"Baby Cake"

For Breck's First Birthday, I wanted to find a recipe for a cake that had nutritious ingredients, no refined sugar, and that tasted great.  I scoured the internet for a recipe that I might fit and finally landed on this one (which that blogger adapted from this recipe).  I modified it slightly to make it gluten free!

I have made this recipe (sans frosting) 6 times since Breck's birthday because he loves it and WE love it!  It's a snack I feel good about serving to him, and I feel good about eating myself.  The birthday cake version inludes the cake recipe, frosting, and halved blueberries for the "one" on top.  But when I'm making it for every day eating, I just make the cake, minus the frosting!  Sometimes I add blueberries to the batter itself, which is also delicious.  The way Breck likes it most is straight from the freezer.  I cut the cake into small slivers and freeze it so that I can grab a chunk that he can hold and suck on and then eat.  It's great for teething babies who need something cold to soothe their mouths!  If you don't want to freeze it, it's also great refrigerated for up to a week.

I have only ever made this recipe using 2- 9 inch round cake pans, but I am sure you could adapt it to a 13x9 pan (and add some cooking time), or 2- 8 inch square pans.

I apologize for not having any pictures!  I have pictures of Breck with the cake that you can check out if you're friends with me on facebook, but I forgot to take any of just the cake itself!

Without further ado...

Baby's First Cake (barely adapted from FitMamaRealFood)

Cake:
5 ripe bananas
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce- sit out for a bit so it's not cold!
3 T coconut oil, melted
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 c gluten free flour (I have used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour and Namaste Foods flour with success)
3/4 c oat flour
1 tsp cinnamon

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese (I used full fat)
1/2 c apple butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 T maple syrup (optional- I liked it because it made the frosting a little less tangy)

Decorations:
halved blueberries to make the "one" on top if you're making a first birthday cake

Directions:
Grease 2-9 inch round cake pans with coconut oil, then cut out parchment paper circles to fit the bottom of the pans and put the parchment in.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix bananas, applesauce, and melted coconut oil, and vanilla with hand blender til smooth (a few banana chunks are ok).  Add baking soda, gluten free flour, oat flour, and cinnamon and blend again til smooth.  Pour batter into pans, splitting it evenly between the pans the best you can!  At this point you can add fruit to the batter if you'd like!  (I have been adding frozen blueberries- just note that this will add some baking time).  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cake is no longer jiggly in the middle.

If you are NOT making a layer cake and do NOT want frosting, just let the cake cool and then cut into pieces.  If you are going to store it in the fridge, cut pieces as big as you want.  If you are freezing it, cut it into slivers of whatever size your baby can handle!

If you are making the layer cake and/or frosting your cake, continue reading!  To make the frosting, make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature.  With a hand mixer, blend it with the apple butter, vanilla, and maple syrup.  Mine was a little chunky but tasted delicious and Breck did not care one bit!  Supposedly using room temperature cream cheese helps with this problem but it didn't for me this time.

Let the cakes cool in the pans.  If you are making a layer cake, use a bowl of whatever size you'd like as a "cookie cutter" to cut out 3 circles for the layers.  Place the first layer on a flat surface lined with a piece of parchment paper that is bigger than the cake itself (this allows for easy transfer once you want to serve it to your baby).  You will have pieces leftover after cutting the circles- just break up the rest of the cake and refrigerate or freeze the scraps!  I ended up using letter cookie cutters to cut out the first initial of Breck's baby friends' names so that they could enjoy their own cake at the party!  Then I froze the remaining pieces.

Frost the first layer, place the second layer on top, frost that, place the third layer on top, and frost the whole thing, including the sides.  Decorate with halved blueberries in the shape of a "1."



I hope your little one enjoys it as much as mine did!

*This post is dedicated to my friend Megan, who let me bake the cake for Breck's party (along with a variety of other baked goods) in her oven because mine stopped working 2 days before his party!  Her son and Breck taste tested the cake fresh from the oven and both of them gobbled it up!

Apple Butter Oat Bake

I think this might be the beginning of the more regular posts from me!  I am finding that I have so many new recipes that I want to share with the world, and I finally decided to just make some time to write a post today!  If anyone reading this has any recipes they're looking for, PLEASE let me know because I have a quite a backlog of recipes that I could post!  

Today's recipe is one that I made last week and plan to make again today because it was REALLY GOOD!  We go through phases of being very into oat bakes around here, and right now we are "into" them.  Such a delicious, quick snack or breakfast!  This latest rendition is really hitting the spot right now.  It's very firm- you could cut it into thick, soft bars if you wanted.  I like it cold, chopped/mashed up with almond milk poured over top.  Rem likes it heated up then topped with yogurt!  Either way, if you love oats and are looked for a way to change things up, TRY THIS!  

Apple Butter Oat Bake

1 cup apple butter, no sugar added (You can find this at many Farmer's Markets/Farm stores this time of year- we got ours at Lynd's Farm Market in Pataskala.  You could also make your own- I want to try this recipe soon!)
1 c whole, grass grazed milk (any type of milk would probably work)
2 eggs
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large apple, diced
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/4 tsp cardamom (optional)
1-2 T coconut sugar (could also use brown sugar)
1/4 c chopped pecans (or walnuts or sliced almonds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 8x11 in pan with coconut oil. (*an 8x8 or 13x9 pan would also work- just keep an eye on it and bake longer in the smaller pan, shorter in the larger pan).  Whisk together apple butter, milk, and eggs.  Stir in oats, baking powder, salt, apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardmom.  Pour into greased pan, then sprinkle coconut sugar and pecans on top.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until it no longer jiggles.  Let cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to a week (if it lasts that long).  

Peach Cobbler (no gluten, no sugar)

I'm slightly obsessed with small bowls and spoons.  I love eating out of them and with them, and I especially love baking in these "cocottes"!  They're tiny crocks that hold about 1 1/2 cups.  I haven't made anything in them for a while now, but last night I seized the opportunity to make some mini desserts!  Our produce share from our CSA this week included fresh, ripe, organic peaches!  So yummy!  Well it's hard to eat that many fresh peaches before they go bad, so I asked Rem what kind of "baked good" sounded good with peaches.  Peach cobbler was his answer!  Fast forward to 1 1/2 hours later, and the house was filled with the wonderful smell of fresh peaches baking.  

I made this recipe in 4 small crocks, but you could also use ramekins.  Or, you could double the recipe and bake it in a 8x8 baking dish or a pie dish.  You could also use another type of fruit, such as apples, pears, or berries.  This recipe is already gluten and sugar-free, but you could also make it dairy-free by using coconut oil and coconut milk instead of grass fed butter and milk.  I hope you enjoy this comforting cobbler as much as we did!

Peach Cobbler

Adapted from Paleo Comfort Foods

6 ripe, organic peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces
1/4 c coconut flour
90 g pecans, finely chopped (if you don't have a food scale, measure out about 1 cup of whole pecans, then finely chop them)
1 tsp baking powder
1 T cinnamon
1/4 c melted, grass fed butter (you could also use coconut oil- I actually used about 1/8 cup butter and 1/8 c coconut oil because I didn't have enough butter)
1/4 c whole, grass fed milk OR 1/4 c coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. First, melt your butter or coconut oil.  Use a bit of it to grease 4 mini crocks or ramekins (dishes that hold about 1 1/2 cups).  Let it cool a bit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  
2. Peel and dice your peaches, then divide them evenly into the crocks.  
3. Chop pecans.
4. Combine pecans, coconut flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl.  
5. Pour melted butter into dry mixture, then add the milk and vanilla.  Stir the entire mixture together.  It seems thin at first but thickens up quickly!  You will end up with a thick mixture that you can scoop onto the peaches.
6.  Divide the topping evenly among the crocks, spreading it smooth on top of the peaches.
7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. 
8.  Eat warm!  Save any leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.  

Chocolate Paleo Snack Cake

Sorry I’ve gotten behind on my blog posts!  I got a new job and have been extremely busy over the past few weeks.  But I finally had some time this weekend to bake and to post!

When I started baking gluten-free, refined sugar-free recipes, I was eager to find “decadent” dessert recipes that were full of healthy ingredients.  This cake is that dessert.  I like to make it when I’m craving dessert.  I’ve made it many, many times but kept forgetting to take a picture.  I can’t believe it has taken me so long to post it!  

While I would certainly advise against sitting down and eating the whole cake in one sitting, eating a small piece as a snack fits perfectly into a healthy diet!  My favorite way to eat it is with a little bit of plain Greek yogurt.  It stays good in the fridge for up to 4 days.  I usually store most of the cake in the freezer, so I just microwave it and dollop some yogurt on top. 

The sweetness in this cake comes from a combination of unsweetened applesauce and dates, and the tender crumb comes from coconut flour.  The raspberries are a yummy, tart addition.  I hope you like it! 

Chocolate Paleo Snack Cake (gluten free, dairy free, paleo)

Adapted from paleospirit.com

10 dates

1 c unsweetened applesauce

3 eggs

½ c coconut oil

2 tsp vanilla

½ c coconut flour

½ c cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ c strong brewed coffee (I heated ½ c of water in the microwave and poured in 1 packet of instant coffee)

½ c frozen raspberries

Make coffee and let cool.  Microwave a cup of water on the “beverage” setting.  Drop dates into the hot water for about 30 seconds and then drain the water (the dates should be soft).  Combine dates and applesauce in food processor (I use the magic bullet for this!) and pulse until pureed.  Put fruit puree in a bowl and add eggs and vanilla.  Mix on low-medium speed (with an electric mixer) until well combined.  Then add coconut oil and coffee and mix again on low speed.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly add to the wet ingredients while mixing on low speed.  Scrape down the sides of bowl if necessary and keep mixing until batter is smooth.  Fold in raspberries.  Grease 8x8 pan w/ oil (or use parchment paper) then pour in batter, smoothing the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.  (I’ve underbaked this a few times, and it tastes amazing that way, so if you want to err on the side of underbaked, I say go for it!)  Wait until the cake cools completely to cut it.  Cut into 9 or 16 pieces.  It is very delicate, so don't worry if it breaks apart a little as you cut it.  

Banana Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are a product of my quest to find a delicious, gluten free, sugar free, easy, inexpensive muffin.  I found this recipe on The Paleo Gourmet (a great site!) and it was exactly what I was looking for!  I use almond meal and olive oil instead of almond flour and butter (I prefer olive oil to butter and was able to find almond meal cheaper than almond flour).  Since finding the recipe 3 months ago, I have baked these babies 4 times!  Rem says these are now his favorite thing I bake! 

One thing I’ve learned about baking these muffins is to USE MUFFINS LINERS.  If you don’t, you will spend an hour picking muffin bits off the pan and soaking it multiple times to try to clean it.  Muffins liners = easy clean up!  Also, I recommend using Trader Joe’s “Just Almond Meal” because it is the least expensive brand I’ve found.  You can find it in the aisle with the nuts, and it’s only $3.99 for a 16 oz. bag.  So that I can make these muffins whenever I feel like it, I always keep ripe bananas in the freezer.  Most grocery stores occasionally have discounted bags of ripe bananas, so I grab those whenever I see them. Keeping the peel ON the bananas, put them in a Ziploc freezer bag, and freeze until ready to use.   About an hour before baking, take the bananas out of the bag and defrost them at room temperature.  Then, when you’re ready to bake, just squeeze the bananas out of their peels and into your mixing bowl.  You can always use regular, unfrozen ripe bananas for this recipe instead.  Just don’t use bananas that have ANY green on them.  The riper (ie. the more brown spots they have) the bananas, the sweeter your muffins will be!

Another note on bananas: if you have ripe bananas on your counter, or buy ripe bananas at the store, and don’t want to freeze them for baking but don’t want to throw them away, freeze them in a Ziploc freezer bag with the peel OFF.  Then you can make smoothies OR this yummy banana soft serve.  Ok, that’s enough about bananas...

These muffins have a different texture than ones made with regular flour- they are springy and moist, not dense.  They are just sweet enough from the ripe bananas, which give them a nice banana bread-like flavor.  You just have to try them to find out how good they are!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Originally from The Paleo Gourmet 

3 c almond meal

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp baking soda

2 T olive oil

4 eggs

5-6 mashed, very ripe bananas (5 large or 6 small)

1 c frozen blueberries, thawed and drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place 18 muffin liners into muffin tins.  In a large bowl, combine almond meal, salt, and baking soda.  In small bowl, whisk eggs and olive oil.  Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.   Add mashed bananas and mix to incorporate.  Stir in blueberries.  Spoon into muffin cups.  (I like to use a ¼ cup cookie/ice cream scoop).  Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and spring back to the touch.  Cool completely in the pan.  Once cool, remove to container and store in the fridge.  They can also be frozen and then thawed in the fridge to eat.  Makes 18 muffins.

Macronutrient Breakdown

Full Recipe: 3360 calories, 241 g carbohydrates, 92 g protein, 230 g fat

Per muffin (18 muffins): 187 calories, 13 g carbohydrates, 5 g protein, 13 g fat