This allergy free baby smash cake is perfect for a baby's first birthday. It's a miniature cake, made from a blend of grain free flours and frosted with a low sugar coconut cream frosting. In addition, this healthy smash cake is eggless, nut free, dairy free, soy free and corn free - covering all common allergens.
Way back when my middle child turned one, I scoured the internet for a "Katie approved" baby birthday cake. While I found a few decent recipes, none met my standards. So naturally, I just created my own allergy friendly baby smash cake.
This smash cake recipe has been a family favorite for years. It's been my go-to recipe, not only for celebrating my kid's first birthdays, but also for minor celebrations like gender reveals and half birthdays.
What makes this healthy smash cake unique is that it's allergy friendly, paleo and vegan. Meaning, this cake is free from gluten and grains, it's eggless, nut free, dairy free, soy and corn free, refined sugar free AND made without vegetable oils.
All that, and yes, it DOES taste good!
Best Baby Smash Cake
I may be biased, but this is the BEST baby smash cake! It's made with wholesome ingredients, tastes good but isn't too sweet, is free from top allergens and is easy to make.
Here's why you'll love this smash cake recipe:
- paleo friendly - made with real, whole foods
- vegan - free from animal products
- gluten free and grain free - made with a combination of tigernut and cassava flour
- egg free - uses ground flax as a binding agent
- dairy free - no butter or milk
- low sugar - sweetened with just a little maple syrup
- miniature - the perfect size for a baby's first birthday
Ingredients
Here's what you need to make this low sugar smash cake
Cake
- cassava flour
- tigernut flour
- flax seed
- baking powder
- cinnamon (optional)
- pink salt
- water
- maple syrup
- avocado oil
- apple cider vinegar
- vanilla extract
Frosting
- coconut cream
- maple syrup (optional)
I do not have any substitutions for the flours used. Because, for a cake to meet all of the requirements of being Paleo, Vegan and allergy free these grain free flours are what I found to work best.
The avocado oil may be substituted with olive oil or melted coconut oil. But, other than that, I wouldn't change the recipe.
Also, I recommend measuring the ingredients by weight. This ensures that you're using the right amount of each ingredient. I use a simple food scale to measure ingredients for my recipes.
Lastly, water is required for this recipe, but I forgot to add it in the photo below.
How to Make an Allergy Free Smash Cake
To make this smash cake, first gather the necessary ingredients, two mixing bowls, a spatula, whisk, three 4" springform pans and parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix. In a smaller bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir with a spatula. Let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes.
Next, line the springform pans with parchment paper. Stir the cake batter once more and place equal amounts in each springform pan. Use your spatula to push the batter to the sides and create a flat, level cake surface (the batter is thick).
Next, place the cakes in your oven and bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.
After baking, remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool in the springform pans for 5 minutes. Then, remove the cakes and place them on a wire cooling rack to cool.
Once the cake has fully cooled it can be frosted.
Decorating a Smash Cake
Frosting
First off, every cake needs some sort of frosting. Agreed? My favorite type of low sugar, paleo frosting is made with coconut cream and maple syrup. (See recipe for details.) In fact, you can omit the maple syrup and just use coconut cream for the frosting if you'd prefer.
A simple online search for "paleo frosting" can give you other healthy frosting recipe ideas. Just look around for one with ingredients you like. Also, store bought frostings are always an option. Just be sure to look closely at the ingredient list.
Natural Food Dyes
To add a bit of natural color to the frosting, try using superfood powders. Here are some easy ideas:
- pink: beet root powder
- yellow: turmeric root powder
- green: spirulina or matcha
- purple: maqui berry powder or acai powder
For the photos shown in this recipe, I used beet root powder to add color to the inside of the frosting.
Decorations
Cakes look pretty naked with just white frosting. In my opinion, the best smash cake decorations are fruit (I used raspberries) and seeds (I used poppy seeds). But, there are so many fun topping options:
- fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries...)
- dried fruit (dried mango, raisins, cranberries, blueberries...)
- freeze dried fruit (raspberries, strawberries, apples)
- flaked or shredded coconut
- chocolate chips
- naturally colored sprinkles
- poppy seeds or chia seeds
- sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
- cinnamon
Storage
This allergy free smash cake needs to be stored in the fridge. Place the frosted cake in a cake container or large storage container. It will keep moist and is best eaten within a couple days.
FAQ
Now, just a forewarning, although this cake rises, it IS dense compared to a "normal" cake. If you want to meet all of the requirements (allergy free, paleo and vegan) then you're not going to get a perfectly fluffy, airy, light cake.
However, that's not to say it doesn't taste good! This baby cake is both healthy AND delicious. Every member of my family loves this recipe and I've made it many, many times.
This healthy baby smash cake is meant as an individual cake (for a baby to smash), but it would serve 4 if you plan on making it for another occasion (perfect for a family dessert).
The whole purpose of a baby smash cake is for a baby to smash it. Right? So, you don't want one that is overwhelmingly large. Furthermore, babies are usually given a cake at their high chair, which doesn't leave room for a full sized cake.
Typically, smash cakes are small cakes, no bigger than 6" round. Some people use cupcakes, rather than making an actual cake.
For this recipe, I used three 4" round springform pans. You can find them on Amazon for fairly cheap. Plus, they are a convenient size for making individual desserts for other occasions.
More Allergy Friendly Recipes
If you're looking for more baby and kid friendly recipes check these out:
- vegan tigernut flour waffles
- applesauce zucchini muffins
- vegan carrot cake bars
- banana breakfast cookies
Enjoy!
Print
Allergy Free Baby Smash Cake (Low Sugar)
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 14 min
- Total Time: 29 minutes
- Yield: one 3-layered 4" round cake 1x
Description
This allergy free, Vegan and Paleo smash cake is perfect for a baby's first birthday. It is slightly sweetened with maple syrup, grain free, dairy free, egg free and nut free.
Ingredients
Cake
- ⅓ cup cassava flour (55g)
- ¼ cup tigernut flour (25g)
- ¼ cup ground flax seed (30g)*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
- ⅛ tsp pink salt
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Frosting
- 1 cup coconut cream, refrigerated overnight**
- ½ Tbsp pure maple syrup (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line three 4" springform pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine all dry cake ingredients. Mix well.
- In small mixing bowl, whisk together all wet cake ingredients.
- Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture.
- Let batter sit for 5-10 minutes. Then, stir once more and separate into the lined springform pans. Note: the batter is thick!
- Place the cakes in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.
- After baking, remove the cakes from the oven and cool them for 5 minutes in the springform pans. Then take the cakes out of the springform pans and cool them to room temperature on a wire cooling rack.
- Once cool, frost and decorate the cake. For the frosting, simply combine the coconut cream and maple syrup in a small dish. Whisk until smooth.
- Store the frosted cake in fridge.
Notes
For best results, measure ingredients by weight (when given).
*I grind my flax seed with a coffee grinder
.
**Use just the cream from a can of full-fat coconut milk. Refrigerating overnight separates the cream from the milk. If the cream is clumping, try heating it up for 5 seconds in the microwave.
For the photos shown in this recipe, I used beet root powder to add color to the inside of the frosting.
Chaunté | The GERD Chef
This is so creative and beautiful! I wish this recipe existed when my kiddo was a baby! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Laura
Thanks for the recipe! Thinking of using this for my son's first birthday, but he is allergic to flaxseeds. Do you have any suggestions for substitutions for the flaxseeds in the recipe? Thank you.
Katie
Can he eat chia seeds? I think ground chia seeds would be the best substitution, but I haven't tested it.
Jen
Would gelatin work? My baby can’t have any seeds or nuts😩
Katie
Oh bummer! I feel you - my daughter has a lot of allergies and intolerances. I've actually never tried baking with gelatin, so I don't know if the swap would work. If you try it let me know how it turns out.
Mallory
Baking powder is not paleo or allergy friendly... it's made with cornstarch.
Katie
Hi! Thank you for pointing out that the incorrect link was used in this post. Baking powder can be Paleo AND allergy friendly. You just have to buy the right brand or make your own. I make my own: https://bakeitpaleo.com/how-to-make-paleo-baking-powder/
Paige
Can you use almond flour instead of the two above mentioned flour for this recipe?
Katie
You might be able to substitute the tigernut flour with almond flour, but I haven't tried. The cassava flour is needed in this recipe.
Isabel
This cake looks beautiful. I would like to make it with egg instead of flax. Would 2 eggs be the equivalent of 30g flax?
Katie
Hi! Thank you 🙂 I have not tried this cake with eggs so I cannot say for sure what substitutions you would need to make. 2 eggs may work (or maybe even just one) and you may have to decrease the amount of water you add as well. If you do try it, I'd love to know the results.
Renee
I don't have spring form pans - are they necessary?
Jen
Needing to stay free from the top 8 allergens plus grains, yeast, and cane sugar, I really wanted to find a cake recipe for special occasions and this is it! I don't have 4" springform pans, so instead used 5 silicone cupcake liners and they worked perfectly. I must admit, I ate one while it was still warm because it smelled so good and the anticipation was too much. Thank you for providing a healthy alternative, not just for babies, but for anyone with multiple food restrictions. This recipe is delicious!
Katie
Hi! Oh, I'm SO happy to hear that you loved the recipe!! Thank you so much for leaving a comment and review 🙂
Katie
My family and I love this baby smash cake and we hope you all do too! Enjoy!
Jenn
Could I use banana in place of maple syrup?
Katie
I don't recommend a substitute for the maple syrup.
Brittany
Can you replace coconut cream with oat milk? My baby is allergic to coconut
Katie
No, you can't use milk, it has to be cream.