1st Birthday Cake CHALLENGE :) SF/GF, etc.

[brainysinglemom]

I'm hoping that we're still months or a year or more away from wheat, sweetener of any kind (honey, agave, stevia, etc.) and I don't want to roll that stuff out for the first birthday "cake." I've thought of just doing a parfait with yogurt, mashed bananas, diced mango, etc. but for tradition it would be lovely to have something "cake" looking.

So ... this "cake" does not have to taste good to anyone else. I'm making it just for my baby and she only eats veggies and whole grains (quinoa, etc.), and lentils, and tofu, and yogurt, and fruit, so I really think anything remotely "cake" or even "bread" textured to her would be very exciting and different.

I've been googling away but I can't find a simple recipe for a cake using, say, garbanzo flour or brown rice flour, maybe yogurt and/or applesauce and some fresh fruit.

I'm a *terrible* baker even when I have a recipe, so there's no way I could experiment and come up with something which would work (my worst baking memory is traveling abroad and going out on a special shopping trip with my hosts and making them a banana bread that was truly brick hard when it came out of the oven). Anyone have a recipe or have any thoughts about where I might find one? Looking for gluten free, and no sweetener of any sort except for the fruit itself, and does not have to taste delicious to the adult palate .

Thanks SO much!!!

[cristeen]

How about a cheesecake-ish cake?

I'll say though that while i was really worried about this, my DS was far more interested in playing in his bday cake than he was in eating it. I dont think he got even 1 bite in.

[mumkimum]

What about doing crepes, then cutting smaller circles out of them to layer with some kind of fruit puree/flavored yogurt (I'm thinking vegan rice flour crepes, so they'd fit what you're looking for).  

Foods like rice can also get 'molded' pretty easily, so if you did a cooked rice with fruit sweetner/flavoring you could mold it overnight in a bowl or other dish and decorate it with other fruits, such that it would end up cake-shaped.

[Naturopath Mom]

For my kids first birthdays I always did fruit. The best one was when we cut a watermelon in half and stuck kabob sticks (wooden) and skewered fruit on them. Just use the favorites. You can cut out a slight hole (bowl shaped piece out of the middle) and fill it with more fruit. Or you can make a picture by cutting into the flesh and then filling it in with smoothie or purred fruit.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

How about a watermelon "cake"?

http://www.veggiebelly.com/2010/08/fresh-watermelon-cake.html

I'm thinking you could even mix different types of melonballs or berries for that topping.

[brainysinglemom]

I really like the using rice as a base idea. (The watermelon cake is beautiful, but I'm hoping for something that looks more like a "cake" and that has the texture of a cake, as much as possible). For making something with rice, would I just press it into the bottom of a cupcake pan? Would wetter rice, or dryer rice work better? Thanks again!

[mumkimum]

Based on having made rice balls - I think you want to use warm rice, mix in some kind of liquid (juice, applesauce, fruit. . .) for successful molding.  You could probably look at sushi recipes and see what additions they use to help the rice stick together, yk?  Depending on whether you feel comfortable using any of those (like rice vinegar) you could add them in.  Come to think of it, there's dessert-fruit-sushi out there.  That might be a good place to look for ideas (I don't have my sushi cookbook on hand, otherwise I'd pull that out for you. . .).

[brainysinglemom]

Thanks so much everyone! I actually found, to my amazement, a recipe on the back of the Quinoa Flakes box!! It only calls for 2 tblspn of sugar, so I feel confident subbing that out with applesauce and don't think it will change the texture too much!

[brainysinglemom]

Final Update  -- for posterity (I know when I'm looking through the archivesI love to hear how things turned out. I made the recipe and it came out GREAT! Totally delicious (which wasn't even necessary). I'll definitely make them again. Just made them exactly per recipe on box of Quinoa Flakes and subbed 2 tblsnp applesauce for the 2 tblspn honey. NO sweetener, and ONLY quinoa and fruit. Woo-hoo! "Frosted" it with plain yogurt and stuck some rasberries on top.

Thanks again all!