Cake for first birthday party.

[Kasey12]

Looking for some ideas as I'm going to attempt to bake one from scratch ( Sainsbury's in walking distance as a plan B! ) what kind of cake did you have? I'm deciding between a classic Victoria sponge, or try to find a recipe for something healthier with fruit, low sugar, wholemeal flour etc. we are just having family round, so no big party or anything.

Anyone have any suggestions or recipes?

I did plain vanilla with coconut frosting, because it looked sweet and classic and babyish. One candle with a star shape on top. This was once I'd realised some sort of epic creation would make me seem lie an overwrought PFB obsessive which I am not,no really

Victoria sponge with a butterfly out of smarties here. Not healthy but nice. And a massive sense of achievement for having made it.

Ha! I suppose I am a bit too, although chuck clueless into the mix too and you get a better picture. Your cake idea sounds wonderful. I should probably keep it simple as it's very likely to mostly end up everywhere else apart from in the mouth!

Planning on a Madeira cake / Victoria sponge type affair, jam and buttercream, topped off with The Very Hungry Caterpillar in coloured icing. Hadn't thought about low sugar etc. Wasn't really expecting DS to eat very much of it.

Victoria sponge is always good Plus it is a party so I wouldn't worry about having to be very strictly healthy with the food.

I know, I hadn't thought about the sugar thing until I started buying weaning books that tend to drum it into you a bit. But one slice ( or bits of a slice, as most will get chucked about ) of cake isn't going to hurt, and it means we (I ) get to eat the rest, so for that reason alone, I'm veering towards a nice sponge cake :)

Wow hungry caterpillar in icing sounds amazing! I'll be happy if my cake even rises!

Sponge cake it is then. Thanks for all your suggestions and ideas :)

I would go with something like a madeira, moist but dense and then you can decorate it easily. I might be mistaken but a Victoria Sponge from scratch can actually be quite tricky to get perfect, you need a throw it together and it never fails recipe!! If you have a look online for the Australian Womens Weekly Cake Books they have step by step instructions for decorating AMAZING cakes, love love love them!!

This recipe is lemony and super moist...

Large Birthday Cake recipe

2 1/4 C flour
1 3/4 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
250 g melted butter
1 C (250 g) sour cream (use full fat not lite)
4 eggs
1 tblsp vanilla essence
2 tblsp lemon zest

Place flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl. In separate bowl mix sour cream, eggs, butter zest and vanilla. Add butter mix to flour and beat on low speed until combined, increase to mid speed for 30 s. Spoon batter into greased tin and tap tin to release air. Bake according to size (large rectangular pan or round tin 30-40 min - just check as you go) GM 5 or 180 degrees.

Note: I add lemon juice to this too - just enough that it tastes nice when you lick the batter

And this is an incredible chocolate cake recipe...

CHOCOLATE MOIST CAKE

2 c. flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. cocoa
1 c. oil
1 c. hot coffee
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients except black hot coffee. Mix. Add hot coffee. Batter will be thin. Pour into 9x13 pan. Bake at approx. 160degrees / gm 4??? until skew comes out clean

Hope some of that helps :)

If you're not used to baking, then I would start with a Victoria sponge. Healthier things can be a struggle to get to rise. That said, I love the Hummingbird Bakery's Hummingbird cake and carrot cake recipes - both have a bit of something healthier in them. Both use the same icing recipe. I would say that the icing (cream cheese frosting) at least would be quite hard to make without an electric mixer. A few people have described the hummingbird cake as the best cake they have ever tasted. I sometimes make the cakes and freeze them so that I only have to defrost the cakes and do the icing.

Recipes here:

themorethanoccasionalbaker.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/hummingbird-cake.html
www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/carrot-cake/2854

The only cake that my DD will eat is apple cake. It is really easy to make and doesn't need a mixer. Since it has apple in it, it is a tiny bit healthier than cake without apple in it.

Recipe: www.mumsnet.com/food/recipe/2705-Spiced-Apple-Cake

If you like chocolate cake, my DH has had recent success with the cake from this recipe:

www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-fudge-cake-168

With a ganache icing made by heating 300ml of double cream in a saucepan until nearly boiling, then take the cream off the heat and stir in 300g of dark chocolate and stir until completely evenly mixed. Then leave to cool until a spreading consistency (it takes quite a while to cool and it can help to put it in the fridge). This cake is much nicer the day after it is baked and not straight from the fridge.

DH is on a mission to make a really good chocolate fudge cake - which I am rather enjoying.

For DS's first birthday I made a banana sponge and just reduced the sugar by about a third, used wholemeal flour and served with fresh whipped cream and more bananas and strawberries and everyone liked it.

I made carrot cake with DS and reduced sugar by half this week, used wholemeal flour and it tasted fine - and 8 month DTs loved it.

Whatever the adults like!

I did chocolate sponge (3/4 the sugar of Delia, extra spoon cocoa as thats how I like it), then buttercream, with Smarties on. Dd ate very little and wanted more cheese instead.

For age 2 I got kids to choose decorations in the cake aisle.

Ooh smarties for decoration is a good idea! I'm also looking forward to making, and eating, several practice cakes. You know, just to be sure PFB gets the cake he deserves :)
Also he had the cheek to be born on my birthday so it's my cake too!!

Some great ideas, might try a few of the recipes out beforehand to practice. Thanks again :)

i did a carrot cake with philadelphia cheese icing

I used this Mary Berry spiced whole orange cake recipe for DS's first birthday. It's delicious! There is a photo of his cake on my profile if you fancy having a look.

Some great ideas, might try a few of the recipes out beforehand to practice. Thanks again :)

Mary Berry's Victoria sponge recipe is dead easy and turns out beautifully.

Ds2 had a chocolate cake iced to look like a rainbow. Was a pita to do but looked brilliant.

As it was iced in buttercream, he had loads of fun getting covered in it eating it

We had a proper chocolate cake (that dm made because ds's birthday was in the worst week ever). Ds loved it and we have hilarious photos. Unless you're going to lots of first birthday parties it doesn't matter if the cake is a sugar-filled delight.

Delia all in one cake, three layers, jam between first and second layer, buttercream between second and third. Ready to roll white icing over it all. I food dyed a little bit of it light blue, rolled it flat, and cut out a 1 shape for the top of the cake. Wrapped a wide blue and white gingham ribbon around the cake.

Voila.

Looked great, and I am no baker