About cake and BiFest.

[baratron]

Here is a plea. If you're taking homemade cakes to BiFest, please mark them so that those of us with food allergies, intolerances or preferences know whether the cakes are safe for us to eat.

Things you may want to mention include, but are not limited to:

• the type of flour used - wheat flour or gluten-free? If gluten-free, what cereal/s is it?
  
• presence of dairy products - check the allergy boxes on the back of chocolate and margarine to find out whether there's hidden milk content.
  
• eggs - mention their existence and also if they're free-range, perhaps?
  
• gelatine or marshmallows - instantly make the cake not suitable for vegetarians, unless you used Vege-Gel or vegan marshmallows.
  
• nuts - along with type. Many people are allergic to peanuts and cashew nuts but ok with hazelnuts, walnuts and pecan nuts, and vice versa.
  
• soya or soy protein - a fair number of people have issues with soy. Most of them are ok with soya lecithin.
  
• fruit - don't even get me started on the list of various fruits that people I know are allergic to. Some of them have the full anaphylaxic type reactions with lips swelling up and throat closing even to trace ingredients of cooked fruits. According to a list I have in a book for minimising allergic reactions, any fruit except pears can cause problems - except I'm sure one of my friends is allergic to pear! So, um, list your fruits and jams.
  
• non-obvious flavourings or ingredients - chilli? wasabi? peppermint? really large amounts of nutmeg?

If you really can't be bothered to write a full list of ingredients, please state who the cake was made by so anyone with food sensitivities can find you and ask questions. This is also a good idea if you wish to receive compliments on your excellent baking abilities!

In case you're interested, this is what I'm going to put on my cakes:

CHOCOLATE CRUNCH CAKES
Ingredients: Montezuma's organic Fairtrade vegan chocolate, golden syrup, corn flakes
Dairy-free / Vegetarian / Vegan
Made by: helen-louise

CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE
Ingredients: Wheat flour (self-raising) *, Green & Black's organic Fairtrade cocoa powder, Pure vegan spread**, vanilla essence, demerara sugar, water, vinegar
Dairy-free / Vegetarian / Vegan
* contains gluten, ** contains sunflower oil, palm oil and soya lecithin
Made by: helen-louise

GINGERBREAD
Ingredients: Wheat flour (self-raising) *, demerara sugar, golden syrup, banana, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, water
Dairy-free / Soya free / Vegetarian / Vegan / Virtually fat-free
* contains gluten
Made by: helen-louise

There probably won't be very much of the gingerbread because it's sulking - don't know why, but the middle went all soggy and saggy instead of rising. I suspect the oven wasn't hot enough after the chocolate sponge, though it could be it needed a full teaspoon of baking powder instead of 1/2 teaspoon.