The requirements for my cake were this:
* Dairy Free
* Low in sugar
I also made it gluten free so I could eat it but this would work just as well- actually better if you just use normal flour. As you can see it is decorated to look like the Hungry Caterpillar- I chose this design as it is a favourite amongst children and easily recognizable but also because it meant I could decorate the cake with fresh fruit instead of loads of sugary icing.
The cake is made up of muffins and a cake. I will detail the recipes for both then how I assembled the cake. If you would like to make the cake using your own favourite cake and muffins then that would work too. I made the cake and muffins the day before and then assembled the cake just before the party as it uses fresh fruit.
These little babies will form the body of your caterpillar They are dairy free ad sugar free so these are the really healthy, baby-friendly part of the cake. If you make them up a day in advance like I did be sure to store them in an air tight container. Apologies for the photos- I made them at my Mum's and had to use her camera phone.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups of Dried Dates
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsps Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1 cup of pureed Butternut Squash
- 1 1/2 cups of Sultanas
- 3 large Eggs
- 1 tsp of Cinnamon
- 3 Cups of Plain Flour
- 160 ml Olive Oil
Note- for the cake you need 14 muffins- this batch makes about 28 so you can halve it but I made double in case anything went wrong and also because I knew my little people would want to eat some there and then.
Method:
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This cake is a bit more naughty than the muffins as it contains sugar. I used fruit sugar instead of normal sugar but if you are not too worried about sugar then it would work with normal sugar too. I figured if you are really strict about sugar you could let baby have the muffins and the adults have the chocolate cake. You will also notice that both this cake and the muffins are made with vegetables- a great way to get some veggies into fussy eaters- although hopefully if you are baby-led weaning you won't have that problem. This is a recipe that I have adapted from the BBC Food website.
Ingredients
- 75g of cocoa- I use Bournville 100% Cocoa
- 180g of Plain Flour
- 2tsp of Baking Powder
- 200ml Olive Oil
- 250g of Fruit Sugar
- 250g of cooked beetroot
- 3 Large Eggs
Method
My next post will show you how to assemble the cake into the Hungry Caterpillar |