Healthier birthday cake for baby's 1st B-day

[AngieDee82]

My son is only 7 months old but I'm already thinking about what I want to do for his first birthday! I want to give him his own little cake to dig into and get frosting all over his face with but I don't want him to get the sugar-overload and be a crabby baby for the rest of the party. I would like the frosting or cake to look similar to most other birthday cakes so I don't have to defend my myself to friends and family at the party that may disagree with serving something healthier. Any ideas of a healthier cake or frosting I could use?!

~Angie

-Mama to Nolan-

[smeisnotapirate]

We did strawberry shortcake for my DS's first in June. He got a little piece of shortcake, a big pile of strawberries (you can use blueberries, peaches, whatever), and some homemade whipped cream. The whipped cream and strawberries got EVERYWHERE, so we could get the obligatory pictures of baby covered in 1st birthday party cake.

[blumooned]

My cousin frosted her DS's cupcake with yogurt. (All the other cupcakes had regular frosting.) I don't know exactly what she did, but I would think whole milk or Greek (strained) yogurt would be nice & thick. You could flavor it if you want & add as little or no sugar as you want.

For the cake, I've made cakes substituting up to half the sugar in the recipe with fruit juice - then you need to adjust/reduce the other liquids, too. If you take out all the sugar, the texture gets weird.
You could do carrot cake, pumpkin bars, apple cake, banana cake, or another one that normally has fruit or veggies - then there wouldn't be anything odd to comment on.

I love to bake & have been thinking about my DS's cake for awhile now, too! I'm still undecided, but have so many ideas.

[Charmie981]

there are some ideas here: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipFirstBDay.htm

[puddle]

My DD was reacting to wheat at that age, so for her first birthday we did little cheesecake cupcakes decorated with fruit puree. I made a crust for most of them but left it out on a few for for DD. For her second birthday we did carrot cake. Now her third is coming up, and I guess I need to start figuring out what to do! For the record, if I put any sort of icing on a muffin, it magically turns it into a cupcake as far as she's concerned, so you could always go that route too. Make a nice healthy muffin and frost it with yogurt or something.

[MammaG]

My kids had carrot cakes for their first birthdays...I subbed frozen grape juice concentrate for the sugar I think. Frosted with cream cheese sweetened with a little juice too. For a smaller family celebration I filled a healthier ice-cream cone (from WF I think?) with blueberries and topped with freshly whipped unsweetened cream.

For other birthdays I've made banana bread and zucchini bread in bundt pans and you know, the SHAPE threw people off. Most had no idea what they were eating! I frosted with a little cream cheese frosting there, too, or just a light dusting of icing sugar.

[YayJennie]

We just had my son's first birthday and I made the applesauce/banana cake from here: Healthy first birthday cake and made a sugar free cream cheese frosting using this recipe:sugarless cream cheese frosting, except we used half the amount of cream cheese and the rest was plain yogurt. I topped the cake with fresh strawberries. Here's a pic:
Wyatt's first birthday cake.

It tasted great, though the consistency of the cake was more like a thickened pudding than a light fluffy cake. But everyone enjoyed it and the frosting was surprisingly good. I'll definitely be using the same recipe for the next babe's first birthday!

[briome]

With my eldest son's first birthday, I hade him a bannana bread 'cake', pretty but just for him. I got crappy cupcakes from grocery store for everyone else. My 1 yr old was only interested in his own cake and excited about everyone around!

[Kelly1101]

Subbing...

[CookAMH]

The Nourishing Gourmet has a recipe using coconut flour. I may try this with her honey frosting for my DS's first birthday next month.

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/...lour-cake.html

[Sydnee]

For my daughter's first birthday, I made a banana applesauce poundcake. I made the frosting, and just cut back on the amount of sugar. Everyone loved it! Try googling banana applesauce poundcake..

[tasteandsmile]

Hi Angie, for my daughter's last birthday I made a Victoria sponge cake which was quite light and I piled fruit on top for a healthy edge. I also made the kids individual mini cupcakes with frosting as treats too. It was fun and my daughter got involved in the baking, although your son's probably a bit too young!

If you're stuck for recipe ideas, have a look at the We Love Baking fanpage. There's lots of great recipes and you can chat to others who like to bake.

Jess at Tate and Lyle.