First Birthday Cake Smash!

Cake

Ok, I am FINALLY getting around to doing a series of blog posts I’ve been meaning to do since my daughter’s first birthday in April!  I wanted to share photos and details from her cake smash, birthday party and the AMAZING kitchen my hubby built her for her big gift and decided to just make three separate blog posts out of each.  I’m starting with her cake smash!  I wanted to do these photos because I just wasn’t sure she would get into the cake at her birthday party with all the excitement and all the people around and was afraid I wouldn’t get any good pictures.  So one Saturday morning I threw together this cake (literally threw it together in about 10 minutes and had it in the oven!) and we set up a little photo area in our dining room to do the pics.

Eating Cake 1

I wasn’t sure how she would do even during these photos because she’s never had cake and really nothing sweet except fruit!  She did pretty good though.  Wasn’t going crazy with the cake like I hoped she would and I basically had to prompt her and break off pieces to try.  She can be VERY resistant to new food!  But she did ok and we got some fun pics.  She honestly was more into picking the sprinkles off the cake one by one and then of course got distracted very easily by the balloons!  I was pleased overall though with the photos and glad we did it before her actual party!

Eating Cake 2

Eating Cake 3

Now as for the cake…I agonized for a long time whether I even wanted her to have cake for her birthday.  I like to keep things pretty healthy around here, especially when it comes to what she eats but eventually decided I would do at least do a healthy cake for her cake smash photos.  And I have to say I thought this cake was delicious!  It was a little on the dense side but so moist and yummy.  All I had on hand was sucanat so I used that and it gave the cake a richer flavor which was very good but I’d like to try it again with xylitol.  I layered it with 100% fruit strawberry jam and attempted to frost it with this recipe for whipped coconut frosting.  UGH.  This method of frosting did NOT work for me.  It was barely solid and more like whipped cream.  Apparently it works for a lot of people but not me!  So I really can’t recommend it for this cake.  Overall though I was pleased with the results and felt like this was a great, healthier alternative for a cake!  Hope you enjoy the pics!  We had a lot of fun. 🙂

Healthy Kid Smash Cake
 
Ingredients
  • 1⅓ c. Almond Milk
  • 1½ T. Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1½ T. Pure Vanilla Extract
  • ¼ c. plus 1 T. Safflower Oil
  • 2 Eggs, room temperature
  • 2 c. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
  • 1 T. Baking Powder
  • ½ t. Salt
  • ⅔ c. plus ¼ c. Sucanat (I would do xylitol for a more neutral flavor. Sucanat is richer and more like brown sugar.)
  • 100% Fruit Strawberry Jam
  • Frosting (Your choice, healthy or not. I can't recommend the coconut frosting, unfortunately.)
  • Sprinkles, etc.
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3, 5-inch cake pans with coconut oil and whole wheat pastry flour. Line with parchment paper. In a small bowl combine first five ingredients and whisk well. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients (except jam and frosting, obviously). Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just evenly combined. Divide evenly among the three pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes (mine took 25) until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely and then remove from pans. Place first layer on a cake plate/stand, spread with jam, layer with second cake layer, more jam and third and final cake layer on top. Cover with frosting and decor of choice.

 

Facebook Comments

3 Replies to “First Birthday Cake Smash!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

: