Luna's Mini 4 Tier 1st Birthday Cake (gluten free)
On January 20th, 2020 our daughter Luna turned one year old; a day we were told by the allopathic medical community, we would never experience with her. But here we are, parents of a one year old!! I still can't believe that Luna is ONE!!! She is our little warrior baby who continues to defy her medical diagnoses week after week. We are so so proud of her and how strong she is!
I wanted to create a recipe that was easy, fool proof and pretty quick to throw together. I wanted it to be easy for mom's and dad's to access/find the ingredients and simple to make since us parents don't always have the time (or patience) to make birthday treats from scratch! That's why I chose Simple Mills gluten free mixes. They're non-GMO (while I'd prefer they raise the bar and go completely organic), gluten free and only contain 6 ingredients. You can also find them across the country in local health food stores or on Amazon. For the base of the frosting recipe I used on Luna's cake, I used the Simple Mills vanilla frosting, which is organic and great for this quick cake recipe.
To get the ombre look with the frosting on Luna's cake I used 3 different shades of purple-pinks all with the same base "food dye" I made from beets and coconut milk. Since it's Luna's first cake and first experience with sweet foods like this, I wanted to include some mild, earthy flavors with the inclusion of a veggie in the frosting. The frosting is still plenty sweet and now loaded with extra micronutrients and brilliant color, totally leveling up the vibrational energy the cake holds as well! But if your little one would like something sweeter I have some additional options for making a similar colored "dye" from different fruits in the notes section of the recipe.
I wanted Luna's first cake to taste amazing, have a moist and springy bite, but also be clean enough for us to feel comfortable letting her try some of! I wanted it to still look spectacular and feel like a little girls first birthday cake and I really didn't want to spend the whole day making a cake and frosting from scratch. I wanted to be sure her cake was free of gluten, dairy, food dyes, preservatives, or additives, and minimally sweet. I'm so happy with the finished product! It lived up to all of that and more!
I topped her cake with some of our most special crystals for an ombre-crystal-moon theme and we couldn't be happier with its vibe and look! The crystals on top are a clear quartz cluster (which we got in this sleepy old mining town in Colorado on our road trip home from Indy in 2019) and a blue lace agate (my personal favorite crystal) druzy moon (our 2nd crystal moon in our Luna collection we've started).
I chose the clear quartz cluster not only for its sentimental value, but for its metaphysical properties it would bestow on the cake energetically. Clear quartz is the ultimate amplifier (which is why its used in so much technology from the memory chips in your phones and computers to the clockwork in watches) and a master healer crystal that enhances energy flow. Due to its clear color, it vibrates to the frequency of all the chakras but most of all it stimulates the crown chakra, which is where our connection to source energy, the universe, and higher planes resides.
I chose the blue lace agate druzy moon to symbolize Luna on her cake, in the way, I suppose a name written on the cake would show who the cake is made for. Blue lace agate is one of my all time favorite crystals for so many reasons. I wear it daily and have it all over the house. This stone is known as the support crystal and is great for calming stressful situations and for caregivers. It's blue color ties it to the throat chakra and also makes it a great crystal for aiding in healthy communication. I like to think keeping it around the house also helps Luna and I communicate with each other easier. It is also a great pregnancy and postpartum stone as its gentle soothing nature helps mama's in the sensitive time after birth as well as during breastfeeding. But the most important reason for choosing blue lace agate for Luna's moon was because of the stones physical healing energetic ability to help balance the fluid around the brain and thus it is an amazing stone for Luna since she has hydrocephalus.
This dedicate this recipe and all the fun I had creating, decorating, and photographing to my daughter Luna who makes me so proud to be her Mama every day! Here's to your second year baby girl!
This recipe is nutrient dense, grain free, gluten free, dairy free, nightshade free, paleo, primal & is perfect for 1st birthday celebrations!
$ What Makes this High-Vibing Food?
First and foremost, putting your own love, gratitude, time and energy into making foods at home will automatically raise the vibration of the foods/meal. This will also help to balance your sacral and heart chakras. Putting your love into the food you prepare will literally raise the vibrational frequency as love is the highest vibration out there!
You are what you eat and what your food eats. Using organic, GMO free, free/pasture raised, wild caught, minimally processed ingredients lead to an overall higher vibrational frequency. Basically, eating organic provides us extra energy currency!
Contains root veggies, which help to provide grounding energy to support the root chakra.
Contains red colored foods. Red vibrates at about the same frequency as the root chakra. So, eating red foods helps to maintain the proper root chakra frequency.
This recipe is full of healthy fats and/or oils, which supports the sacral chakra.
Contains nuts, which is both grounding and flowing, and thus supports both the root and sacral chakras.
This recipe is higher in carbohydrates, providing the solar plexus chakra with both long-lasting sugar sources (like fiber) and quick acting sugars like glucose.
This recipe is higher in fiber, which supports all three of the lower chakras as it aides in the movement and flow of bulk during the digestive processes.
Contains yellow/tan/golden colored foods, which help raise the body’s frequency to that of the solar plexus, helping to balance it.
This recipe contains purple pigments, which balance the third eye chakra while also protecting from spiritual overuse or negativity.
$ A Short Note on Swaps or Ingredients:
*While I cannot guarantee that using these swaps will yield the same flavors I have create in this recipe, these swaps should generally work well! *
I used Simple Mills cake mix for this recipe to make it quick and easy! This mix does contain almond flour, so if you're not comfortable with your kiddo having nuts, I would definitely recommend you used a different cake mix! Although I have yet to find a brand with such limited and clean.
If you'd like to make this egg free you can use one of the following ways:
Replace the 3 eggs for 3 flax eggs. To do this you'll need 3 tbsp. of ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tbsp. of water. Allow to sit until it thickens up to a pasty goop. Then add it to the rest of your wet ingredients.)
Replace the 3 eggs with 3 gelatin eggs. To do this you'll add 3/4 cup cool water to a small sauce pan and then sprinkle 3 tbsp. gelatin over the water as evenly as you can and wait about 5 minutes while it blooms. Once the 5 minutes are up, turn the heat on low and warm the mixture up until the gelatin dissolves. Then vigorously whisk the mixture until it is flirty. Then add it to the rest of your wet ingredients.
$ Equipment Needed to Create this Recipe:
high-powered blender (I use my Vitamix)
sieve