By Allergy Mom Diva

Allergy-friendly desserts seems to be the hardest “meal” to find for many families (doesn’t everyone consider dessert to be the fourth…or the first…meal of the day??). Most baked goods contain common allergens (i.e. dairy, eggs, and wheat, among others), thus making it very challenging to find something that is both safe and delicious, especially when on vacation.

The Disneyland Resort does have a variety of safe snacks and treats for many allergies, which I wrote about in this article. Nonetheless, allergy-safe desserts at table service restaurants are usually limited to some variety of sorbet, which my kids love, but it is nice to have other options, as well. This is where Sensitive Sweets comes into play!

Cookies, Cupcakes, and More

Located in Fountain Valley, California, Sensitive Sweets is about eighteen miles away from Disneyland, and they are a bakery that specializes in gluten-free, nut-free, and vegan baked goods. Their breads, cookies, cupcakes, and custom cakes are free of gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame, and all are baked in a gluten-free, nut-free facility. Best of all, their products are delicious!

Sensitive Sweets is owned by Melanie, a mom of two boys, including one with food allergies. After struggling to find a safe and appealing cake for her son’s first birthday, she decided to develop her own allergy-friendly birthday cake recipe. The rest is history!

As most parents of children with allergies know, allergy-safe doesn’t always mean kid-approved. I can’t tell you how many times I have been given THE LOOK after my daughter has tried a new allergy-friendly item. You have all seen THE LOOK. It starts with a careful examination of the food, turning it over, checking it out for anything that is obviously terrible (i.e., anything resembling a green vegetable). If it passes muster, then she takes a tiny nibble out of it. A mouse’s bite looks huge compared to the bite of a food-selective preschooler.  And then she quickly turns her head to me, makes a gagging sound, and gives me THE LOOK. Sigh. I guess mom is eating that giant box of granola bars now!

The bottom line is that kids want food that looks fun and tastes good, regardless if they have allergies. This is why we love Sensitive Sweets! Whether it is gingerbread house kits with all the fixins’, or sugar cookies covered in sprinkles, Sensitive Sweets makes goodies that kids (and parents) actually like.

Give Me All the Sweets

For this review, Sensitive Sweets mailed me samples of some of their popular baked goods. My daughter eagerly waited for me to open the box to see what kind of treats she could help me taste. A package from Sensitive Sweets always means a box of safe goodies for my daughter.  No triple checking ingredients (well, I do anyway, because I can’t help myself) nor only finding one thing that my daughter can eat. Everything is safe!

Cupcakes

My daughter first grabbed one of the easy cakes, which are cupcakes in a push-up container. How fun is that!? Cinnamon-sugar anything is always a hit with my child, so she was thrilled to try it. The sweet frosting topped with sprinkles nicely balanced out the cinnamon cake, and being able to push up the cupcake as it was eaten made this an extra special treat. The push-up container also ensured each bite contained a perfect ratio of frosting to cupcake…but let’s be honest, she always ate the frosting first!

I am the chocolate fan in the house, so I tried the double chocolate easy cake. It was a chocolate-lover’s dream, with layers of chocolate frosting sandwiched between the chocolate cake. It was fairly rich, so I ate some and then saved the rest for later.

They also have a variety of other easy cake flavors, including lemon, red velvet, tuxedo, and vanilla. In addition to the easy cakes, they also have cupcake cups with vanilla yellow cake or chocolate cake. For those who avoid dyes, they also have some dye-free cupcakes, as well.

Cookies

The gingerbread cookie was also tasty! We love the holidays around our house, and often experience the winter blahs after all the decorations are put away. Eating the gingerbread cookie gave us a small dose of the holidays (and of course, led to my child to ask when Christmas was coming again).

Gingerbread cookies are often part of seasonal sets that can be ordered from Sensitive Sweets. Most recently, they had a Secret Valentine Set that consisted of 2 gingerbread cookies, 2 cookie dough truffles, 4 pink snowball cookies, and 4 sugar heart cookies.

Sugar cookies are probably my daughter’s favorite dessert, so she was very excited to try the 4” rainbow sugar cookie. We had some issues with our mail carrier, so it took us a couple of days to get the package, and during that time, the sprinkles melted a bit. However, my daughter thought it was supposed to look like an actual rainbow and was enthralled with the cookie’s appearance (maybe an idea for future cookies??). We both enjoyed the cookie, which was sweet but not overly so.

Cookie Dough Truffles

We all know the best part of making cookies is licking (oops, I meant delicately using a spatula) the leftover cookie dough in the bowl. But now, we have to worry about salmonella and all that not-fun stuff so we aren’t supposed to do it anymore. This is why my favorite goodies in the package were the cookie dough truffles! Made with vegan, raw cookie dough and then covered in chocolate, these truffles are amazing! I could eat them all day.

Donuts and other Treats

Sensitive Sweets makes all kinds of other treats, from breakfast goodies like donuts, muffins, and banana breads to desserts such as individual strawberry pies and brownies.  We have tried many of their items, and our favorites are the truffles, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, and donuts. Finding vegan, nut-free donuts anywhere is next to impossible, hence we are always very excited to order some from Sensitive Sweets when we are at Disneyland!

Out of all the items we have tried over the years, the gluten-free flour seemed to be the most noticeable in the muffins. They were good, but we just discerned that the consistency was different from regular muffins. Regardless, my daughter still liked them, and she can be selective about what she eats (remember, THE LOOK).

Over the holidays, we ordered a Gingerbread House Kit that included everything needed to make a gingerbread house – walls, frosting, candies, and decorations. There was also a choice between vegan or regular candies. It was a fun, family project that my child enjoyed sneaking candies off over the subsequent days.

Sensitive Sweets usually has a variety of seasonal items, as well, so be sure to check out Sensitive Sweet’s current selection at: http://www.sensitivesweets.com/.

Ordering and Delivery

Almost every time we visit the Disneyland Resort, we pre-order a box of baked goods to be delivered to our hotel room. I usually place my order about two weeks before we arrive, and once we get there, I notify our hotel that we will be expecting a package. Keep in mind that there is a minimum order for delivery, and they don’t usually deliver on Sundays. There is also a delivery fee. We typically order enough to feed our family breakfast most days of our vacation, as well as plenty of treats to ensure my daughter doesn’t feel excluded when others are eating different desserts.

Baked goods such as donuts and bread pudding do not ship well, so they are limited to in-store pickup or local delivery. However, as you can see from this review, there are still plenty of items that can be mailed directly to your house. Almost anything that you don’t want to eat right away can be frozen. I always keep a stash of cookies in the freezer for special occasions or birthday parties where there isn’t a safe option for my daughter.

Prices

Sensitive Sweets has so many options and prices that it is best to look on their website for current options. However, a sample of prices is below:

• $2.50 – Cookie Dough Truffle
• $3.95 – 4” Rainbow Sugar Cookie
• $3.99 – Easy Cake (or $39.95 for a dozen)
• $2.45 – Donut
• $5.75 – Banana Bread

Giveaway

Want to try Sensitive Sweets yourself? Even families without food allergies will love their baked goods! Sensitive Sweets is graciously giving away six Cupcake Cups to our readers. The best part?? The cupcakes will be shipped directly to your house! Nothing beats cupcakes showing up on your doorstep!

How to Enter:
-You MUST Like Tips from the Disney Diva on Facebook here
-You MUST Like Sensitive Sweets on Facebook here
-You MUST Comment on THIS Blog Post with what your favorite treat is that Sensitive Treat offers! Visit the website here

You will confirm these and additional entries below through Rafflecopter

The giveaway will end on Wednesday February 27 at midnight EST. All entries will be verified, you must LIKE each Facebook page in order for the entry to count. The winner will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer – Although Sensitive Sweets provided us with some baked goods at no charge, the opinions in this article are completely our own. No other compensation was received.

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