Healthier Smash Cake!
Yes! It is totally possible and easy enough to make a ‘healthy’ smash cake for baby! You’ve probably already noticed that if you go into any grocery store (even a Whole Foods or your favorite Co-Op) you will most likely not find a cake and/or cupcake for purchase that does not have added cane sugar (even in Portland, Oregon where you can find almost anything for people with any dietary restriction)! *If you know of a company that does, please let me know in the comments! :)
→ For my daughters first birthday, I wanted to make her cake from scratch. I’ve made about 99% of her food that she has eaten this first year on Earth, which I feel very honored to be able to do. But the clock was ticking before our party guests arrived, and I didn’t have time to bake the cake the night before….and I soon realized that I would not have enough time to make the cake fully from scratch (with confidence) before the party started. Once I let go of my expectations not meeting up with my reality, I came up with a plan B that allowed for enough time to still make it at home with some quick shortcuts, that I will share with you in this post!
The cake was throughly enjoyed by our baby and also our party guests! :)
The Cake
The Cake Mix
Simple Mills — Almond Flour Baking Mix — Vanilla Cupcake & Cake
Yes! My shortcut is a ‘healthier’ box cake with simple ingredients! I scanned the isles and labels and decided to use this pre-made mix I found (at Whole Foods) for the cake! I found this to be a wonderful backup if you don’t have the time to make your cake fully from scratch! It’s easy, just follow the instructions on the box.
Buy it here → Simple Mills
↑ Ingredients in the mix:
Almond flour
Organic coconut sugar
( Resource from: My Little Moppet
Can I Give My Baby Coconut Sugar
She explains this very well! ^ )Arrowroot
Organic coconut flour
Baking soda
Sea salt
Vanilla bean
↓ The mix also calls for:
3 eggs (You could probably use flax egg replacement for this — if you try it let me know how it goes!)
1/3 cup oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp vanilla
Notes:
I bought two boxes for our party as I wanted to make two cakes — one for babygirl and one for the guests which worked out perfectly! If you want to do the same, you will need to double up on your ingredients to add to the mix.
I used small and larger sized spring form pans to bake these cakes in. The small one for baby, the larger size for our guests! Alternatively you could put the mix into cupcake tins!
The ‘frosting’
Heavy whipping cream or coconut cream (For the cake photographed in this post, I used local & organic heavy whipping cream but you can easily substitute with coconut cream! I will probably try that next time).
Lakanto powdered sweetener (I put a very small amount of Monk Fruit powdered sugar in this cream ‘frosting’ just to give a subtle sweetness, but you can omit if you wish!)
Color Kitchen Food & Frosting Color in Pink (Beet Red)
(I love using natural food dye! Why would you use anything else? I also used one full packet for two cartons of heavy whipping cream - you’ll have leftover whipped cream to enjoy for later)
Buy it here → Color Kitchen
Real vanilla bean
(There’s nothing like the real stuff. Especially with vanilla bean. I scraped one vanilla bean stalk for the ‘frosting’. If you don’t have real vanilla bean you can use vanilla extract or omit completely).
Fresh strawberries
(I used organic strawberry slices for a bit of garnish on the cake. Naia happened to eat all the strawberries off of the cake first before ‘smashing into it, Ha!).
Notes:
Double up on your heavy whipping cream or coconut cream if you are making two cakes instead of just one. You will have leftovers to enjoy for later!
I used my KitchenAid to whip up the ‘frosting’. Starting at a low setting and then adjusting to the highest setting. I watched for it to turn into whipped cream and then I placed it into the fridge to cool. If you don’t have a KitchenAid and you have a hand/stick blender — use that with the whisk attachment!
Tools
KitchenAid Stand Mixer 6QT 590 Watt — Ours is from Costco but you could get yours direct from Kitchen Aid.
The Candle
100% beeswax cake candle — #1
Where to find → Big Dipper Wax Works
You gotta have a candle on the first birthday cake, right?! I mean babygirl definitely couldn’t blow it out yet, but it was a nice touch on top even just for the photos. I love these natural beeswax candles!
Good luck on making your smash cake!! :)
