Recipe: Healthy Sugar Free Smash Cake for Baby’s Birthday

So the littlest member of the Hip Mommies family turns one this weekend. I am a mess. The house is a mess. Party decoration DIY projects are everywhere. Our gift (play kitchen) needs to be assembled. We have been working like crazy and our childcare provider called in sick. So I decided that this would be the BEST TIME EVER to make a sugar free smash cake for the little one and organize a photo shoot. What is a little bit more mess, right?

Not wanting to give the kid her first sugar high quite yet, I went on the hunt for a sugar free smash cake recipe that would be smash-able and easy (because, above). So, I looked around the internet, put a couple of recipes together and hoped for a miracle.

It was a Success! This recipe bakes a delicious sugar free smash cake which is still fairly sweet from the banana and applesauce. Surprisingly so. Our little girl loved it. (As did I – after skipping breakfast I enjoyed it maybe a little bit more than I should have.)

This recipe is sugar free, egg free and can be dairy free (skip the icing.) To make gluten free, I would sub the whole wheat flour for brown rice flour, but you may have to adjust water accordingly.

I used one tall 8 inch cake pan for this recipe

Healthy Sugar Free Banana & Apple Smash Cake (for Baby’s First Birthday)

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce
• 3 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Mash the bananas in a bowl.
2. Separately mix the flours, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add applesauce, coconut oil, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix gently and fold the bananas in.
3. The coconut flour can leave your mix a little dry, add water as needed until you get a nice batter-like consistency.
4. Coat your pan(s) with coconut oil.
5. Spoon the batter into the bottom of the pans.
6. Bake at 400° for 20-35 minutes. This really depends on the pan you are using, so check with a toothpick for doneness after 20 min. The pan I used was tall, and it took forever to bake through.
7. Remove from oven, and from pan to cool.
8. If you used a tall pan, you can use a serrated knife to cut layers horizontally
9. Frost when cool and decorate as you like.

Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese softened
• 3/4 cup no sugar added apple juice – add slowly, you might not need the entire thing
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Using a whisk, mix the cream cheese with the apple juice concentrate and vanilla extract until creamy. Refrigerate. 

Photography: Elza Photographie, Art Direction: Jennifer Myers Chua