This Healthy First Birthday Cake is a carrot, banana and apple cake made with no added sugar. Using a combination of almond flour and oat flour, it’s packed with wholegrains, healthy fats and naturally sweetened with fruit.
A few weeks ago we celebrated the twins’ first birthday! I actually cannot believe that a whole year has gone by since their birth. It’s been an absolute whirlwind – the cliche is 100% true, the days are long but the years are short. My babies are almost toddlers.
The whole birthday came with a cascade of mixed emotions for me. In case you don’t know, my twins were born 9 weeks premature, at 31 weeks and 2 days gestation, by emergency c-section. It was one of the most scary and upsetting days of my life, and then the boys spent 7 weeks in hospital. (You can read more about them in this blog post). So even though we celebrated their birthday on 9 January, their actual due date was 11 March!
Does that mean I’ll probably have to come up with a “second first birthday cake”? Yes, I think so. But for now, let’s celebrate the positive and enjoy this Healthy First Birthday Cake.
This is a recipe for a carrot, banana and apple cake with no added sugar. The fruit and vegetables in this cake add plenty of natural sweetness. The flours used in this recipe – almond flour and oat flour – also have a naturally quite sweet taste, so the combined effect produces a cake that’s yummy enough without needing to add sugar.
How to make your own oat flour
While you can buy oat flour in some shops, if you have a food processor or even just a small blender like a Nutri Bullet, it’s so much easier and cheaper to make your own.
- Pop a cup or two of rolled oats in the blender.
- Process until you get to a coarse flour consistency – it won’t be as smooth as wheat flour but will feel like a dry almond flour.
- Store in an airtight container, you’re done!
A first birthday cake with no added sugar
The reason I wanted to make this cake for my babies is because healthy eating guidelines recommend avoiding foods with added sugars for children under 2.
Now, I’m actually NOT a super strict parent who won’t give their babies a small taste of foods that have added sugar. Try stopping two little boys from grabbing whatever food is near them when you’re out and about! It’s impossible, and now that they’ve been exposed to all the common allergens, I’m not too worried about it.
However, being the healthy foodie that I am, I love a recipe challenge like this, and I also loved the idea of making something they could just go to town on. It pretty much ended up being their lunch the day of their birthday party (plus I made a few test cakes that we all ate before that, too!).
Right up until the day of their party, I was worried that this cake might not be that tasty. However, lots of people at the boys’ birthday party ate the cake, not just the babies, and no leftover cake came home with us, so I’ll take that as a good sign 🙂 I hope you like it too!
I’ve popped a picture of the cake as I made it for their birthday party below. I used four mini cake tins and made two lots of the batter, then stacked the cakes. They are iced with a mixture of cream cheese, ricotta and a touch of vanilla bean paste, for a sugar free but totally delicious icing.
If you make this cake, take a snap and tag me on Instagram, you can find me over at –> @moniquecormacknutrition. I also think this recipe would work great as muffins, that’s what I’m planning on doing next time!
p.s. I’m sorry but I’ve not come up with a nut free version of this cake just yet! I understand that some children can’t have nuts – or can’t have nuts in a school lunch box – so I’ll try to come up with a nut free version soon!
Healthy First Birthday Cake (no added sugar)
Ingredients
- 75 grams almond meal – 3/4 cup
- 75 grams oat flour – slightly over 3/4 cup
- 50 grams coconut flour – 1/3 cup
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 large bananas – as overripe as possible, approximately 180 grams
- 1/2 cup apple puree (use unsweetened, plain apple puree)
- 1 large carrot
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil, or melted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Line a baking tin with baking paper – I recommend a smaller tin, either a 20cm round or 20cm square.
- Combine almond meal, oat flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside. Grate the carrot and set aside as well.
- Mash the two bananas into a puree. Add the eggs to the bananas and whisk together. Then, stir in the apple puree, oil and vanilla.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients mix. Stir, then fold in the grated carrot.
- Scoop the batter into the lined baking tin, smooth the top down and then bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the cake feels firm to touch in the centre and the edges are browning.
- Allow the cake to cool to room temperature before adding any icing so it doesn't melt off! The cake can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days, though I find it lasts longer and keeps much better without icing, so if you're making it in advance add the icing on the day you want to eat it. You can also freeze the cake (without any icing) for around 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
I made this exactly per the recipe but it doesn’t seem to be cooking all the way through…. It’s dense and doughy on the inside while the outside is getting darker and darker. I’m not sure what’s going wrong or what to do.
Hi Clare, it sounds like either (1) there is an imbalance between the wet ingredients / dry ingredients so the batter is a bit too wet (unlikely if all ingredients measured accurately although it can happen) and/or (2) your oven might run a bit hot. You can lower the oven temp and cover the cake with foil to try to cook the inside through without burning the outside. I hope this works!
Hi Monique,
Can I substitute apple sauce with anything else ?
Or can I completely leave it out ?
Thanks,
Niki
Hi,
Just wondering if this recipe can be made as muffins/cupcakes? I’ve made the cake version which turned out great, but when I tried making a cupcake version (exactly the same way but poured into cupcake tins), they were raw on the inside? Can you suggest the best way to make them into a cupcake style and how long they should cook for? I’d need half the amount of mixture to when making a cake, so any tips accurate measuring to ensure the ingredients are correct?! I’m trying to balance it getting too dry also…
Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Monique, thanks so much for this. My baby turns 1 in 2 weeks and this cake sound perfect. Please can you share the ratio of creamed cheese to ricottabfor the frosting? Thank you, Anna
Im also curious about the icing! Im making this tomorrow so very keen to hear asap
I am excited to try this cake out have you an alternative to banana?
Hi, can I use normal plain flour for this recipe? Will it change the texture of the cake or just won’t be as sweet? Thank you.
Hi, this sounds delicious. What would you use to replace eggs?
I made it yesterday, I loved it very healthy and guilt free. Not sure how to upload a photo.
Hi there,
I love the sound of this recipe.
I want to make this for my daughter’s first birthday. Please could you let me know if the sponge comes out moist and soft.
I would say that the cake definitely comes out moist, very much so, because of all the fruit puree and grated carrot. It’s not really a “sponge” texture though – it’s more dense than that. It crumbles well and is a suitable texture for a 12 month old to chew as it’s soft, but yes definitely more dense than a traditional sponge cake. Hope that helps!
Hi! Can I ask what temperature should I set for baking? Your recipe looks so good and I would love to bake for my son first birthday.
Hi Nune, you set the oven to 180 Celsius or 350 Fahrenheit.
Hi Monique, 180 degree fan force is the correct temperature? Thanks
Hi Lori, yes that’s correct!
Loved the healthy baby cake! I used plain yogurt and pureed blueberries then, topped with whole blueberries. My 1 year old loved the cake for her first birthday! Awesome recipe!
Thank you so much Laurie! It makes me so very happy to think there are other babies enjoying this cake too. I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating!
Hi, providing I have not ‘iced’ or ‘frosted’ this cake, can it be stored at room temperature until I frost it? If so, how long will it keep at room temperature? Or does it need to be refrigerated? Many thanks (:
Hi Philippa, I’m sorry for the delay in replying to you. I would not keep the cake at room temperature for more than 48 hours. If it is a very hot day, no longer than 24 hours.
Hey, could I possibly switch the oat flour for more coconut or almond or would thay play with the consistency?
please give quantities for icing.
Hi Connie, it was around 3/4 cup of each cream cheese and ricotta 🙂
Loved the healthy baby cake! I used plain yogurt and pureed blueberries then, topped with whole blueberries. My 1 year old loved the cake for her first birthday! Awesome recipe!
Hello,
This cake looks fab, is there anyway I can substitute the bananas and if so with what and in what quantity?
Thank you!
Hi there this looks amazing. I was just wondering if you had any tips on how to make this egg free for my little guys first birthday?
Thanks
Hi Caitlin, I’m so sorry but I think I’ve missed your comment from March. If you still need this cake for egg free, you could try using “flax eggs” instead. One flax egg is 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp of water, stir and leave to form a gel (takes around 15 minutes). Flax eggs do give as much of a rise to baked goods however this is a pretty dense cake anyway so I think it’s a reasonable substitution in this case. You could also try flax eggs + 1/2 cup extra apple puree as that can be used to sub for eggs too. 🙂
This is so nice, I like cakes, how can I get a baked one for my birthday?
Hey, could I possibly switch the oat flour for more coconut or almond or would thay play with the consistency?
Hi Laura, I would recommend mainly switching the oat for almond flour if you need to swap it. Coconut flour is so dry it will definitely mess with the consistency of the cake. Alternatively if you need to keep the cake fully oat-free you could try buckwheat or teff flour 🙂