Do you think sugar makes kids hyper?
It’s a widely-held belief that sugar makes kids act crazy, but I’m not sure I believe it. Especially at birthday parties, with all the presents and balloons and ice cream and games… who wouldn’t get excited in such a revved-up atmosphere? And the experts are split: some swear childhood hyperactivity and sugar are linked, while others argue no solid evidence exists to back up the theory.
No matter the truth, there are still many other reasons to be wary of America’s favorite sweetener. Excess sugar consumption has been linked to gum disease and cavities, blood sugar spikes, mood swings, Diabetes, and obesity (which can lead to high cholesterol, heart disease, etc.).
One thing is certain: as a whole, we are consuming way too much sugar. According to a study conducted by Family Circle, the average teen is taking in roughly five times the AHA’s recommended daily sugar limit of 6-9 teaspoons. And eating sugar leads to craving more sugar: Penn State researchers found that the more sugar children consumed, the less they ate vegetables, fruits, and other healthy foods.
So what’s a sugar-craving, health-conscious dessert lover to do?
Have a piece of cake!
That’s what.
With a light and fluffy texture, the following healthy cake recipe can hold its own against any boxed birthday cake mix. It’s been kid-tested and approved, so you know it must be good. Yet it offers you fiber, selenium, manganese, and protein… all while tasting like real, sugary birthday cake!
The cake above is frosted with my recipe for Healthy Strawberry Frosting.
(No, I don’t think it’s bad to have a slice of processed, sugary, white-flour birthday cake every now and then. But if you can make a healthy cake that tastes just as good, why not save your empty sugar calories for something else?)
Kid-Approved Healthy Cake
Adapted from Homemade Donuts.
- 1 1/3 cups milk of choice (320g)
- 1 1/2 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar (23g)
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (15g)
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp veg or melted coconut oil (50g)
- 2 loosely-packed cups spelt or all-purpose flour (or Bob’s gf, plus 1 tsp xantham gum) (240g)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup xylitol or sugar of choice (140g)
- 1/8 tsp pure stevia, or 1/4 cup more sugar of choice
- jam, frosting, sprinkles or Hannah’s Homemade Sprinkles
Healthy birthday cake recipe: Preheat oven to 350 F, and line two 8-in round pans (or one 13×9) with parchment paper. Combine first four ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk well. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and stir very well. Pour wet into dry, stir until just evenly combined, pour into the pans and immediately put in the oven. Bake around 22 minutes, or until cakes have risen and no longer look undercooked. Allow to cool 10 minutes, then gently go around the sides with a knife and invert the pans onto large plates. (The frosting recipe I used is linked directly under the second photo of this post. If you use that particular recipe, I recommend frosting the cake just before serving.)
View Healthy Cake Nutrition Facts
For more specifics on the amount of sugar in this healthy white cake recipe–even if you use all sugar and none of the optional substitutes–see the nutrition facts above.
For the birthday cake photoshoot, I called my roommate at work and asked her if she knew where the matches were. Her response was a suspicious “Why are you looking for matches?”
Ever since I set a pot on fire about a year ago, she doesn’t trust me with matches. 😕
Link of the Day: 14 Homemade Larabar Recipes
I love your recipes. I fooled everyone with the chocolate chip Blondie’s. I also love that you put the weight watchers points at the bottom for those of us trying to watch our weight. Thanks!!
I know that the anti-artificial-sweetener monsters will raise a stink about this BUT…have you ever had jello cake? It’s basically a white cake (typically boxed) baked in a 9×13″ pan. When it cools, holes are poked in it and hot liquid jello is poured over it. The cake is cooled and the jello becomes well….jello consistency. Anyways, I think that this cake would be awesome as a jello cake 🙂
I have been meaning to try that! Not with jello, but maybe with fruit juice… or some kind of chocolate syrup :).
When talking about sugar, we need to be specific. FRUIT has plenty of sugar in it, and people who eat masses of fruit and little else are generally healthy. Sugar and complex carbohydrates are energy for our bodies, and if you are going to say children should eat less sugar because it is unhealthy, consider that fruit is a major source of sugar, yet you are saying that fruit is healthy for children? Be specific, processed fatty, salty, sweetened products with no vitamins or minerals are unhealthy, but sugar itself can be very healthy.
On another note I really love the stuff you post, it always looks so good!
Looks and sounds delicious Katie! You’ve surpassed yourself once again with this one!
Hello Katie!
I want to make this for my daughters birthday on Thursday and am wondering how many times would you multiply the strawberry frosting recipe to ice this whole cake, sides and everything? Making more is fine but I do not want to make less.
Thank you so very much! 🙂
Awesome Thank you!
My birthday was just about a week ago (http://happyhealthy365.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/marvelous-birthday-monday/) and since it is my 30th I deserve AT LEAST a birthday MONTH (if not a birthday quarter haha), so I am pretty sure this cake can fit into my birthday cakety-cakeness heaven 🙂 Thanks!
I actually made this for Father’s Day. It was SO good. Everyone loved it. I added in some strawberries and it tasted a little like strawberry shortcake-but even better! 😀
THANK YOU for reviewing this recipe!! Everyone else seemed to be speculating, but I wanted to know if it really was good. I’m planning to use it for a rainbow cake for my daughter’s birthday, but before I go adding my (expensive) natural food colors, I wanted to check on the tastiness of the recipe. Your comment helped!!
Could this cake be made chocolate? If so, how?
Will work on it! 🙂
Thank you!
This cake looks fabulous. Can it be made a day ahead of time? If so, should it be kept in the fridge or on the counter? Thanks!
Another year done by… I must request red velvety cake!
I tried this recipe today and made cupcakes. It tasted good but, they came out very heavy and more muffin like. Also, I tried Louana pure coconut oil… that stuff tastes of burnt rubber. Back to Trader Joes.
How long did you bake the cupcakes for? I wanted to make them tomorrow
Could this be made into cupcakes? How long would I bake for if I wanted to do them as cupcakes? My daughters birthday is in 2 days and she wants to have a tea party with cupcakes but my son can’t have sugar. He can have xylitol though, so this looks like a perfect option. Thanks!
Hi Katie! I can’t seem to find a way to directly message you, so I’m hoping I can get a hold of you here! 🙂
I am on a mission to create a healthy birthday cake like this- but for my daughter’s first birthday!
This cake is almost what I’m looking for, but I’m hoping to make it even more allergen friendly. As a baby, I had almost any allergy in the book, so we are being very careful when we introduce allergens to our children.
The kind of cake I’m needing has to be gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, salt-free and refined sugar-free.
I’m not sure if babies can have stevia/xylitol/etc, but I know they can’t have honey. I was thinking of using a banana for the sweetness instead of sugar.
It’s kind of a big project to tackle…I know I could come up with something, but something that tastes and looks good… that’s another thing. 😉
If you’re willing to try and figure out a good “Baby Birthday Cake” version of this recipe (or something different!), I know a lot of mamas out there would love it, and I would happily spread the recipe around when I take her “Smash the Cake” photo shoot with her healthy cake. 🙂
Thanks so much Katie! I hope you can help me!
Jessica
I can put it on my list of things to try 🙂
I always struggle to stick with my healthy eating plan when birthdays come. It’s definitely very difficult to have a birthday party without cake after all and cake is pretty unhealthy. This recipe however, makes it easy to enjoy the birthday party, cake and all. The ingredients are so much healthier than regular cake and they taste great too. So the kids don’t feel like they’re missing out and the adults don’t have to break their diet.
Do you think it would be possible to add real strawberry slivers and a small handful of gummy fish to the recipe?
My (almost) 4 year old has a very specific request for her birthday cake: a strawberry and “goldfish” cake (she loves the Pepperidge Farm goldfish and doesn’t get it but I figure I can creatively accommodate.
Thanks
I don’t see why not 🙂
Hi Katie! That looks awesome! Have you ever thought about making a healthy magic cake? It’s swarming around on pinterest right now- you make one batter and it magically separates into three layers with custard in the middle! You should look it up! 🙂
I will definitely have to look it up!