Remain calm: this is not a post where I reveal that I secretly have a 1-year old baby and just failed to mention it. While I have been known to keep a secret for a while to increase the shock factor later, I certainly wouldn’t make you wait an entire year (+9 months of pregnancy) to let you know that a little Baked Greens baby was running around in the universe.
I do, however, have a niece who turned one this past weekend, and another niece who just turned 3 last month, so I know a thing or two about first birthday cakes.
Namely, the fact that they need to be tiny, made from wholesome ingredients, sweet enough to get a baby excited but not so sweet that said baby’s mom wants to murder you after you’ve pumped her kid full of sugar, and free of any potential baby allergens or tummy upsetting stuff.
For my niece Mary’s first birthday, I made a banana cake with chocolate avocado frosting, which ended up being the inspiration for this adult-approved version a few weeks later.
This year, I decided to make another banana cake, but with a cocoa + Greek yogurt based frosting since baby Abigail is a fan. You could also consider leaving the cocoa out of the frosting and turning it pink using one of these all-natural options!
On the day of the party, I added a handful of crushed up freeze-dried raspberries on top for maximum cuteness; they’re sort of like baby-appropriate sprinkles. You can totally leave them off, but I think they add a little something special to this first birthday cake. Abigail certainly didn’t mind.
To make such a tiny cake, you’ll just bake a super thin layer of cake in an 8×8 pan, then use a biscuit cutter to cut out your cake layers then frost and stack. You’ll end up with some banana cake scraps that need munching (I’m sure you’ll find a way to manage that), but I found it much easier to bake the cake this way than in four separate tiny cake pans, which I’m assuming most people don’t own anyway.
The end result is a baby-approved (but still highly palatable) cake that’s perfect for sticking a candle into and letting a tiny human go to town on. Technically it’s more than one serving, but by the time your 1-year old is through with it, you’ll just be left with a pile of smashed up cake crumbs.
To the adult palate, this cake is more like a muffin or breakfast bread- definitely on the dense side, and minimally sweet. When stacked and layered with yogurt for frosting, though, it’s just perfect for a baby.
If there’s a baby in your life turning 1 anytime soon, they’re going to love this simple smash cake. It’s:
Banana-sweetnened
Whole-grain
Egg-free
Super cute
+ Perfect for eating with tiny hands.
If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your tiny birthday cake and share it with me on Instagram.
Baby's First Birthday Cake (Whole Wheat & Banana Sweetened)
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 very ripe banana
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup milk unsweetened almond, coconut, or cow's milk all work here
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- a tiny pinch of salt
Frosting
- 1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- a tiny drizzle of maple syrup
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8x8 pan with butter or oil.
- 2. Peel the banana and put it into a small mixing bowl or large cereal bowl. Use a fork to mash well. Add oil, milk, and vanilla, and stir to combine. Then, add all remaining ingredients, and stir again until fully combined.
- 3. Scrape cake batter into the prepared pan, spreading it out into a thin, even layer. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until fully cooked through.
- 4. While cake bakes, stir together all frosting ingredients in a small bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
- 5. Let cake cool fully in the pan before cutting into 4 circles with a 4-inch biscuit cutter. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, a wide-mouth mason jar will work, too! Use a spatula to gently lift the cake circles out of the pan one at a time. Spread each layer with 1 Tablespoon of frosting, then stack them all up into a tiny layer cake. If desired, use remaining frosting to cover the sides of the cake as well. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 1 day in advance of the party. I recommend taking the cake out of the fridge at least an hour before serving since an ice-cold cake will not be very appealing to a baby.
Notes
If your baby is allergic to wheat, oat flour is a great substitute for the whole wheat. The cake layers will be slightly more delicate, so just be careful as you remove them from the pan.