Healthier Smash Cake Recipe

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Out of the many, many choices that went into planning Sloane's first birthday party, something that almost slipped my mind was her 'smash cake'. You've seen these before - adorable photos of babies digging their hands into miniature cakes, covered in frosting and shoveling handfuls of chocolate or vanilla into their mouths. I love the idea (and the potential photo-op) but have done my best to keep Sloane away from an overabundance of sugar. Although I will be serving regular cake for all the guests, I wanted to make a "healthy" little cake for Sloane herself. I would not call myself a baker, but this recipe turned out pretty well and will make me feel a little better about letting her eat as much as she wants! 

There are numerous variations that you can do based on your child's allergies, preferred cake or frosting color, or how much sugar you are okay with. Sloane will pretty much eat anything, so I wasn't too concerned with it being as sweet as I will when she's a picky toddler! 

This recipe made enough for three four-inch baking tins and a light frosting of each cake.

Banana Vanilla Oat Cake

• 2 cups of oat flour
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1.5 tsp of baking powder
• 1 very ripe banana
• 6-8 tbsp of unsalted butter, melted (*Optional - substitute nut butter or applesauce)
• 3 large brown eggs (*Egg substitutes listed below)
• 1.25 tsp of vanilla extract
• *Optional, 1/3 cup of maple syrup for sweetness
• *Optional, can add pureed fruit (strawberry, blueberry, pumpkin, or raspberry)

Greek Yogurt Frosting

• 1 cup of plain, full-fat Greek yogurt
• Sweetening options: 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 tbsp of maple syrup, pureed fruit (will change the color of the icing)

Misc. Items

• Round, four inch baking tins *I love these stainless steel ones I got from Amazon!
• Fruit of choice for garnishing
• Non-stick spray
• Parchment paper to line tins
• Toothpicks to test the cakes

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and line cake tins - trace the parchment paper with the tins and then cut the circles and place them inside the greased pan.
3. I recommend making the frosting first so it can thicken/solidify more in the fridge - so start by adding a cup of Greek yogurt to a bowl. If you want a thicker layer of frosting on the cake itself, you can do 1.5 cups. If you have a mesh strainer, line it with paper towels/cheese cloth and drain the excess moisture to make the yogurt thicker.
4. Add your sweetener of choice - vanilla extract, maple syrup, or fruit puree. Stir and set in the fridge to chill.
5. For the cake, mix together oat flour, salt, and baking powder and whisk.
6. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, (and maple syrup if applicable). Stir until combined completely. 
7. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and stir well (if mixture is too thick, add 1/4 cup of milk or water to the batter).                                                                                                                 
   
   
   
8. Add slices of ripe banana to the batter and mix (if you have non-picky eater like Sloane, you can sneak in some veggies at this stage as well! Chopped spinach, finely shredded carrot, or shredded zucchini would work).
9. Pour the batter into the baking pans, filling about 3/4 of the way.
10. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, checking with a toothpick to confirm baking is complete.
11. Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove and cool completely.
12. For a smoother shape, cut off the rounded tops of the cake with a bread knife once cooled.             
    
    
    
13. Add a layer of yogurt frosting to the flat top of one cake, spreading evenly, then add a second cake. I used two cakes and thought that was plenty big enough, but this makes enough batter for a third layer!
14. Pour frosting on the top of the cake over the edges. For a more "naked" look like I did, just use the excess to spread around with a spatula. For a fully frosted cake, you can use more of the yogurt frosting. 
15. Garnish with fruit of choice. I used blackberries and strawberries.
16. I recommend chilling in the fridge for just a few minutes to "set" the frosting and toppings. But definitely take it out in plenty of time for the party - I found the cake to be on the denser side, so I'm going to make sure it's room temp for her to break it apart easily.

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