10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (2024)

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Table Of Contents

  1. For the Record…
  2. More Allergen-Friendly First Birthday "Cakes"
  3. Grain-Free Brownies
  4. Nectarine Squash Pops
  5. Homemade Gelatin or Gummies
  6. Dairy-Free Chocolate Mousse
  7. Easy Apple Crisp
  8. Baked Apple Bread(less) Pudding
  9. Grain-free Coconut Muffins
  10. Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Butterscotch Pudding
  11. Neopolitan Ice Cream Cake (Grain-free, Dairy-Free, Nut-Free)
10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (1)

When is a cake not a cake?

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10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (2)

Pumpkin Fudge Recipe

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  • Author: Katie Kimball
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 10 mins
  • Yield: serves 4-8 1x
  • Category: dessert

Ingredients

UnitsScale

  • 1 c. pureed orange vegetable (sweet potato, squash, pumpkin – preferably not canned, but in a pinch, go for it)
  • 1/2 c. coconut cream concentrate (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!)
  • 13 Tbs. maple syrup (as little as possible for little ones!)
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
  • 1/8 tsp. cloves

Instructions

  1. Soften coconut cream by placing it near the stove while cooking or in a bowl of warm water (in the tightly closed jar).
  2. Measure all the ingredients into a food processor (or Vitamix or Blendtec Twister jar).
  3. Blend until smooth.
  4. Scoop/pour into muffin tins, small cake pans, or small bread pans.
  5. Freeze for a few hours.
  6. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to soften in order to slice into cubes (if you used a rectangular pan). The muffins cups will pop right out with a little warm water on the bottom.
  7. Store leftovers in the freezer.

Notes

* Thanks to Purely Twins for the great inspiration!

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I don’t know the real answer to what surely sounds like an 8-year-old boy’s favorite joke, but my answer is this:

When it doesn’t have any flour or sugar.

Flour and sugar – often more sugar than flour – define the art of baking a cake. As much as I desire great pictures for my babies’ first birthdays, flour and sugar just aren’t on the list.

In fact, with baby no. 4 here, a big part of me just wanted to skip celebrations and not add anything else to my to-do list. He wouldn’t know any different, right? But Mommy Guilt kicked in and I realized that he’d be on to me when he was older because there would be no pictures.

So JUST to get pictures of a one-year-old birthday cake on a high chair tray, we had close family and godparents over for a “party.”

Which meant I had to figure out a “cake.”

Baby Gabe hadn’t had grains yet, since his gut doesn’t have the enzymes to digest them. (We start our babies off with real food, but simple.) He seemed to have an unfortunate reaction to eggs multiple times, so I’m still scared to feed those to him! (I just haven’t had a day where I wake up and think, “Yeah, today I’d be totally cool with a vomiting baby for 24 hours. I got nothing better to do…”)

He had done dairy, but I didn’t see the point in giving him much sweetener if any.

Even though I’ve been talking with Catherine Clinton of WellFuture, one of our sponsors, about how new research says not to worry about introducing allergenic foods early, I can’t seem to shake the habit from what I was told ten years ago with baby number one.

I was on the hunt for the perfect, allergy-free first birthday “cake” and found just the recipe!

Related:Beginning a Gluten and Dairy-Free Diet

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (3)

It made for a darling photo shoot, both with and without Gabe. 10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (4)

And SO so yummy.

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (5)
10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (6)

For the main “cake” with the candle, I topped it with a probiotic frosting made of homemade yogurt cheese, a splash of vanilla or almond extract, and a tiny bit of maple syrup (although none for Gabe, why bother?). That would obviously make it not dairy-free, but it totally didn’t need it (see above). Those little circles made in muffin tins were also delish!

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (7)

The best part of the night was when he was holding a chunk and it got too cold for his hands and he didn’t know what to do! He just cried but kept a tight fist on the fudge! Everyone was cracking up.

If serving something frozen to your baby sounds a little cold-hearted (it’s funny! Really!), the same mush would go awesome into a Squooshi pouch and be delicious and nutritious.

For the Record…

It wasn’t always this “clean” at the KS house.

It wasn’t always the “KS” house! This is my oldest son’s food coloring laden birthday cake, from a box mix:

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (8)

Ok. So not that. Established?

More Allergen-Friendly First Birthday “Cakes”

I asked blog colleagues of mine if they had any ideas for healthy birthday treats for a one-year-old so that you all have more than just one to choose from, and they delivered!

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (9)

Grain, Nut, Egg & Refined Sugar Free Cupcake

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (10)

Wow! Recipe from Raising Generation Nourished

Grain-Free Brownies

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (11)

Recipe from Natural Fertility and Wellness

Nectarine Squash Pops

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (12)

Recipe from Just Take a Bite

Homemade Gelatin or Gummies

You could totally stick a candle in this, or a “bowl” of fruit gummies!

Dairy-Free Chocolate Mousse

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (14)

Recipe from Naturally Loriel

Easy Apple Crisp

My recipe – so easy – slow cooker, bake it, stove top, whatever! Free downloadable printable! Skins off for little ones but I’m usually lazy and leave them on…

Baked Apple Bread(less) Pudding

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (16)

Recipe from Simple Abundant Life (does contain eggs)

Grain-free Coconut Muffins

My recipe! We made a quadruple batch into a 2-layer cake! (does contain eggs)

Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Butterscotch Pudding

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (18)

Recipe from Just Take a Bite

Neopolitan Ice Cream Cake (Grain-free, Dairy-Free, Nut-Free)

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (19)

Recipe from Just Take a Bite

What did you do for your kids’ first birthdays?

Unless otherwise credited, photos are owned by the author or used with a license from Canva or Deposit Photos.

Category: Real Food Recipes

Tags: birthdays, dairy-free, desserts, egg-free, fall, gluten free, grain free, kid-friendly, maple syrup, nut-free, party food, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes

10 Alternative First Birthday Cakes {Pumpkin Fudge Recipe} (2024)
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