Healthy Baby Smash Cake (vegan, no sugar added)

Ingredients

3 cups flour (I did half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp sea salt
4 super ripe bananas
7 medjool dates, pitted and soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
3/4 cup non-dairy milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 6 Tbsp water)

coconut whip

2 cans coconut cream, refrigerated for at least 24 hours
2-3 tbsp pure maple syrup
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar, or to taste (optional)

optional

1 cup thick vegan greek yogurt (use regular if not vegan)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease very well three 6-inch cake pans. You can also line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper if you are worried the cakes will stick.
In your high speed blender, make the flax eggs by adding the ground flaxseed and water. Swirl it around to mix it and let it sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
In large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk until well combined.
In the blender with the flax eggs, add the bananas, drained dates, milk, vinegar, and vanilla. Blend until completely smooth.
Pour blended mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the melted coconut oil. Stir with a spatula until combined. Don’t over mix the batter!
Divide the batter into the three 6-inch pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool in the pans (at least 1 hour), then run a knife around the edges to loosen it up. Flip the pans and carefully remove the cake. Place layers on a cooling rack to completely cool.
Use a serrated knife to level the tops right before you plan to assemble. If you are frosting it the next day, double wrap the layers in plastic wrap tightly and store in the fridge. Right before you want to assemble, take the layers out of the fridge. Then level off the tops (save to scraps to snack on!) and frost. When frosting the cake, I found that using greek yogurt in between the layers helps the layers stick better because coconut whip is a little more slippery. It’s totally optional though and you can try using coconut whip in between layers. It’s just a little more slippery.
To make the coconut whip, scoop out the coconut cream into the bowl of your stand up mixer. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add the maple syrup and vanilla (and powdered sugar if using). Beat again until combined. If you don’t use the powdered sugar, I would add a 1 tsp of tapioca starch to help thicken it. I wouldn’t frost the cake too far in advance because the frosting will change color a little bit in the fridge after you frost the cake.
Let the cake sit out in room temperature for 20-30 minutes before serving. Store cake in the fridge.

Servings: 8

Author: valeria.chao