Baby's First Birthday Cake!

My precious baby boy turned one on July 3rd, so of course we wanted to celebrate with something sweet! However, with him still being so young, I'm really conscious of the foods and ingredients he's introduced to, even on his birthday. So, in search of a cleaner, whole food alternative, I turned to one of my favorites - the Sweet Laurel Cookbook.

For this special occasion, I chose the vanilla coconut jam cake. The Sweet Laurel Cookbook offers whole food, grain-free recipes, but I did make some changes to accommodate my baby's diet, so I’ve noted those deviations from the recipe below:

You will need:

- 1 cup coconut oil, melted, plus more for greasing the pans

- 1 cup coconut flour

- ½ tsp baking soda

- ½ tsp Himalayan pink salt

- 1 cup maple syrup

* (I used ½ cup maple syrup and ½ cup water because I wanted to watch Enzo’s sugar intake)

- 8 large eggs

- 1 tbsp vanilla extract

- 1 cup coconut whipped cream

- (My family is a sucker for fresh whipped cream, so we used regular dairy cream whipped by hand instead!)

- 1 ½ cups berry jam filling using raspberries

* (Also found in the cookbook, the berry jam calls for 2 cups of raspberries, 3 tbsp maple syrup, and the juice of ½ lemon. Mash all of the goodies and heat for 10 mins. I made the jam the night before and stored it in my fridge until I needed it!)

The Process:

First, preheat your oven to 350º F, and line three 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper rounds and grease the sides.

Grab a large bowl and whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together your coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry–but don’t get too excited, combine them little by little until the batter forms!

After you have a nice, smooth batter, divide it evenly between your cake pans. Bake them for about 25 mins, or whenever you can insert a toothpick into the center and it comes out clean.

When your tasty cakes are out of the oven, invert the cakes onto racks and allow ample time for cooling. Now for the decorating! Slice each cake round in half, horizontally with a serrated knife so you can stuff all of the delicious jam between the layers.

Place the first layer on a cake plate and top with 1 tbsp of your fresh jam, then 2 tbsp of whichever cream you chose. Smooth evenly over the entire surface and then keep stacking! Top the final layer with the remaining jam and cream, then admire your creation until ready to serve!

Finally - you're ready to celebrate!

If you try this recipe, or have any other grain/dairy/refined sugar free cake recipes you love - let me know, I'd love to hear how it turned out! 

xoxo,

Lindsay