In the meantime, let's talk about birthday cake!
I found Johnnie's birthday cake recipe from Homemade-Baby-Food-Recipes.com. Some people insinuated I was a crazy, controlling helicopter mom for not giving my kid a "real" birthday cake on her birthday. To them I said, it is real birthday cake to her. Johnnie did not get this chunky eating French fries and ice cream. Her diet is still very clean, organic and unprocessed. I'm sure she will discover Oreos at some point (probably when she uncovers my secret stash), but we aren't going to introduce or encourage it when she's perfectly happy eating the wholesome stuff. Ignorance is bliss!
And let's not forget -- we also had "real" cake on hand for the grownups and other kids who wanted it, so nobody else suffered. You're welcome.
But I digress. This moist, muffin-like blueberry and banana-laden cake was actually pretty delicious. Johnnie had no complaints, and my mother-in-law (who gets the credit for baking it) liked it so much she made extra for the adults (but with traditional cream cheese icing). It was a hit, and I've even been asked for the recipe. So here you go, courtesy of the folks at Homemade Baby Food Recipes. Dig in, babies!
Banana and Blueberry Birthday Cake
5 oz (1 1/4 cups) whole wheat flour
4 oz (1 cup) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
good pinch of salt
6 medium ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
4 fl oz (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup blueberries, chopped (use fresh, or frozen berries thawed and drained)
4 eggs, beaten well
6 fl oz (3/4 cup) frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed*
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (175 deg C).
Put the first seven ingredients into a large bowl and mix them together.
Add all the rest of the ingredients and stir well until thoroughly combined.
Grease a 9 inch cake tin and pour in the mixture.
Bake for around 50 mins to one hour, until a sharp knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 20 mins, then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Stir together one 3 ounce package of cream cheese, 1/4 tsp of vanilla and 2 1/2 tbsp regular frozen apple juice concentrate (thawed). Spread over the top of the cake once it's cool.
What do you think? Sounds okay, right? Or do you think I'm a controlling old witch for denying my kid her rightful birthday sugar rush?
Amazing. Bookmarked. And Happy Birthday to Johnnie and Congrats to you for the surviving of the first year.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I can't believe it's been a year, and that all of us survived!
DeleteIn what crazy world does that not count as a real cake?! It sounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Johnnie! I can't believe it's already been a year.
I find it's the same reasoning I get from some of my in-laws when talking about soda, junk food, etc. We simply don't buy it or keep it in the house, but they claim "that will change when you have a kid". Why on earth would I make my health a priority but not that of my growing child? In any case, people don't like seeing other people foregoing crap food. It makes them feel guilty about their own food choices.
I think you are right about the guilt trip stuff. Johnnie is slowly getting a little more picky -- gone are the days when she'd happily eat asparagus for breakfast -- so I'm not sure what the future will hold for her eating preferences, but regular consumption of crap is not in the cards for her. We just have to get a little more creative with how we cook the healthy stuff.
DeleteThat is better than a real cake. Sounds awesome. I would really like to give Gebry a better ntroduction to real, clean foods than I had. You are inspiring me.
ReplyDeleteSome babies are of course more picky than others, but we've found it's pretty easy to feed a baby healthy food. They don't know junk food exists until you feed it to them or eat it in front of them. Making sure Johnnie is fed well has inspired us to eat better as well. It is more expensive to buy groceries these days, but we spend less money at restaurants so it sort of evens out!
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have a quick question about your blog, do you think you could e-mail me?
Brian