It feels like it was just yesterday that our sweet baby girl was born and it is so hard to believe it’s actually been a whole year! She turned one last month and we celebrated, of course, with cake. It was beyond debate that I would make her the prettiest little baby smash cake so she could dig in with her tiny chubby hands! And it needed to be healthy. So I made some minor changes to one of my favorite banana cake recipes (here with coconut and honey cream cheese frosting). It is made with whole wheat flour (or oat flour), bananas, apple sauce, canola oil and spices. Despite the sugar, all ingredients in this cake are super healthy and baby friendly. She loved it, and so did the rest of the family who ate the leftovers!
It is so crazy how time flies especially when you have kids. People always tell you “They grow so fast” but you have no idea what those words really mean until you experience it yourself. Babies do seriously grow faster than you can turn your head! I did though finally come to the realization that our daughter is now entering toddlerhood. We said good bye to bottles, baby purees, onesies, baby carriers and, hopefully soon, nursing and welcomed first steps, homemade finger foods, more sleep and finally some little toothies. Kids are truly one of the most amazing things life has to offer. Seeing their little bodies grow and personalities develop tops everything and despite the lack of sleep, freedom and money, parenthood truly is the greatest gift of all!
If you love banana cakes – or even better, healthier banana cakes – make sure to also check out this gluten-free Banana Cake with Pecans & Walnuts, made with oat and almond flour!
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup oil
- ¼ cup plain applesauce {unsweetened}
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large bananas, mashed
- 1 stick butter
- 1.5 packages (12oz) cream cheese
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- food coloring
- Preheat oven to 325°F and grease three 5 inch cake pans, set aside.
- Put the quick oats in a blender, process for a few minutes until pulverized.
- In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, excluding the sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.
- In a different bowl, whip sugar, oil and applesauce together. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mashed banana. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
- Divide batter amongst cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool completely.
- To make the frosting, whip butter with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, add milk and powdered sugar. Keep whipping until it becomes creamy, for about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and whip until fluffy, 5 minutes. Add food coloring and whip until incorporated.
- Layer, frost and decorate the cake with sprinkles.
Awww she ‘s so chubby! Hopefully she had a great birthday! that cake looks amazing 🙂 xx
Hello! I’d love to make this for my son’s first birthday. If I use coconut oil, is it 1/4 cup melted?
Hi Sandy, yes, it would be 1/4 cup melted.
Hello! I have already made the cake for my granddaughter’s first birthday. It turned out perfectly. Quick question on frosting- should the butter and cream cheese be at room temp or chilled?
Hi! I want to bake this cake for my daughert’s first birthday. Can I use coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar?
Hi Marcela, I just recently discovered coconut sugar myself and am currently experimenting with it, I love it! What I noticed though is that it behaves differently and I am not sure why. It doesn’t cream with butter and eggs like regular sugar does for example. I am not sure why, but in other recipes it works fine. I think you can try, it might work, the consistency might be different. Let me know if it worked!
thank you so much! I made the batter and froze it for 3 days; unthawed then baked and it is simply delicious!!!
For the oats did you do 1/2 cup then grind it or was it 1/2 cup of ground oats?
What size of cake pans did you use? I’m excited to make this for my baby’s first birthday 🙂
I just read the instructions more closely and saw 5 inch!
Hi! This cake sounds great, but my son is allergic to oats! Would I just substitute that 1/2 c of oat flour with an additional 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour?
Hi! I have baked two “practice” cakes so far with two different recipes, in search of a semi-healthy smash cake with that familiar moist cake texture that we all love. So far, no go….does this cake have more of a banana bread consistency or a that of a moist cake? Thanks!
I want to to thank you foor this good read!! I absolutely loved every bit of it.
I have got you book-marked to look at new things you
post…
Does your recipe just make enough for the smash cake, or did you use something to cut out the smash cake and save the remaining for guests? Thank you!
Have you tried these as cupcakes? How might I adjust the bake time? How many should I expect it to make?
HI! I am wondering if I could cut the sugar back by half? Or do you think it would ruin the cake completely? Such an adorable cake!!
Thanks!
I would love to know as well!
I cut the sugar in half and added a couple tablespoons of honey, and it turned out great! In fact, I can’t imagine adding more sugar without it becoming super sweet. The bananas add plenty of sweetness, and the applesauce does too! I’m making my second version of this cake tonight for my daughter’s daycare birthday party! In the oven now!
Where did you get the 1??
Where did the 1 candle come from?
Target! 😉
This looks perfect for us! About the oatmeal, do I grind it for the recipe? Thank you!
My daughter is turning one in a few weeks and I would love to make her this exact cake! What kind of food coloring did you use?
Does this cake need to be refrigerated since the icing is made of cream cheese? I was going to make this cake (multiple cakes for all the guests) the night before the party.
I have the same question…
Hi — Is it 1/2 cup ground oats or 1/2 cup oats then ground?
Hi, may I know how is one stick of butter looks like? Approximately how many grams?
Thx.
Is it okay to use regular flour instead of the wholewheat kind? I’m hoping it wouldn’t change the texture or the way the cake baked
Great recipe! This cake was a hit at my nephews 2nd birthday! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Returns. Regards
What color food coloring did you use to get the mint green color of the icing?
Great recipe!! I made it for my son’s first birthday. Also bought another one for the adults. All ended up eating only the one I made. Awesome recipe thanks for sharing
Does anyone know how many cups of batter does this recipe comes to?
Can I omit sugar? Can I replace with maple syrup?
I don’t think that would work Erica, because you are swapping dry for liquid ingredient…. maybe coconut sugar, to be more healthy?
Hi! I want to make this for my son’s 1st Birthday next week but I’m not sure what you mean by oatmeal (ground Pat’s)…is this instant oatmeal that is ground? It looks like a few people asked the question but I didn’t see any answers to it. Thanks so much!
Hi Amanda! Yes, it is actually easiest to use the quick oats since they are finer then the old-fashioned ones, and simply put them in a blender for a few minutes until they turn to flour 🙂 Hope that helps! I will edit the recipe…
Thanks so much can’t wait to make this for my little guy this week!
Hello, I was just wondering where you sourced the candle? I can’t find any nice numbered candles anywhere!
Thank you!
Hi Louise, Target! 😉 They have a bunch of numbers in different colors and they are just $1-2 I think 😉
Hi,
I wanted to make this a few days before my sons birthday; would it be better to refrigerate or leave on the counter. ( I am making it 2 days in advance)
I love this cake but my daughter hates bananas can I make it without the bananas?
Hi Molly, I don’t think you can leave out the banana, it needs it for the consistency and for the batter to work, but, you could substitute with a fruit that has a different texture, pumpkin puree for example. Anything that is not too wet, and has the texture and consistency of bananas. Hope that helps!
I’ve made this smash cake for our 6 month old grandson. We celebrate 1/2 birthdays as a tradition from my mother in love. We did use coconut whipped cream as frosting due to his lactose intolerance. He loved it!
Just made this for my son’s first birthday, and it turned out great!! I ended up cutting the sugar down by a third (because I ran out) and added 1/3 more apple sauce, and it turned out great! Tastes like a really scrumptious banana muffin, just a tad denser. I tripled the recipe and it made two 4” springform pans, as well as 20 cupcakes. Hope that helps all the party bakers out there! Can’t wait to watch my little smash into it tomorrow 😃!
Forgot to mention that I only doubled the icing recipe and it was more than adequate. Delicious!
How long do you bake the cupcakes?
What would I do if I dont have a blender to mix the oats? Is there something I can substitute?
Hi Hannah,
You can also buy oat flour which is even better because it is finer. I use the Red Bobs Mill brand and they have it at Walmart, Amazon, Whole Foods and lots of other larger grocery stores. Hope that helps!
If I use preground oat flour, would I reduce the volume in the recipe since it says 1/2 cup of oats and then grind? I would think 1/2 cup of preground oats would more than if you pre-measure oats and then grind, or no? Thank you.
Hi.. I’m so excited to make this healthy smash cake for our adorable granddaughter’s
First birthday! Takes me a little longer to pull things off these days.. her party is on a
Saturday, would it taste ok if I made the cake on a Wednesday and freezed it until Saturday morning?
Food coloring a stick of butter and crean cheese aren’t what i would consider healthy… Will be using cake recipe though.
Hi Melina,
I am new at baking, and I apologize for the silly question. What filling did you use in between the layers of the cake?
Thank you!
My son is turning 6months on the 9th and i wanted to make him a smash cake. Can i sub wheat flour for coconut flour?
it is actually very tricky to substitute coconut flour, because coconut flour requires a lot more liquid. Usually, recipes with coconut flour contain more moist ingredients and more eggs, but I would google it for more info. Sorry!
I made this cake for the daughters first birthday. It came out perfectly. I followed the recipe to a tee, though I made a cake using 3 4” pans for the cake and had enough batter and frosting to make 6 cupcakes as well. The cake was super moist and not too sweet which was the perfect cake for my 1 year old and the other kids loved the cupcakes. Definitely a hit!
Hi there – how did you have enough batter to fill 3 4″ pans? Did you double the recipe? I only had enough batter to fill one 9″ spring pan… not sure if I should double or triple the recipe to get the necessary height as shown in the pic. Thxx
I’d love to make this cake for my son’s 1st birthday, but he is allergic to dairy. Do you have any suggested alternatives to the cream cheese in the icing?
Amazing cake!
Made this as trial cake for my baby’s first birthday and it’s a keeper!!! Excellent recipe, thank you!!
Hi Melinda! Please please can you help me with the measure of the cake pan, I saw that it is 5inches but what is the diameter? I am not so expert at the kitchen so I need help!
Thanks!!
Hi Alexandra! It would be 12cm.
Can I use all purpose flour in place of whole wheat?
Hi Amanda, you sure can! 🙂
What size pans can I use to get the same height as the cake in your picture? Three 4″ pans? With the current recipe i was only able to fill one 9 inch springform pan and it only rose half way. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
Hi! I used three 5 inch pans 😉 but two 5 inch pans would work as well!
I used this cake recipe for my one year old’s first birthday cake and it was a hit! I used coconut sugar instead of regular sugar and 1 more egg since I was out of apple sauce and it turned out great! I made a peanut butter icing to go with it and it was really good. Will make this cake again!
Can you make this cake a day ahead of time and just ice it the day of?
Absolutely!
Can I make and ice the day before? If I put in airtight container and refrigerate?
Would it totally mess up the cake if I used regular flour instead of wheat flour?
that would not be a problem at all!
Tried this using a 6 inch pan and the timing is way off. Put a fork in, off center apparently, after 30 minutes and while the sides were done, the center was total mush. Found this out after slicing in half to make two layers. Was going to use this as a smash cake for my daughters first birthday but the middle has completely collapsed after putting it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. Still isn’t cooked in the middle though the sides are over done. Oh well. Tasted good though.
Hi!
Just wondering if I wanted to completely omit the sugar would it turn out the same or does it need the sugar?
it does need the sugar for the dry to wet ingredient ratio but, you could use coconut sugar or, if you really do not want any sweetener, you could 1 cup of another dry ingredient such as nuts or oats, i bet that would work, its worth a try!
This looks so cute and delicious. How deep are the cake pans you used? Trying to make this for my little one’s first bday in 3 weeks!
Can I use a 6″ pan, can’t find a 5″.