Berry First Birthday Cake (low- or no-addded-sugar!)
Looking for a low- to no-sugar-added Berry First Birthday cake recipe? Here's a fruit-sweetened cake recipe frosted with whipped cream!
Servings: 1 6-inch smash cake
Calories: 2153kcal
Equipment
- Strawberry Cake topper (optional; linked is the one I used in in the pictures/video)
- metal cake ring (optional; I found this the easiest way to smooth the whipped cream)
- Silicone Strawberry molds (optional - I used these since I couldn't find good fresh strawberries to decorate with)
Ingredients
Cake ingredients
- 2 cups flour (I used all-purpose; didn't find cake flour made any difference)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas; I recommend overripe bananas)
- ½ cup crushed freeze-dried strawberries
- ⅓ cup oil
- ½ cup applesauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream frosting + Decorations
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon sugar (optional)
- 1-2 drops pink food color (optional)
- 8-10 small fresh strawberries (to decorate - apparently strawberry flowers are also edible if you want to use those too!)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 6-inch pans with baker's floured cooking spray or grease and line with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl and stir until well mixed. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mash bananas and stir in remaining ingredients (strawberries, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla).
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients; stir until combined. Transfer batter to prepared pans (I had about 11 ounces/300g per pan).
- Bake 18-22 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
- Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.Once cooled, the cake layers can be leveled by trimming down any 'domed' spots on the tops of the cake layers until they're flat.
Whipped cream frosting
- Pour heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). Add sugar and food coloring if using. Beat until stiff peaks form. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat about 30 seconds more.
Assembly + Decorating
- Place a smear of whipped cream on a plate or cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center of the circle. Spread the layer with whipped cream, and add the next layer on top. Repeat with your remaining layers.
- To get smooth whipped cream, I use a sheet of acetate and a cake ring - the video gives a quick overview of the process, and this post gives more details. Otherwise (if you'd rather not bother with all that) - an offset spatula will suffice to smooth whipped cream over the sides and top of the cake. :)
- Decorate with halved fresh strawberries and flowers if desired - and add the topper! (In the video, you'll see I used buttercream strawberries and marshmallow flowers - I was too late in the season to find fresh berries/flowers. Backup option if you're baking in the late fall like I was!)
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate. Counts will also vary if not all the whipped cream is used to frost/decorate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1smash cake | Calories: 2153kcal | Carbohydrates: 259g | Protein: 41.8g | Fat: 111g