Cake Recipes for Babies?

brittanystebbins95
brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
in Recipes
I'm looking for healthy-ish recipes for a cake smash for my son. It's his first birthday coming up, and we have a cake smash photoshoot planned with a photographer.
I'm not opposed to him having "regular" cake on his birthday, but he's not used to super-processed or greasy or sugary foods and I'm worried about him getting a belly ache. Not concerned about calories, etc. Just less grease and less sugar, if possible.
Anyone have any cake recipes using unrefined sugars, applesauce in place of oil, etc? I'm struggling to find what I'm looking for online.
I might end up just going with a typical cake recipe and hope it doesn't upset his tummy, if I can't find anything.

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    edited August 2021
    You could just not feed him the cake, if the purpose of making one is for a photoshoot. It's not even for him, anyway - he isn't going to remember it.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    You might find what you’re looking for by googling vegan cake recipes - those will have ideas for avoiding dairy, eggs etc obviously. Many also replace refined sugars with things like date purée, coconut sugar.

    Worth a try! 🤷‍♀️
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    goal06082021 wrote: »
    You could just not feed him the cake, if the purpose of making one is for a photoshoot. It's not even for him, anyway - he isn't going to remember it.

    I would love to go that route, if I could. But the photoshoot is a "cake smash," so he's not just taking pictures with a cake, we're taking photos of him destroying one. If you can figure out how to let a 12 month old absolutely obliterate a cake without trying to shove it in his mouth, please let me know lol
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    You might find what you’re looking for by googling vegan cake recipes - those will have ideas for avoiding dairy, eggs etc obviously. Many also replace refined sugars with things like date purée, coconut sugar.

    Worth a try! 🤷‍♀️

    Thank you!! I did manage to find a few that I liked, but frosting is a little tougher. All of the vegan frostings I could find need to be refrigerated, unfortunately. We are about an hour and twenty minutes from the photographer, and I don't have a way to keep the cake cold :( I thought about using whipped cream, but I still can't keep it cold
    So I guess if he's already gonna have sugary frosting, might as well just do the normal cake. I'm hoping he won't manage to eat much during a short photoshoot. One day's not gonna kill him. I'm more worried about the belly ache he might get.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,155 Member
    edited August 2021
    I have made zucchini bread as birthday cake for my children on several occasions (by their request.)

    Honestly, I would not sweat one day. Half my kids didn't even like their first birthday cake because they just weren't really into solids yet. The ones who did really only had a few bites, and just smeared the rest around. Different than a usual day, sure, but we're not really big into sugary treats here at all and they were just fine. :)

    You could do a basic whipped cream as frosting - heavy cream whisked with a smidge of confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Good arm workout for you or you can do it in a stand mixer.
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    penguinmama87 wrote: »
    I have made zucchini bread as birthday cake for my children on several occasions (by their request.)

    Honestly, I would not sweat one day. Half my kids didn't even like their first birthday cake because they just weren't really into solids yet. The ones who did really only had a few bites, and just smeared the rest around. Different than a usual day, sure, but we're not really big into sugary treats here at all and they were just fine. :)

    You could do a basic whipped cream as frosting - heavy cream whisked with a smidge of confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Good arm workout for you or you can do it in a stand mixer.

    Thank you!! My son is VERY much into solids, lol. I struggle to get him to drink water or milk anymore, he just wants real food. I like the zucchini bread idea, a lot actually. I think I might ask the photographer if its okay if I come like twenty minutes early to frost it, and just use whipped cream. I'll probably try your recipe :) That way I can keep it cold in a cooler on the drive, and don't have to worry about the whipped cream melting.

  • PAPYRUS3
    PAPYRUS3 Posts: 13,259 Member
    edited August 2021
    brittanystebbins95 wrote: »
    penguinmama87 wrote: »
    I have made zucchini bread as birthday cake for my children on several occasions (by their request.)

    Honestly, I would not sweat one day. Half my kids didn't even like their first birthday cake because they just weren't really into solids yet. The ones who did really only had a few bites, and just smeared the rest around. Different than a usual day, sure, but we're not really big into sugary treats here at all and they were just fine. :)

    You could do a basic whipped cream as frosting - heavy cream whisked with a smidge of confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Good arm workout for you or you can do it in a stand mixer.

    Thank you!! My son is VERY much into solids, lol. I struggle to get him to drink water or milk anymore, he just wants real food. I like the zucchini bread idea, a lot actually. I think I might ask the photographer if its okay if I come like twenty minutes early to frost it, and just use whipped cream. I'll probably try your recipe :) That way I can keep it cold in a cooler on the drive, and don't have to worry about the whipped cream melting.

    You could also 'stabilize' the whipped cream with some gelatin - holds up well up to 2 hours unrefrigerated

    There seems to be lots of 'healthier' smash baby cakes out there too https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/smash-cake/
    https://loveinmyoven.com/healthy-smash-cake/
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    Turns out he doesn't like cake :D so it didn't matter anyway.
    He ate the berries off of the cake, tried to fling the frosting off of them, and then made a disgusted face when he tasted the actual cake lol.
    I thought it was pretty good. He did not. He was NOT happy lol, but we got some cute pictures!
    I'm definitely not complaining!
  • Lynatea
    Lynatea Posts: 311 Member
    Maybe angel food with a light cool whip type of frosting?

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