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
3 small mixing bowls
medium mixing bowl
4, 2-cup circular glass containers that are oven safe (I used my pyrex glass storage containers) or 4, 3"-4" cake pans.
small sheet pan
a sharpe serrated knife
a silicon spatula
serving plate
measuring cups/spoons
Luna's Mini 4 Tier 1st Birthday Cake
(gluten free & made with love)
Prep time: 15-20 minutes & cooling time Cook time: 15 minutes Yield: 1 mini 4 tier baby cake
Ingredients:
Cake
1 box of Simple Mills vanilla cupcake & cake mix
3 organic, pastured eggs (see options above for egg free alternatives)
1/3 cup organic coconut oil, melted but not hot
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp. organic vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
Frosting
1 container of Simple Mills organic vanilla frosting
2-3 smaller red beets, cooked
¼ cup coconut milk, full fat, unsweetened
How to Create this Recipe:
Pre heat the oven to 350 ° F.
Cut parchment paper to fit in the bottom of your 4 small glass containers.
Follow the instructions on the box as if you were making cupcakes, but instead of filling a cupcake pan, you will portion the batter into 4 small circular glass containers that have been lined with parchment paper. Don't forget to add the cinnamon (its extra and add so much to the cake!).
Palce the 4 containers onto a small sheet pan, and then place the pan into the oven. Cook for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the mini cakes. Remove and allow to cool in the glass containers while your "dye" cools as well.
While the cakes cook, you'll make the colored frosting. To do this add the beets and warm coconut milk to a high-powered blender. Blend on high until blended through; using the tamper and a silicon spatula to scrap down the sides occasionally making.
Then put a sieve over a medium bowl, pour the beet dye mixture over it and gentle push the liquid portion through. What you have left you will use to dye the frosting. Allow this to cool completely before adding it to the next step.
Take 3 equal portions of the frosting and add them to the 3 small mixing bowls. Then start making your colors by adding a small amount of the "dye" to bowl #1, a medium amount to bowl #2, and the largest amount to #3, making sure to leave extra for adjustments to colors. Then, mix the dye into the frosting until it is thoroughly mixed and smooth. Play around with how much you add so that you get the perfect shades to make a 3 shade ombre look.
Once your cakes are completely cooled, you're going remove them from the containers and remove the parchment paper round beneath them. They should be easy to pop out with the aide of a butter knife around the edges (if need be, mine mostly slid out). Then you'll need to trim them a bit so they don't topple over when you stack them. For mine, I sliced the tops and very bottoms off (as you can see in the pictures below) with a long seated bread knife. This gave me the most leveled cakes to work with. Theres no need to be perfect here, you can have a bit of fun with how the cake stands!
Next, take one layer of cake and place it on your serving dish. Then, with the frosting shade you have the most of (mine was the darkest shade) spread a layer of frosting followed by the next layer of cake and so forth until you place the final layer of cake. Then, gently, with a silicon spatula, spread the first color of frosting in one sweeping motion around the cake from the bottom up (going only one direction, while turning the cake around by spinning the serving plate). Once you have applied that color to about 1/3 of the cake, you'll work your way to the second color for the next 1/3 of the cake, followed by the last shade for the final 1/3 of the cake and top face of the cake.
Then, the rest is yours to create and make your own! Add birthday candles or a meaningful cake topper like I did. You could crumble gluten free cookies over the top of the cake or adorn it with fresh organic berries or flowers.
Enjoy!! Happy birthday to your kiddos and birthing day to you <3
* NOTES:
I purposefully left small specks of beet in my frosting because I thought it looked more fun! But if you want a smooth solid color, blend thoroughly in the blender (you'll need a high-powered blender like a Vitamix for this), adding a bit of water if needed and using the tamper and a silicon spatula to scrap down the sides occasionally. Then you'll want to double strain your beet dye by adding a layer of cheese cloth over the sieve.
I left the cake with some what of an unfinished, whisky, almost painted watercolor-y vibe like look, with just enough frosting... I wanted it to have that whimsical, dreamy, boho-rustic, unmade look (haha that's a lot of looks!) so I left some of the cake showing from underneath. Feel free to use the remainder of your frostings (I had a lot left over) to fill in and add a thicker layer for a more solid look.
Keep the tops and bottoms that you cut off for snacking at another time. This cake doesn't have any preservatives so be sure to keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge!
Frosting alternatives: Using the same instructions as the beet dye above, you can make a similar color frosting by using one of the following exchanges:
* 1, 3.5 oz. pack of frozen pureed dragon fruit (thawed) + 1/4 cup coconut milk
* 1/4-1/2 cup freeze dried raspberries + 1/4 cup coconut milk
* 1/4-1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries + 1/4 cup coconut milk
NUTRITION
Serving Size: 1 (based off of 8 servings total)
Calories: 344
Fat: 24 g
Carbs: 29 g
Protein: 5 g
*All nutritional information are estimations and will vary.
