Are Pirates gluten-free? Yes they ARRR!!

Since about Christmas time Alexandra has been telling us 'I've invited <insert random name> to my party'. We have been repeatedly reminding Alex that said party has not been discussed or agreed and inviting everybody in her class and telling them the date of her birthday does not mean that it will happen.  Ha! We were wrong. It turns out you can grind your parents down (well these parents anyway) and make your wish come true if you talk about it long enough and hard enough and with enough conviction.

And so it was that I found myself in Pirates Play Centre enquiring about kids parties. I'd always said I would never have a party in a play centre- only home organised traditional fun for my children. That was in my idealistic pre-actuallyhavingkids days. Now the idea of letting someone else do all the organising and cleaning up is somewhat appealing. (Although I do love doing home-made too- depending on other demands and time allowances).

When I informed the organiser at Pirates that the birthday girl has Coeliac's and would need gluten-free food, without missing a beat he said, no problem, would you like the whole party to be gluten-free in that case? 'Yee-ess', I said hesitantly, expecting a surcharge of a ridiculous amount per child. However, fabulously, there was no extra cost at all.  On the day, the party host discussed all of the food and preparation methods with me. The kids had sandwiches, breadsticks and veg sticks (with dip), crisps, fruit, smiley potato faces, pink wafers, and jelly and ice cream. All gluten-free. With no hassle. Or drama. Big smile!
For anyone in the Nottingham area, I would definitely recommend Pirates Play Centre for a gluten-free party.

I did do the cake myself, and I have to say, it was one of the best tasting cakes I've done in a while. I found the recipe on the 'all recipes' website  here and just added some Xanthan gum when my first attempt fell apart. The icing was ready roll from Sainsbury's with the top bit bought from 'caketoppersbynikki2012' on ebay, after her immediate response to my email, confirming that all the ingredients and her production methods were gluten-free. Again, an easier than expected transaction with someone who is obviously used to dealing with dietary requirements. Pleasingly, nearly everyone who ate the cake expressed surprise that it was gluten-free. I did freeze some, and it defrosted well, although I don't know why I bothered freezing it as I took it out again pretty much straight away as it was so morish!

In any case, a very different gluten-free party to last years, but a very happy 5 year old and Mummy.

(And seeing as Alex is starting to read- if you ever read this sweetheart, the statement in the first paragraph about grinding your parents down and having your wish come true does NOT apply to Disneyland Paris. For now!)

Gluten-free 4 year old's rainbow party- Mission Complete!

Well, my first completely gluten-free child-friendly catering attempt is over. And no 'gluten accidents', complaints about food or hungry children as far as I'm aware, so in food terms- a success!

Alexandra's choice for her birthday cake was a chocolate 'Hello Kitty' cake. I adapted a recipe from the Gluten-free Cookbook for Kids to make a chocolate orange cake (see below), cut it to shape, covered it with a merangue icing and used Dr Oetker Ready to Roll Regal coloured icing for the details. I was actually quite impressed with it-the cake was nice and moist and not obviously lacking in gluten!

The 'theme' that Alex requested was a rainbow party, so we did food to match.

Also in the menu were:

• Sandwiches made from shop bought g-f bread.
• Rainbows of fruit.
• Chocolate rice crispy cakes made from Nature's Path Gluten-free Crispy Rice decorated with Asda chocolate beans.
• Rainbow cupcakes, using the Dove's Farm recipe I've mentioned previously, lemon butter icing and Haribo Rainbow Twists.
• Pom-bear crisps (which are gluten free)

Alex was thrilled that she could have anything without asking and all of her friends were able to have everything that she had too!

Recipe for Chocolate Orange Birthday Cake

150g margarine

450g caster sugar

3 eggs

2 teasp orange essence

60g cocoa powder & enough hot water to make into a paste

200g gluten-free self-raising flour

200g ground almonds

1 1/2 teasp bicarbinate of soda

1 1/2 teasp xanthan gum

large pinch salt

340ml milk

1 1/2 tblsp white wine vinegar.

Method

Cream the marg and caster sugar, beat in the eggs and orange essence and cocoa paste. 

Mix the other dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Mix the milk and vinegar in a jug.

Alternately fold in the the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture a little at a time. 

Pour into LARGE greased tin.

Bake at 160 degrees for about 50 mins until knife comes out clean.

Would love to hear about any other gluten-free party ideas!

Jen