Inclusive activities: Cooking apple layer cake (wheat, sugar and dairy free)

by NicciLouise

To make this activity fun for everyone follow these simple steps..

1) Wear the right clothes; aprons don’t cover children effectively and you spoil their fun if you keep saying ‘aggh careful of your top!’

2) Use plastic equipment on low surfaces where everyone can reach and see, but let older children use real knifes and electric equipment on a higher surface; just teach them how to do so safely. Children as young as seven don’t feel like babies anymore and if supervised in the right way you can boost their self esteem too!

3) Allow everyone to follow the recipe by using symbols, signs or photographs of the different steps.

4) Relax and have fun and turn the tiding up into a fun experience that everyone has to help with.

 Apple layer cake [1]

Don’t forget hand hygeine; you want to be able to eat it!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of rice flour [1] ( or barely wheat flour tasty too)

1/4 cup of oat flour[1] (i grind my own oats and keep them in a jar!)

1/4 cup of maple syrup (non flavoured) or sweetner of your choice [1]

1 tsp of baking powder or bicarb of soda

2 large eating apples (peeled, cored and thinly sliced) [1]

1 cup of water [1]

1/4 cup of apple juice [1]

2bs of light oil [1] (flax oil, sesame oil, virgin olive oil.. it all works for me)

A few drops of vanilla extract (optional) [1]

Dash of vinegar [1] (I use apple cider as it has only benefits!)

Method

Preheat oven to 360 degs F [1] (I make that gas mark 4-5)

Mix the dry ingredients together (any one of your children could do this, it is a lovely texture through their fingers). Add the water, juice, oil, vanilla and mix well (because everything is measured in cups this is a lovely task to share out too).

Pour half the cake batter into a greased square cake tin; the recipe suggest a 20cmx 20cm tin [1] but I use a rectangluar bread making tin. Spread the apple slices over the batter in the tin to make a yummy squidgy middle (artistic children like this job) and then pour on the rest of the batter. Lastly put it in the oven for 40 minutes or until firm [1]. This gives you all a chance to tidy up… maybe to some favourite music… which means the children haven’t left the kitchen and lost interest when it comes to removing the cake/ loaf and putting it on a cooling rack.

References

1) Levett, C (2002) Recipes for the endometriosis diet. endo resolved

I hope you had fun in the kitchen. Look out for more fun recioes and activities to do with your children and click to ‘follow’ this blog.

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