as Henry's substitute "yogurt."  or "ice cream"  I would have been scared to try this in the past, but I got some awesome eggs that are from a local farmer and he said that they mostly graze the land but in the winter do eat an organic feed which he guaranteed did not contain soy or corn.  Awesome!  So I literally, separate two to three yokes and whip them up until they are fluffy and they go from that yellow color up at the top of the post, to a lighter color like this.

Can you believe that's the yoke?   Neither did I!  So you're going to keep whipping and whipping with your mixer, for about six minutes until you get the lighter color and fluffier texture, just when you think you need to stop, keep whipping and you'll see the change.  Then I add a little natural vanilla, no alcohol in it, and some honey to taste.  You think this sounds gross, try it yourself, it tastes like custard and it's awesome.  Freaking out cause its raw, I was a little nervous too, but then I thought about how usually I eat the yokes runny in my eggs anyway, so what's the difference?   This is a great snack and Henry loves it.  I also sometimes don't do the honey or vanilla but just whip up and add to the broth, a great way to get in some great nutrient's and extra protein and calories. 

To make the grain free cake you are going to separate the egg yokes and egg whites and put them in separate bowls.  For my cake I had two 9 inch cake pans and I used six whites and six yokes to make it.  For the whites they are going to be runny and clear at first like so,

I whipped up mine for about 8 minutes until they increased in size and become firmer in texture.  Seriously, this cake is just fun to make as a science project for the shear entertainment I got from just seeing the eggs change texture and color! 

I then added my alcohol free vanilla.  I thought an interesting twist might be to add some cinnamon or pumpkin spice.  Or if you wanted to take it a different direction may try lemon zest or orange, you can really be as creative as you want. 


I folded all the ingredients together and added in two cups of almond meal that was gluten free certified from Bob's Red Mill. 

I lined my 9 inch round pans with parchment paper which made the whole cleaning up process much easier in the end. 


I baked at 350 for 35 minutes and  this was the beautiful result

Okay, now these little egg puffs, have little flavor other than egg, so the taste is all in the filling.  The great part is, you can make a filling for the cake with whatever suits your child's needs.  I chose to make my own apple sauce from six organic apples.  I added in extra honey to make it sweet, man it was yummy.  I dug out some of the inside of both cakes and mixed some of the cake with my apple sauce.  I thought it would have been so yummy to add in some of the fresh cream I have from the raw milk share we have, but  don't worry, I'm not that far of  my rocker.  Of course Henry isn't ready for milk yet.  Then I put the two filled cakes on top of each other.

I then spread the rest of the apple sauce, that was not mixed with cake chunks all over the cake like a frosting.  Here's were I messed up with the GAPS intro.  I just though the cake lacked color and while I wanted to accommodate Henry, I didn't want Andrew to feel like his cake was blah.  So mushed up some organic strawberries and pored them all over the top.   I sprinkled poppy seeds to make a boarder and a "road" for a car and this was the end product.

The key with this cake was letting it sit overnight.  All the juices from the fruit soaked into it so that the whole thing was moist.  Not only did it look great, it tasted awesome and all the kids loved it. I can tell you, I was so proud to serve my kids and dye free, grain free Birthday Cake that tasted totally awesome.  I actually served with home-made ice cream that I only used honey to sweeten.  Again, I didn't give any dairy to Henry, but I did serve him up some of that egg yoke custard that I mentioned in the beginning.

Henry really doesn't care much for cake and after all this effort he only had a bite.  It happened to be of a strawberry.  Within twenty minutes his tummy was rumbling loudly and he said, it was hurting.  With in two hours he had the blow out diarrhea and horrible red but rash that bleeds when you wipe it.  And he had a rash on his face.  Of course I felt horrible that I caused him so much pain, when all I really wanted was to include him in the festivities and not have him feel left out.  I really struggle with this part, but I saw right away that I can't just detour from the GAPS intro, he really needs it, and while he's healing, he's not ready for sugary foods even if they are only just fruits.  I was feeling so sad and so guilty about making Henry sick.  I figured we'd be up all night, but that one episode was it, I was afraid he would vomit but he never did.  The rashes faded by the next day, which encouraged me that something is getting better as his reaction seemed so mild compared to how he used to react to trigger foods.

On a different note, I am thrilled to have an alternative to grain based cake that is actually packed with protein and good for you!  The kids loved it and I'm excited to try some other variations of this recipe

Purchase the GAPS book for more recipes like this one

http://www.gapsdiet.com