Healthy First Birthday Cake… it IS possible!
It’s baby’s first birthday…time for cake! Fortunately, a fun first birthday party for your baby does not have to include loads of sugar (and yes, I’m talking that adorable smash cake, too.) A healthier alternative can be done. In this case, you can have your cake and eat it too. 😉
This healthy smash cake was a HIT with Baby R. If you’re like me, you have spent some time doing a good Google and Pinterest search for the perfect smash cake for your little one. Look no further, I’m sharing a perfectly moist, but completely free of any sugar or sweetener (well, except FRUIT), dairy free, gluten free, AND vegan-friendly cake.
FAQs About Smash Cakes and Babies
Can my baby have cake on his(her) first birthday?
Many organizations and professionals including the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommend babies don’t receive any added sugars for the first 2 years of life.
Of course, the final decision is entirely up to you. While I believe in moderation and balance in general, I also know the recommendations are made to ensure proper regulation of baby’s taste. They are also meant to ensure nutrient-dense foods are primarily served the first 2 years of life, a time when nutrients are so incredibly important!
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Stop snack time overwhelm. Grab this FREE TODDLER SNACK CHEAT SHEET with 36 healthy snack ideas!
What IS a smash cake?
A smash cake is that cute frosted cake that your 1-year-old smashes all over their face/clothes/highchair. The guest of honor usually eats it at their party in front of all the guests.
What is a smash cake made of?
That depends! Typically, it’s just a regular birthday cake made into a small adorable treat. However, you CAN make a healthier birthday cake alternative like this one.
Why I chose a Banana Smash Cake
Rowan hasn’t had any sugar, including maple syrup, honey, or other sugar alternatives. (Well, with the exception of a minuscule bit in this coconut cream frosting on his cake, and small amounts here and there worked into family meals occasionally.)
I personally chose to make a no sugar cake free of any sweeteners (except fruit itself) as I knew Baby R wouldn’t know the difference anyway! He LOOOOVES bananas and applesauce so this cake was a perfect fit for him.
My philosophy is one of balance. And for me, this cake fits with my balance mentality for a 1 year old. He doesn’t even know real, sugar-filled cake exists…so why give it to him?
Making a Healthier Smash Cake
There are tons of different ways you could go about making a healthy smash cake at home. And honestly, most muffin or bread (like banana bread) recipes could easily be converted in a smash cake for your little one. So if you have a family favorite recipe you love and feel good about, try turning it into your baby’s birthday cake!
Key Ingredients in this Easy Smash Cake:
Bananas
Applesauce
Coconut Oil
Oats
Seriously, with an ingredient list like that, it’s practically a bowl of oatmeal!
A 1st Birthday Cake without SUGAR
Most healthier birthday cake alternatives included a sweetener. I found recipes that were naturally sweetened were few and far between. Leaving sugar/sweeteners out is EASY! Simply use FRUIT. Nature’s sweetener. We chose bananas and applesauce, but dates would also make a perfect option.
Alternatively, you could choose to make a cake with minimal added sweetener such as maple syrup or honey (which babies can have at one.) This would work especially well if you want to serve the same cake your baby eats to your guests.
The recipe makes good muffins too, but we didn’t end up serving any at his party. Though we planned a healthy party (it was important to us this time since he wouldn’t be having any real cake just yet himself), we made a variety of muffins sweetened with honey, maple syrup, and dates for the guests.
Vegan Smash Cake
I loved this recipe and used it as a starting point/inspiration, but did make a few tweaks including subbing the whole wheat flour for oat flour. Oat flour is wetter than whole wheat flour so it does involve a few changes, but it makes for a nice moist baked good. I’m grateful that Rowan doesn’t have any food intolerances, but since this recipe is vegan that makes it dairy free and egg free, if that’s important to your family.
I actually made this recipe to trial the week before his party and turned it into muffins. I ended up giving him 1 or 2 for breakfast and hoped he wouldn’t recognize it at his party. When he devoured it I knew it would be a winner (he hadn’t had any muffins before these.)
How to Make an EASY Smash Cake
Honestly, I’m no cake decorator and was not interested in making the cake look fancy, anyway. So here is my basic method for decorating a cute and SIMPLE smash cake.
Small Cake Pans
I used a 4-inch cake pan that I picked up at TJ Maxx similar to this one. You could also use something like these Wilton mini tart pans. Honestly, I thought 4 inches was a perfect size. I did 2 layers for my smash cake, but you could do more if you wanted a taller cake.
Decorating Your Smash Cake
My little one is OBSESSED with bears. LOVES them. Says BEAR all day long. So, I just chose to spread the coconut cream frosting on the cake and top it with this very realistic bear.
Schleich has a variety of other very real looking animals that are perfect for woodland or farm birthday cakes. They are kind of expensive but something your kids will likely enjoy playing with for many, many years.
Healthy Frosting for a First Birthday Cake
We ended up topping it with a coconut cream frosting (ok, it was just coconut cream whipped and a bit of maple syrup added.) It spread on the cake easily and gave him the experience of messy fingers without loads of sugar. He LOVED it. (Side note: So did a couple guests who I found finishing the remainder of the “icing” directly off the cake.😅) Seriously though, this coconut cream frosting would be the perfect healthy frosting for any kid or baby’s birthday cake.
Other Recipes Your Baby Will Love:
- 13 Sugarless Muffins for Babies & Toddlers
- Sugar Free Pumpkin Muffins
- Easy Egg Bake
- Banana Oat Pancakes
FEED YOUR TODDLER BETTER SNACKS!!
Stop snack time overwhelm. Grab this FREE TODDLER SNACK CHEAT SHEET with 36 healthy snack ideas!
Healthy Smash Cake (No added sugar)
This healthy smash cake is made with NO ADDED SUGAR and is even gluten and dairy free. This will make the perfect first birthday cake for your healthy baby!
Ingredients
For Smash Cake
- 4 Bananas extra ripe
- 1/2 cup Applesauce (no sugar added)
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil melted
- 3 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups Oat Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
Coconut Cream Frosting
- 1 can coconut cream
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
For Smash Cake
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Mash the bananas and mix in the applesauce. Melt coconut oil and add this and vanilla to the banana mixture.
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In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (oat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.)
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Mix banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until blended.
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Coat mini cake pan with coconut oil and pour batter in 1/2 to 3/4 full.
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Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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Allow cakes to cool and stack using icing. Top with coconut cream icing.
Coconut Cream Frosting
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Place a mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.
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Place canned coconut cream in fridge to chill overnight or place in freezer for a couple hours.
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Remove canned coconut cream and chilled bowl from freezer/fridge.
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Carefully open the canned coconut cream. The cream will be at the top of the can. Skim it off with a spoon leaving the watery coconut milk in the bottom of the can. Place the cream in the chilled bowl.
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Add maple syrup to cream and beat with a hand mixer. Beat until soft peaks form, but don't allow the cream to get warm.
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Keep the coconut cream frosting cool until you are ready to put it on the cake.
Ahhh! My baby girl turned 1 just a few weeks ago. I made sugar free cookies but a cake would have been so much better!
Hmm.. maybe we need to celebrate 13 months! 😀
I’m going to make this next week and can’t wait! Question, does the recipe make enough for both layers or do i need to double it for 2 layers? I want to make sure i have enough ripe bananas 🙂
Hi Danielle – Yes, it made more than enough for the 2 layers if you are using a 4 in cake pan like I did! Hope your little one loves it!
Thank you!! Can’t wait to make this next week!
Will this recipe fill three 4 inch cake pans?
Thanks so much.
Jessica
Hi Jessica! Yes, it should. I filled two 4 inch pans and had some leftover which I made into a few muffins to save for my little one. So I would think you’d have plenty for filling three pans. 🙂
Do you ever add the liquid from the coconut cream or just use the cream that you skim off?
Hi Jessica – You never use the liquid, only the cream. Only getting the cream is what makes the “frosting” thicker. You can save the liquid which is basically coconut milk and throw it in a smoothie or mix it in some oats, etc. 🙂
I have spent several hours trying to find the perfect gluten free, no sugar added, dairy free smash cake for my granddaughter. Finally found this one and it sounds perfect! I will be baking it this week!
Happy Birthday to your granddaughter! 🙂
Thank you!! Can this cake be made in advance a few days??
I baked my cake the day of the party so not sure how long it would keep. The “frosting” (AKA coconut cream) should be done right beforehand for sure. I actually baked the cake the day of my little one’s party so I don’t have experience with how long it will keep. I would love to know if you ended up making it early how it did!
I just made this last night for my son’s birthday, today, and it smells delicious! But it didn’t really rise. I just tested my baking soda to see if it is still good, and it is, so I’m baffled.
Sorry it didn’t rise for you! Did you use a small, 4 in cake pan? Using a larger pan could’ve changed that. It was a moist cake so it won’t rise a ton, but it certainly should’ve some!
Hi thanks so much for this recipe I love how healthy and delicious it sounds!
I made this last night for my sons birthday dinner.
I followed the instructions but it did take a while to cook .. About 40 min + The consistency is much more tough and chewy a bit gooey still.. I can’t figure out why this is? Should I have heated it even longer still?
I am not sure what I did wrong
So sorry you had that problem! Without being there, I’m not sure what happened. It could have had to do with the size of the pan you use or how full you filled it? It is a very moist cake on the inside due to the nature of the ingredient list (Oat flour is very moist, plus all of the bananas/apple sauce for sweetener.)
Do you think that avocado oil could be substituted for the coconut oil? My little guy turns one and the party is this weekend. I would love to make this! Thanks!
Hi Bethany, I don’t have a lot of experience using avocado oil so I’m not sure. Please let me know if you try it how it turns out! Happy to birthday to your little guy!
When you made into muffins, how long did you bake?
Unfortunately this recipe didn’t quite work out for me. I couldn’t find any 4 inch pans so we decided to just use 8 inch ones and double the recipe, knowing we would cut them down to 4-inch cakes after they were baked. Even with doubling the recipe, it barely filled out the cake pans so the result was what looked like large sausage patties because they were so thin. I wound up baking a thick white cake to put under these cake layers. Then the frosting was nowhere near enough to cover even the 4-inch layers AND put some between each one. So, I wound up making buttercream to layer and then using the coconut cream frosting for the outside. I’m not sure where I went wrong because doing the math, as long as I doubled everything it should have baked the same in 8-inch pans. I will say it tastes good and I’m glad to have excess from the cake to give to my daughter for breakfast for the next week!
Hi Nicole, I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out for you! The problem is the math is trickier than it seems at first glance! An 8 in cake pan is actually much larger than double a 4 in cake pan. An 8 in cake pan would be more than 4 times the size of a 4 in which is why you didn’t have nearly enough batter even after doubling the recipe.
When converting sizes on round cake pans, we would use the equation pi*radius*radius to calculate square inches. Round pans are measured by diameter.
So, for the 8 in round pan the radius is 4 and the equation would be 3.14*4*4 = ~50 sq in. The 4 in round pan has a radius of 2 making the equation 3.14*2*2 = ~12 sq in. 50/12 = 4.16. So I believe, (and geometry has been a few years) it would be 4.16 times larger.
It looks like this post that may be helpful for future reference: https://food52.com/blog/13239-how-to-make-your-baking-recipe-fit-your-pan-size. Let me know if you have any more questions!
I have a 10” pan, would it be correct to use 5 times the quantities? According to the chart in the link. So 20 bananas? Seem odd to me but I’m completely clueless. Thanks in advance! I’m going crazy trying to find a recipe for my baby boy’s first birthday cake…
Hi Leila, I would recommend just buying a 4 in pan, honestly. Though you could convert the volume to use a 10 in pan it won’t cook in the center in the same way since the pan will be so much larger. The cake is already very moist due to the wet ingredients (bananas/applesauce) needed to sweeten it. If it were cooked in a larger pan even at the correct volume, I’m not sure if it would end up done in the center since the size difference is just so much. The recipe was specifically designed to be a small smash cake and I can’t guarantee how it will turn out otherwise. Here is the pan I bought (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/2p6rESI (I actually found mine at TJ Maxx). If you are trying to avoid buying a special pan, do you have small 4 in tart pans or anything else smaller you could try? I’ve only cooked the recipe in a 4in pan and the leftovers in muffin tins so I’m just not sure how it would turn out if cooked in a larger pan.
Hi! Thanks for your quick answer! I got one of 8”, I didn’t want to buy new ones but will try to borrow one. What do you think about the 8” ones?
I’ve never tried it with a larger pan so I’m not really sure how it will do!
I made this for my sister-in-law who is a breast cancer survivor. She is always looking for swwets that won’t hurt her or encourage cancer again. She loved it! I doubled it so we all loved it.
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m so glad she loved it. I absolutely love that you baked her a cake that fit her preferences, needs, and health goals! <3
Can I use peanut butter frosting instead of the coconut frosting?
Peanutbutter frosting sounds delicious to me! 🙂 I would think whatever frosting you choose will work on the cake as it has a fairly neutral flavor!
If making these into muffins, how long should I bake them for?
My son loved this cake. You wouldn’t know that it had no sugar by the look on his face!
I’m so glad he loved it!
I made this cake for my Granddaughter’s 1st birthday party this past Saturday. I used a 4″ cakepan (deepish)
and 6 small cupcakes. I used Greek yogurt mixed with chopped strawberries and a wee bit of date sugar.
Aside from Loving the frosting and smearing it on her daddy’s cheek, she bit right into the cake. Other moms
gave their kids the cupcakes and wanted the recipe. Thank you…All were happy!!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!!
Hello! Excited to try this recipe! Is there a different oil I could substitute for coconut oil due to allergies?
I’ve not tried this with any other oils. You could consider trying avocado oil or even just butter. Olive oil could be used, but the flavor may be more likely to come through. Let us know if you try it with another oil how it turns out!
I followed the directions and cooked for 25 minutes and my cake still came out doughy, just as some others mentioned above. I’m not sure what went wrong.
Given how many people have commented that something went wrong and that the few people who commented it went well did cupcakes/muffins (And all the others were asking questions BEFORE making the cake!)….i just have to know. Are you certain it wasn’t a tablespoon of baking soda? I feel like there has to have been some difference between what you did and what we did. It just didn’t come out. and i’m a fairly experienced baker. I should have gone with my gut and tripled the soda. oats and bananas are notoriously heavy. Help a fellow baker out???
Can I substitute the oat flour for regular white flour?
Hi, the recipe was wrote for oat flour and I haven’t tried it any other way. Oat flour is more moist so I’m not sure how it would turn out.
Hi there! Hoping to try this out but haven’t been able to find any oat flour. Can it be substituted for almond or coconut flour?
It’s going to change the texture and I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure how it would do. Oat flour is pretty moist. You can grind oats in a food processor to make oat flour. Hope this helps!
I will try the oats in a blender thank you! My son has an Apple allergy so I was thinking of using pear. It has the same texture.
I’m so shocked about all the people saying this didn’t work for them! I just followed this to the letter (apart from 10 extra mins in our oven) and it turned out perfectly! I’m so pleased that a cake that’s free of basically everything is not free of joy and is actually tasty. Thanks so much! I will use this basic cake recipe again for my little one as completely guilt free indulgence for her!
I made a different “healthy smash cake” this past weekend and the consistency was heavier, more like a banana bread.
I am looking for a lighter cake that my little one can dig in to more easily. How does this recipe compare?
Hmm, the recipe IS a different texture than regular cake – it is heavier. It’s just the nature of the real food ingredients (including all of the bananas and oats.) Not sure how it would compare to the cake that you tried before. My little one still had fun tearing the cake apart. Hope this helps!
What size can is the coconut cream? We have 5.4oz and 13.66oz, I’m not sure which is typical or which should be used?
The larger size that is the size of a typical can (13.66 oz or some are 13.5 oz) should be used to give you enough for the cake. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and I’m sorry I didn’t specify. I will update the recipe!
If I want to make this recipe using all purpose flour, would it still be 1.5 cups like the oat flour?
I love this recipe!! I used it for my son’s first birthday cake and am using it now for muffins for him (and his mamas!). Will these muffins freeze well? And would you recommend keeping them in the fridge after they’ve cooled?