Recipe for First Birthday Cake?

hi S.- my son is 20 months and like you am am very concerned about what goes into his diet, however, we did get him a regular choc cake for his first birthday. there will come a point when you have to let go a little with the table foods. i give my son a lot of organic foods and he only eats red meat about once a week. i steam his veggies. which i buy fresh and frozen from organic sections. it is a little more pricey, but to me it is worth knowing that no chemicals were put into the food he is eating. i may sound a bit over board, but i'm not really. he does eat some regular foods too. i think where a child is concerned, everything in moderation. dont know if i've been any help to you. good luck with the first birthday, there is nothing like watching him dig into that first bite of cake.hahaha

We let our birthday boy have regular cake. He didn't eat much of it (he was full from dinner). I made the vanilla cake for him so it wouldn't stain his clothes.

My daughter has been eating whatever we eat since she was about 9 months. We waited on fish and eggs and peanut butter til she turned a year but Peanut butter is definitely one of her favorites now!

I bought a sheet cake from the local grocery store. She loved mashing it but ate MAYBE one fingerful. My pedi encouraged us to give her whatever we were eating so she was exposed to many different things. Unfortunately, that didn't work! She's the most fussy eater I've ever seen! LOL

Good luck!

S., I try hard to feed my 5 kids healthy foods and I shop some from the natural food stores etc.. Angel food cake is good with or with out frosting. I use a powdered sugar recipe and a tad bit of food coloring. There are tofu cake recipies if he has allergies. He wont be eating much of the cake anyway, usually everyone else at the party eats the cake. The child is too busy playing with gifts. My kids played in their cake a little but not to excited about eating it. P.

I know exactly what you are going through!! For my daughter's first birthday we ended up making 2 cakes 1 that was chocolate for the guests and in the shape of a panda. But I didn't think she could have chocolate so I made a second cake for her and others ate it too. It was an apple cake with cream cheese frosting (like the kind on carrot cake). She liked it!

I was the same way with my girls! I really wanted to keep their sugar intake to a minimum, so when their first birthday rolled around I made a carrot cake sweetened with fruit juice and a low-fat cream cheese frosting, also made with fruit juice instead of sugar. I wish I could remember where I got the recipe, but I'm sure you could easily find a substitution chart of some sort on the internet. I also use applesauce instead of oil in baked goods - it provides the moisture of oil without all the fat.

It sounds like your little boy is getting a great start. It's so important to give kids a good connection with food. Now that my girls are four, they can have pretty much anything they want, but whenever they want a snack they ask for fruits or vegetables or yogurt. Of course, they'd love ice cream every day, too, but they know that's only a special treat.

As far as concerns about allergies - by age one, he should be okay to eat most anything. I was a little paranoid about honey for my girls until they were two, but they had peanut butter shortly after they turned one, as well as cow's milk and egg whites. We don't have any family history of food allergies, so we weren't too concerned. Just remember to add new foods one at a time so if he does have a reaction you have an easier time pinpointing the source.

Good luck, and have a fun party!

I found a great recipe in a book called The One Armed Cook. We made it for our son's first birthday and I'm going to make it again for #2 in a few weeks. I changed it up a little and left out the dates and added a banana so it tasted very moist. I made a cream cheese frosting to jazz it up for the pictures. I liked this recipe because it does not contain any egg which we need to avoid related to allergy. He liked it too and it made for great pictures. There is also a recipe in this book for banana cake(does contain egg so I have not made it) but is sounds very delicious and the authors' have made this cake a family tradition.

Congratulations on your little one's first birthday...Yeah!! For my daughter I just did a regular cake from a mix. I didn't worry too much about allergies once she was one...she was even eating peanut butter and eggs shortly after turning one. However, that is what worked for us...there is nothing wrong with being more cautious.

You could maybe find a recipe for a cake that is suitable for kids with allergies (no eggs, milk, etc.) or maybe give him some 100% natural ice cream? Or a bowl of fruit with a little whipped cream and a candle? Good luck!

For our daughter's first birthday, we made her a funfetti cake with the funfetti frosting and let her have some root beer that's brewed locally with no corn syrup. You might see if there's a local brewery by you that makes this. She was way more interested in the root beer than the cake... lol...

As far as table foods, I just let Hazel eat what she's interested in. If she wants a taste of what we're eating, she can have some, unless it's really buttery, greasy or spicy, but mostly she eats what your kiddo's eating - finger foods.

I started giving my son many of the things we ate around 10-11 months. He didn't always like them at first, but I would at least give him a taste. Now he pretty much eats what we eats. I gave him peanut butter and eggs after he turned a year. I think it is good to give them lots of things so they get used to eating different foods. For his birthday I just made chocolate box cakes.

I made a cake from a regular betty crocker cake mix and the frosting was creamcheese frosting. I don't think it is as sugary as regular store bought frosting. I started giving my son table food once he started gettng more teeth.

Hi S.! I swear by the "What to Expect" series...and in the "What to Expect the First Year," this is the recipe they give and recommend using for a first birthday cake:

Makes 1 double-layer 9-inch-square cake

2 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots
2 1/2 cups apple juice concentrate (you will use slightly less than this)
1 1/2 cups raisins
Vegetable cooking spray
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tablespoons low-sodium baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Combine the carrots with 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the juice concentrate in a medium-size saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add the raisins and process until finely chopped. Let mixture cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two 9-inch-suare pans with waxed paper and spray the paper with vegetable cooking spray.

3. Combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups juice concentrate, the oil, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla; beat just until well mixed. Fold in the carrot puree and applesauce. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.

4. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool briefly in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. When cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
(Frosts one two-layer cake)

1/2 cup apple juice concentrate
1 lb light cream cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped raisins
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

1. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the juice concentrate.

2. Process the remaining juice concentrate, the cream cheese, vanilla, and raisins in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

3. Stir the gelatin into the 2 tablespoons juice concentrate in a small saucepan; let stand 1 minute to soften. Heat to boiling and stir to dissolve gelatin.

4. Beat the gelatin mixture into the cream cheese mixture until well blended. Refrigerate just until the frosting begins to set, about 30 to 60 minutes. Frost the cake.

"What to Expect the Toddler Years" would be the book you would need for you baby's age...check it out. I love the series...they answer almost any parenting question I can think of. The index is well-developed, and it's very easy to find information on a topic. There is an entire section on what to feed your baby to be healthy, without limiting him to one-ingredient foods. From one teacher to another, I hope you like it as much as I do!! Good luck!

There is no reason your son has to eat cake on his first birthday, or any of the food you make for the party. For my son`s first birthday party I made a icebox cake with chocolate wafer cookies, strawberries, and chantilly creme. The I put a million candles in it as my little guy loves lights. SO he didn`t eat any (he is allergic to milk protein) and I just fed him whatever I usually feed him for dinner. He didn`t know he wasn`t eating party food, and he sure didn`t miss the cake. My pediatrician was even glad! People freak out way to much about the first birthday, so just make things like you would if company was coming over and your son will have a jolly time regardless of what food or cake you serve. Mine`s absolute favorite part was playing with the paper his presents were wrapped in and playing with his grandparents. Hope this helps! Have fun!!