Healthier Smash Cake

We just celebrated our daughter’s first birthday (hooray!), and after a year of trying our darndest not to give her processed sugar, I wanted to make a fun birthday cake that would be delicious but also not bombard her tiny little body with the ingredients we’d spent the last year trying to avoid. I mean, seeing her go all Jack-Jack level crazy hyper would’ve been fun for like, two seconds, but the inevitable crash would not be enjoyable. So I searched and searched for a recipe that would be enjoyable for her and for grown-ups.

I originally wanted to title this post “Healthy Smash Cake,” but let’s be honest, anytime the word “cake” appears in a sentence you can’t make that claim unless it’s super modified, in which case you might as well call it a muffin. And even those aren’t great for you, hence the title “Healthier Smash Cake.”

What makes the title meet that criteria you ask? The cake itself does not contain any processed sugar but uses naturally sweet ingredients like dates, bananas, and even homemade (sugar-free) applesauce. The crossroads is when it comes to the icing… You could totally make a cool-whip typed “frosting” or even a cream cheese frosting without confectioners sugar. The cake pictured does have confectioners sugar in it because I was trying to stretch the recipe to do the rosette piping.

The good news is the cake turned out beautifully, both in flavor and in presentation. Nora, however, did not even attempt to smash it. She touched it a couple times but we ended up cutting a small piece and let her eat it that way. This meant that those who attended her birthday party could enjoy the cake, too. And it was a hit! Paul Hollywood would be proud… actually that’s a lie. He would say, “It’s quite dense. Your flavors are good but the texture is all wrong.” Thankfully Paul wasn’t at Nora’s birthday party and the I even had a request to make this for one of my friends when her daughter turns one in August.

Are you daring enough to try a cake with non-traditional ingredients? Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Healthier Smash Cake

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Leave your guilt behind! This cake is sweet, tasty and won't break your calorie count for the day.

• CourseDessert

Servings	Prep Time
8 slices	30 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
45-50 minutes	30-45 minutes

Servings Prep Time 8 slices 30 minutes

Cook Time Passive Time 45-50 minutes 30-45 minutes

Healthier Smash Cake Print Recipe Leave your guilt behind! This cake is sweet, tasty and won't break your calorie count for the day. CourseDessert Servings Prep Time 8 slices 30 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 45-50 minutes 30-45 minutes Servings Prep Time 8 slices 30 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 45-50 minutes 30-45 minutes

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