Cupcakes, which have always been the quintessential kid’s birthday party fare, are even more in vogue right now. You see them featured on the Food Network, gracing the covers of cooking magazines and popping in more gourmet bakeries everywhere. But what about the food allergic? Regular cupcakes have milk, they have eggs, they have wheat flour. What do you do if you want to celebrate your child’s birthday (or another child’s birthday) with cupcakes, but he has an allergy?

I think these are a couple of great ideas from Alison at www.surefoodsliving.com which she shared with Gina from Allergymoms:

• Make a batch of allergy free cupcakes to meet your needs and freeze them. Then you will always have one or two to pull out in the case of a birthday party. Your child can take them to school when a birthday is being celebrated or to a party so he will have his own cupcake to enjoy. Try to match what is being served at the party if that makes a difference to you and your child. You can make a batch each of chocolate and vanilla so you’ll have them both on hand. Alison also shares frosting recipes and tips for keeping them fresh.

• Use allergen free cake mixes like Miss Roben’s, Cherrybrook Kitchen Chocolate Cake Mix or Sweetie Cakes Co. cake mixes. You can buy these and keep them around so you will always have a mix on hand. You can use any of these allergen free cupcake mixes or your own favorite recipe. Remember, any cake recipe can be made into cupcakes, just adjust cooking time. Depending on your allergy needs, you may be able to adjust a regular cake recipe or use an allergy free cookbook, or one of the sites like www.foodallergykitchen.com. You can also bake the cupcakes and freeze them as Alison suggested in the above piece.

• Try Divvies cupcakes. Though I have yet to try these, my mouth was watering as I looked at the site. I have heard a lot about these cupcakes and know they have been featured in Vogue, The New York Times and Gourmet Magazine. The cupcakes look amazing and I love the fact that you can order pre-made cupcakes and frosting separately. You can frost them yourself for a unique look that you design, or have your guests frost them individually. The site gives some creative frosting and decorative ideas to give your cupcakes a great look. All of Divvies products are certified egg free, nut free and dairy free. YUM!