naturally sweet

Four 1st birthdays later and we still love this healthy smash cake recipe! This no sugar added first birthday cake recipe is sweetened with bananas and reminds me of banana bread. The fruit juice sweetened cream frosting is one of my favorite parts, making this healthy smash cake for 1-year-old kiddos the perfect healthy first birthday cake alternative!

Baby's First Healthy Smash Cake (No Sugar Banana Cake)

bananas

no sugar added applesauce

tbsp coconut oil (melted)

tsp vanilla extract

tsp baking soda

einkorn flour (OR whole wheat flour)

oat flour

cinnamon

cream cheese (softened)

no sugar added apple juice concentrate (thawed)

Mash the bananas in a medium bowl.

In a separate large bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Add the mashed bananas, applesauce, coconut oil, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated.

Coat your 4 mini tart pans (these are the mini tart pans I use) + 6-8 muffin pans (or use two 8 or 9″round pans) with oil.

Spread the batter into the bottom of the pans.

Bake at 375° for 20-23 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness.

Cool the cakes before frosting. If you used the 8″ or 9″ pan, then use an overturned smaller bowl to cut out small cake rounds.

While the healthy smash cake cools, soften the cream cheese.

Whisk the cream cheese with the apple juice concentrate and vanilla extract until creamy.

Had the same issue as some others with a raw and gooey cake middle. Only ingredient substitution I made was the 3/4 wheat flour - I used almond flour. Otherwise, all other cake ingredients were as listed.  The cakes hardly rose at all (I did use the baking soda called for).  The cakes deflated to almost like thick pancakes once out of the oven. I even put them back in for a while longer- no go.  The cakes inside were gooey inside.  I did not get a true cake texture. Like i said, more like pancakes.  I did taste the gooey cakes and the flavor was good. Looking at other comments maybe the bananas were too much (5)? instead of the count, should measure them if I try this again. 2 cups- correct?  Any other ideas?

Loved it! I made it the first time for my grandson's first birthday last June using oat and GF flours with three 5" tins. Between the layers I used cream cheese, and then frosted it with plain Greek yogurt. I decorated it with raspberries. As soon as he got one taste of it he was all in. My daughter, grandson, and I love this cake so much that we decided since it's October to make pumpkin spice muffins. We replaced the applesauce with pumpkin puree, and in addition to the cinnamon added ginger, nutmeg, and cloves - and topped with plain Greek yogurt. Oh my! Thank you!

Recipe asked for baking SODA and yet, one of the questions asked if baking POWDER could be skipped and you replied that baking soda could be used but WITH vinegar. The use of vinegar with baking soda was not included in the recipe at all. That’s probably why the mixture didn’t rise as it should. 

Also, it would helped a lot more if the actual recipe (with the measurements and instructions) was near at the beginning of the article, instead of having to go thru all the questions first and seeing the methods at the end. It doesn’t make a good transition to the page at all.

Thank you for this wonderful recipe! To minimize the sweetness, can Granny Apple Smith applesauce be used instead of red applesauce?

I am sorry to leave a less than stellar review but this did not work well for us.  The flavor was fine but it was much to dense for my twelve month old with four teeth.  I needed something soft and able to break apart quickly.  This was not it. I read someone said theirs was dense but the author said theirs was not.  I'm not sure where I went wrong.  If it doesn't rise much, how can it be light and airy? I didn't have luck with the frosting either.  It turned out too runny to frost a cake.

Thank you for this recipe! We made it today for my daughter's first birthday. The cake came out amazing!! For the cream cheese frosting , we could not find sugar free apple juice concentrate in the grocery so we bought sugar free apple juice instead and reduced it by boiling it. We used 4 cups of sugar free apple juice and boiled it on the stove until it reduced in volume to approximately 1 cup. We then used 1/2 of this concentrated apple juice in the recipe and the cream cheese frosting was perfect. I just wanted to share becuase this turned out really great for us. Thanks again for the recipe and all the details!!

Awesome cake been using the same recipe going on my little ones third birthday this year. Thanks so much fur a great recipe.

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