Healthy Smash Cake {Sugar Free for Baby’s 1st Birthday}
This healthy smash cake is fruit-sweetened (ie SUGAR FREE) and makes a perfect healthy first birthday cake for your 1-year-old. Perfect for any baby, even those with food allergies, your baby will love this egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly cake. Your little one will love this banana – applesauce smash cake!
This recipe was originally published on January 26, 2019 and updated on April 12, 2021, after I made it for my daughter as well. The recipe is original to post and did not change. Be sure to check out the video below so you can see how easy it is to make!
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Healthy First Birthday Cake… it IS possible!
It’s baby’s first birthday…time for cake! Fortunately, a fun first birthday party for your baby does not have to include loads of sugar (and yes, I’m talking that adorable smash cake, too.) A healthier alternative can be done. In this case, you can have your cake and eat it too.
This healthy smash cake was a HIT with both of my babies! Sweetened with bananas and applesauce it is full of flavor even though contains no added sugar.
What is a smash cake?
A smash cake is a cute frosted cake that a 1-year-old smashes all over their face/clothes/highchair on their first birthday. It’s a fun tradition and parents and guests of the baby love to watch their little one enjoy cake for the first time!
Can my baby have cake on their first birthday?
Every parent/family needs to make the decision for their own family on when to serve sugar and desserts to their child. However, it’s important to realize that holding off on sugar or traditional desserts, does not mean you need to hold off on cake altogether.
This banana smash cake makes a perfect sugar-free first birthday cake.
When Can Babies Have Sugar?
Organizations and professionals including the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and American Heart Association recommend babies don’t receive any added sugars for the first 2 years of life. Be sure to check out my post all about sugar for babies if you have more questions about the official recommendations and reasons to wait.
While I believe in moderation and balance in general, I also know the recommendations are made to ensure proper regulation of the baby’s taste. They are also meant to ensure nutrient-dense foods are primarily served the first 2 years of life, a time when nutrients are so incredibly important!
Why a Banana Smash Cake?
We hold off on sugar, including maple syrup, honey, or other sugar alternatives until our kids are 2 years old. (Well, with the exception of small amounts here and there worked into family meals and travel occasionally.) Any dessert we serve needs to be sweetened with fruit like bananas, apples/applesauce, or dates.
I personally chose to make a healthy first birthday cake free of any sweeteners (except fruit itself) as I knew my kids wouldn’t know the difference anyway! I first designed this healthy smash cake reicpe for my son who LOOOOVES bananas and applesauce so this cake was a perfect fit for him. And now 2 years later, my daughter thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
My philosophy is one of balance. And for me, this cake fits with my balance mentality for a 1 year old. If they don’t even know real, sugar-filled cake exists…why give it to them?!
How to Make a Healthy Baby Smash Cake Without Sugar (or sweetener)
There are tons of different ways you could go about making a healthy baby cake at home. And honestly, most muffin or bread (like banana bread) recipes could easily be converted into an easy smash cake for your little one. So if you have a family favorite recipe you love and feel good about, try turning it into your baby’s birthday cake!
This cake isn’t super fluffy. It’s more the texture of banana bread since it is made with oat flour and sweetened with bananas and applesauce. If a super fluffy bakery-style cake is important to you, then you should probably go for a more traditional (but less healthy) recipe. However, I PROMISE you, my kids didn’t care and yours won’t either.
Ingredients in this Easy Smash Cake:
- Bananas
- Applesauce
- Coconut Oil
- Oats
- Vanilla
- Baking Soda
- Cinnamon
- Coconut Cream
- Optional: Freeze Dried Fruit (I used strawberries in my daughter’s coconut cream frosting to give it some pink and sweetness); Maple Syrup (I added just 1 TBSP in my son’s coconut cream frosting. This is totally optional.)
Seriously, with an ingredient list like that, it’s practically as healthy as a bowl of oatmeal!
A 1st Birthday Cake without SUGAR
Most healthier birthday cake alternatives included a sweetener. I found recipes that were naturally sweetened were few and far between. Most at least called for maple syrup or honey.
Leaving sugar/sweeteners out is EASY! Simply use FRUIT. We chose bananas and applesauce, but dates like in my no sugar pumpkin muffins could also make a good option.
Making it a Vegan Smash Cake
I loved this recipe and used it as a starting point/inspiration, but did make a few tweaks including subbing the whole wheat flour for oat flour. Oat flour is wetter than whole wheat flour so it does change the consistency, but it makes for a nice moist baked good. I’m grateful that Rowan doesn’t have any food intolerances, but since this recipe is vegan that makes it dairy free and egg free, if that’s important to your family.
How to Make & Decorate an EASY 4 inch Smash Cake
Honestly, I’m no cake decorator and was not interested in making the cake look fancy, anyway. So here is my basic method for decorating a cute and SIMPLE smash cake.
Use Small Cake Pans
I used a 4-inch cake pan that I picked up at TJ Maxx similar to this one. You could also use something like these Wilton mini tart pans. Honestly, I thought 4 inches was a perfect size.
How many layers for a smash cake?
I did 2 layers for my smash cake, but you could do 3 if you wanted a taller cake.
Smash Cake Topping Ideas
- Schleich Animals – They have a variety of very realistic-looking animals that are perfect for woodland or farm birthday cakes. I used the bear for my son’s cake.
- Flowers – I simply topped my daughter’s cake with a couple floral flowers
- Fruit – Top it with some blueberries or strawberries for a yummy and beautiful way to add color.
Healthy Frosting for a First Birthday Cake
I topped both of my kids with a “coconut cream frosting“. It spreads on the cake easily and gives the baby the experience of messy fingers without loads of sugar. My kids LOVED it.
How to Naturally Color the Frosting
For my son, I left the coconut cream white, but for my daughter, I used freeze-dried strawberries to color it pink as well as lightly flavor it. (My inspiration for this was from my most favorite strawberry cake on Sally’s Baking Addiction.)
How to Color Your Smash Cake Naturally with Freeze Dried Fruit: I purchased my freeze-dried strawberries at Aldi, but you can find them at almost any grocery. Simply blend them in your food processor until they are a fine powder and then mix them into the coconut cream until you have the desired pinkness.
Other Sugar-Free Recipes Your Baby Will Love:
I hope your 1-year-old loves this smash cake as much as mine did! If you make it please be sure to tag me over on Instagram so I can see your baby and their cake.
My Favorite One Year Old Birthday Gifts
AND, if you are looking for a PERFECT FIRST BIRTHDAY GIFT, I highly recommend a learning tower. This SDADI learning tower is the one we have and love or check out my post about finding the best learning tower for your family.
Or here are my FAVORITE practical 1-year-old gift ideas and my favorite books for 1 year olds!
Healthy Smash Cake {No added sugar}
Ingredients
For Smash Cake
- 4 Bananas extra ripe
- 1/2 cup Applesauce (no sugar added)
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil melted
- 3 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups Oat Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
Coconut Cream Frosting
- 1 can coconut cream
- freeze dried fruit optional
Instructions
For Smash Cake
- Mash the bananas and mix in the applesauce. Melt coconut oil and add this and vanilla to the banana mixture.
- In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (oat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.)
- Mix banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until blended.
- Coat mini cake pan with coconut oil and pour batter in 1/2 to 3/4 full.
- Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow cakes to cool and stack using icing. Top with coconut cream icing.
Coconut Cream Frosting
- Place a mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.
- Place canned coconut cream in fridge to chill overnight or place in freezer for a couple hours.
- Remove canned coconut cream and chilled bowl from freezer/fridge.
- Carefully open the canned coconut cream. The cream will be at the top of the can. Skim it off with a spoon leaving the watery coconut milk in the bottom of the can. Place the cream in the chilled bowl.
- Beat until soft peaks form, but don't allow the cream to get warm.
- Optional: If you want to sweeten or color the coconut cream naturally, add freeze-dried strawberry powder to cream and beat with a hand mixer. Alternatively, you can add 1 Tbsp maple syrup to sweeten minimally and maintain a white color.
- Keep the coconut cream frosting cool until you are ready to put it on the cake.
Notes
- If you are using freeze dried fruit, blend in food processor to make a powder before mixing to coconut cream. Mix enough to reach your desired color.
Serving Size: 1/8 of cake (not including frosting or toppings); 180 calories, 30 g carbs, 5 g fat, 3.6 g protein
Nutrition
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Ahhh! My baby girl turned 1 just a few weeks ago. I made sugar free cookies but a cake would have been so much better!
Hmm.. maybe we need to celebrate 13 months! 😀
I’m going to make this next week and can’t wait! Question, does the recipe make enough for both layers or do i need to double it for 2 layers? I want to make sure i have enough ripe bananas 🙂
Hi Danielle – Yes, it made more than enough for the 2 layers if you are using a 4 in cake pan like I did! Hope your little one loves it!
Thank you!! Can’t wait to make this next week!
Will this recipe fill three 4 inch cake pans?
Thanks so much.
Jessica
Hi Jessica! Yes, it should. I filled two 4 inch pans and had some leftover which I made into a few muffins to save for my little one. So I would think you’d have plenty for filling three pans. 🙂
Do you ever add the liquid from the coconut cream or just use the cream that you skim off?
Hi Jessica – You never use the liquid, only the cream. Only getting the cream is what makes the “frosting” thicker. You can save the liquid which is basically coconut milk and throw it in a smoothie or mix it in some oats, etc. 🙂
I have spent several hours trying to find the perfect gluten free, no sugar added, dairy free smash cake for my granddaughter. Finally found this one and it sounds perfect! I will be baking it this week!
Happy Birthday to your granddaughter! 🙂
Thank you!! Can this cake be made in advance a few days??
I baked my cake the day of the party so not sure how long it would keep. The “frosting” (AKA coconut cream) should be done right beforehand for sure. I actually baked the cake the day of my little one’s party so I don’t have experience with how long it will keep. I would love to know if you ended up making it early how it did!
I just made this last night for my son’s birthday, today, and it smells delicious! But it didn’t really rise. I just tested my baking soda to see if it is still good, and it is, so I’m baffled.
Sorry it didn’t rise for you! Did you use a small, 4 in cake pan? Using a larger pan could’ve changed that. It was a moist cake so it won’t rise a ton, but it certainly should’ve some!
Hi thanks so much for this recipe I love how healthy and delicious it sounds!
I made this last night for my sons birthday dinner.
I followed the instructions but it did take a while to cook .. About 40 min + The consistency is much more tough and chewy a bit gooey still.. I can’t figure out why this is? Should I have heated it even longer still?
I am not sure what I did wrong
So sorry you had that problem! Without being there, I’m not sure what happened. It could have had to do with the size of the pan you use or how full you filled it? It is a very moist cake on the inside due to the nature of the ingredient list (Oat flour is very moist, plus all of the bananas/apple sauce for sweetener.)
Do you think that avocado oil could be substituted for the coconut oil? My little guy turns one and the party is this weekend. I would love to make this! Thanks!
Hi Bethany, I don’t have a lot of experience using avocado oil so I’m not sure. Please let me know if you try it how it turns out! Happy to birthday to your little guy!
When you made into muffins, how long did you bake?
Unfortunately this recipe didn’t quite work out for me. I couldn’t find any 4 inch pans so we decided to just use 8 inch ones and double the recipe, knowing we would cut them down to 4-inch cakes after they were baked. Even with doubling the recipe, it barely filled out the cake pans so the result was what looked like large sausage patties because they were so thin. I wound up baking a thick white cake to put under these cake layers. Then the frosting was nowhere near enough to cover even the 4-inch layers AND put some between each one. So, I wound up making buttercream to layer and then using the coconut cream frosting for the outside. I’m not sure where I went wrong because doing the math, as long as I doubled everything it should have baked the same in 8-inch pans. I will say it tastes good and I’m glad to have excess from the cake to give to my daughter for breakfast for the next week!
Hi Nicole, I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out for you! The problem is the math is trickier than it seems at first glance! An 8 in cake pan is actually much larger than double a 4 in cake pan. An 8 in cake pan would be more than 4 times the size of a 4 in which is why you didn’t have nearly enough batter even after doubling the recipe.
When converting sizes on round cake pans, we would use the equation pi*radius*radius to calculate square inches. Round pans are measured by diameter.
So, for the 8 in round pan the radius is 4 and the equation would be 3.14*4*4 = ~50 sq in. The 4 in round pan has a radius of 2 making the equation 3.14*2*2 = ~12 sq in. 50/12 = 4.16. So I believe, (and geometry has been a few years) it would be 4.16 times larger.
It looks like this post that may be helpful for future reference: https://food52.com/blog/13239-how-to-make-your-baking-recipe-fit-your-pan-size. Let me know if you have any more questions!
I have a 10” pan, would it be correct to use 5 times the quantities? According to the chart in the link. So 20 bananas? Seem odd to me but I’m completely clueless. Thanks in advance! I’m going crazy trying to find a recipe for my baby boy’s first birthday cake…
Hi Leila, I would recommend just buying a 4 in pan, honestly. Though you could convert the volume to use a 10 in pan it won’t cook in the center in the same way since the pan will be so much larger. The cake is already very moist due to the wet ingredients (bananas/applesauce) needed to sweeten it. If it were cooked in a larger pan even at the correct volume, I’m not sure if it would end up done in the center since the size difference is just so much. The recipe was specifically designed to be a small smash cake and I can’t guarantee how it will turn out otherwise. Here is the pan I bought (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/2p6rESI (I actually found mine at TJ Maxx). If you are trying to avoid buying a special pan, do you have small 4 in tart pans or anything else smaller you could try? I’ve only cooked the recipe in a 4in pan and the leftovers in muffin tins so I’m just not sure how it would turn out if cooked in a larger pan.
Hi! Thanks for your quick answer! I got one of 8”, I didn’t want to buy new ones but will try to borrow one. What do you think about the 8” ones?
I’ve never tried it with a larger pan so I’m not really sure how it will do!
I made this for my sister-in-law who is a breast cancer survivor. She is always looking for swwets that won’t hurt her or encourage cancer again. She loved it! I doubled it so we all loved it.
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m so glad she loved it. I absolutely love that you baked her a cake that fit her preferences, needs, and health goals! <3
Can I use peanut butter frosting instead of the coconut frosting?
Peanutbutter frosting sounds delicious to me! 🙂 I would think whatever frosting you choose will work on the cake as it has a fairly neutral flavor!
If making these into muffins, how long should I bake them for?
My son loved this cake. You wouldn’t know that it had no sugar by the look on his face!
I’m so glad he loved it!