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Original poster

1 year old birthday and cake

45 replies

Orissiah · 18/05/2009 09:15

Hello all,

My LO turns 1 in June and we are throwing a small party for her in our garden with family. So far in her short life she has not tasted sugar. I have nothing against sygar - just have not seen the need to give it to her yet. So bearing this in mind I was thinking of making her a muffin-type cake with minimal sugar. Does anyone have any recipes for muffins or cakes sweetened with fruit puree? Or should I simply relax about it all and make her a proper cake with sugar :-)

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giantkatestacks · 18/05/2009 09:17

I would make a proper cake and just not let her have any icing...I was like this with my first and was very proud of myself - the second one has sadly been mollified with lots of buns and the like from a very early age...I blame blw

smee · 18/05/2009 09:22

You deserve a cake - you've got through a whole year after all, so make one you want - am serious, honestly you deserve it. Just let her have a try of some. She'll probably be too excited by all the attention to eat much anyway.

geordieminx · 18/05/2009 09:25

You say she as never had sugar.. no fruit? no yoghurts? No bread? Cos most of them have sugar in - albeit natural sugars in fruit.

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wilbur · 18/05/2009 09:28

Banana cake is good if you want to put less sugar in it - you can take out about 1/3 to a half of the sugar and add an extra bit of banana - cake will be quite squishy but who cares. Plus, what about doing one of those Italian fruit-style toppings instead of icing if you really want to avoid sugar? You know, they slice up strawberries, peaches etc, lay then in a pattern over the top and then glaze them (glaze has sugar in, but not as much as icing) so they stay in place and looking nice. You definitely need a good cake though, such a special occasion for both of you.

ruddynorah · 18/05/2009 09:31

no sugar? so no breastmilk then?

wilbur · 18/05/2009 09:32

Like this fruit-topped cake

It's the icing that gives the pure sugar hit, so if you take that off, you dramatically reduce the sugar levels of any cake. Plus you avoid the charming habit that toddlers have of licking the icing off and then handing you back a fistful of squished cake.

Greensneeze · 18/05/2009 09:33

banana cake? with a bit of honey to celebrate her coming of age?

Kelix · 18/05/2009 09:41

Youve done well to avaoid sugar for a year? what have you been feeding her
I thought EVERYTHING had sugar in these days!

ICANDOTHAT · 18/05/2009 09:55

You can't be sanctimonious on MN, you always get found out LET THEM EAT CAKE !!

smugmumofboys · 18/05/2009 10:06

Please do a cake. Any cake.

I once went to the first birthday party of a child who had similarly never had sugar. It was all veg sticks and rice cakes.

There was no cake. No proud parent bearing a cake with a flaming candle atop. There were no dribbly attempts to blow out said candle.

It was a bit sad tbh. I felt somehow cheated. It just wasn't quite partyish and celebratory without a cake.

3littlefrogs · 18/05/2009 10:11

Do a cake. Video the proceedings so you can sit and laugh and cry over it in future years. Everyone else will enjoy eating it, your one year old will squish it everywhere and have a wonderful time. Very little will actually go in her mouth.

Chill.

ruddynorah · 18/05/2009 10:18

you're going to look back on the photos of the banana cake with no icing and think 'what was i thinking'..

Surfermum · 18/05/2009 10:19

I don't think dd had any cake at her first birthday party. The rest of us ate it. She was blissfully unaware that she was missing out on anything as she was too busy being passed around the rellies.

stealthsquiggle · 18/05/2009 10:24

Make her a proper cake, FGS. Fruit purees, even if they have no added sugar, still have sugar in. Children need some sugar in some form. Cake (and sugar in numerous other forms) is required for parties, if only mainly for the adults. Your DD will be having too much fun with presents wrapping paper to eat much anyway.

HuffwardlyRudge · 18/05/2009 10:28

Ds just turned one and it brought a tear to my eye to see him sitting in his high chair tucking in to a lovely slice of birthday cake. My boy! Feeding himself, getting icing in his hair, more interested in eating the candle than anything else. Old enough to know that - even if he didn;t understand quite what - something exciting and important was going on. Grinning while the three of us sang Happy Birthday...

Oh, make her a proper cake.

squeaver · 18/05/2009 10:33

The first time my dd had cake (she had had sugar, mind you) was at a 1st birthday party. One poor little boy's mother absolutely forbade him from eating any, though.

You should have seen the look on his face as he sat in the corner with his packet of raisins.

3littlefrogs · 18/05/2009 10:34

squeaver, that is so sad.

giantkatestacks · 18/05/2009 10:34

Our dd put her face in her first birthday cake last week and snaffled it off the tray like a pig - you wouldnt want to miss out on that sort of entertainment would you Orissiah?

ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 18/05/2009 10:39

Relax about it and make a cake

It doesn't mean she'll have to have cake everyday for the rest of her life just because she had some on her 1st birthday.

Enjoy the day, take some photo's and remind her when she's older that her 1st birthday was the 1st time she tasted cake.

LittleMissNorty · 18/05/2009 10:43

Let her have cake.

Children need a balanced diet, and that includes sugar.

norktasticninja · 18/05/2009 10:49

I am was pretty precious about DD having sugar but, after nearly giving in to PFB neurosis and making a reduced sugar carrot cake, I made a proper chocolate cake for her first birthday. I filled it with whipped cream, topped it with chocolate icing, mini smarties and (of course) a candle.

I'm glad I did.

Relax. A bit of sugar, just the once, isn't going to have any long term effects at all.

muffle · 18/05/2009 10:49

We nee LetThemEatCake on this thread!

But anyway, yes proper cake for a 1st birthday, especially with lots of adults there - everyone likes cake! For DS's I made a normal plain sponge cake with whipped cream and chopped up fresh pears in the middle (healthy!) and just a thin layer or normal white icing on top, plus some 100s and 1000s and writing. Everyone loved it - most of the babies had some too - it was fun.

Is this your first? I can promise you that at some of the birthday parties she will be going to, some of the things she will get given to eat will make a plain old victoria sponge look like the healthy option.

You need a proper old cake with writing and a candle for the 1st birthday photos IMO.

norktasticninja · 18/05/2009 10:51

She's 18 months now BTW and I haven't caught her robbing the local bakery yet

seeker · 18/05/2009 10:52

Another vote for proper cake, AND for icing and sprinkles. And lots of strawberries and edible glitter.

muffle · 18/05/2009 10:56

Oh and further to that - I've always thought cake isn't really that bad. Sugar is a small proportion of it - there's also flour (carbs), eggs (protein) and butter (children really do need fat) and often dairy and fresh fruit too. It's loads better than sweets or even some fruit in terms of sugar content.

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