Made with fresh blueberries, this 1st Birthday Smash Cake recipe is easy, allergy-friendly, and made without added sugar. It has the most delish Blueberry Frosting, and you can bake the cakes a day ahead if needed. So yummy!
Smash Cake Recipe
When my kids were turning 1, I always wanted a cake that was filled with natural sweetness from fruits (or veggies), and that would work as a Smash Cake—or a cake we could slice and share. This blueberry cake, which is just perfect for a first birthday, has so much flavor from bananas and berries that you don’t need any other sweetener.
And the frosting is such a fun bright blue color from freeze-dried berries.
This egg-free birthday cake is a great option for kids with some allergies and it’s also just an easy smash cake to make if you have a kiddo who loves blueberries.
Ingredients You Need
This 1st birthday cake includes whole grain flours, bananas, blueberries, and cinnamon for a flavorful, yet really simple cake. Here’s a look at what you’ll need for the recipe.
- Bananas: You’ll want them to be very ripe with lots of brown spots, which indicate sweetness.
- Whole wheat flour: This flour has nutrition and fiber but also absorbs moisture well so it helps the cake bake through well.
- Oat flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Butter: I prefer to bake with unsalted butter so I can control the level of salt in the cake.
- Blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries are stirred into the batter so they’re evenly distributed throughout the cake.
TIP: This cake is a no-added-sugar so the natural sweetness from the fruit shines through. It’s a perfect first cake for a baby!
Step-by-Step Instructions
This smash cake is very easy to make, even if you aren’t a regular baker. Here’s a look at the steps involved. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full info.
- Start with very ripe bananas. The browner they are, the sweeter they will be! Add to a blender and blend into a puree.
- Add to a medium bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
- Prepare your 6-inch cake pans by coating with nonstick spray and adding a round of parchment paper. This will ensure that the cakes come out of the pans easily once they are baked.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake and let cool in the pans.
TIP: You may also like my Vanilla Oat Smash Cake.
How to Make Natural Frosting with Blueberries
Here’s a look at the general process for making the blueberry frosting.
- Place the freeze dried fruit into a blender or spice grinder. Blend to make a fine powder.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and the powder to a medium bowl. Beat.
- Spread some of the frosting onto one cake. Top with the second cake and add more frosting on top.
- Frost the sides to finish.
What’s the texture of this cake like?
This cake is moist and fairly sturdy for being made without eggs. It is a little denser than a standard birthday cake due to the banana and whole wheat flour.
How sweet is the cake?
This cake doesn’t have any added sugars, so the sweetness comes from the bananas and blueberries. It’s not very sweet like a traditional cake, but it has a pleasant flavor that both of my daughters enjoyed when they taste-tested it.
TIP: Do not expect this to taste as sweet as a store-bought birthday cake because it’s not!
Eggless Cake Recipe
I regularly get requests for egg-free recipes, so I wanted this cake to be made without eggs but taste as good for those kids who can have eggs, too. It holds together nicely and has a good texture without the inclusion of eggs.
Can I make the frosting a different color?
You can! You can use any kind of freeze-dried fruit. Strawberries to make a pretty pink color. Raspberries may be too tart, but you can certainly try and see what you think.
Make-Ahead Birthday Cake
You can bake the cakes a day ahead of when you plan to serve if that helps you to stay on top of your celebration to-do list. Simply let them cool completely in the pans, then store in the fridge in airtight containers or zip-top gallon bags. (I put the cakes still in the pans right into zip-top bags and stored them that way—so easy!)
1st Birthday Cake for Girls
This is a pretty cake for a birthday girl, especially one who loves fresh berries. You can change up the color by using different freeze-dried fruit if you’d like.
First Birthday Cake for Baby Boys
I love that this cake is so fresh and flavorful for a first birthday. For a girl or a boy!
How to Store
You can make the cakes a day ahead. Let cool and store in the fridge in airtight containers. Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.
Plan to frost the cake on the same day as you want to serve it. It can hang out in the fridge for a few hours as needed. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow it to soften up a little, as it will firm up in the fridge.
Best Tips for Success
- Dairy-free: Use melted coconut oil instead of the butter in the cake and plain or vanilla nondairy Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese in the frosting. (If using vanilla nondairy yogurt, omit the vanilla extract.)
- Gluten-free: Use cup-for-cup gluten-free flour instead of whole wheat.
- To make this with homemade oat flour: Blend ¾ cup rolled oats in a blender or food processor for about 30 seconds until they resemble a flour. Measure out ½ cup of your oat flour and proceed with the recipe.
- You can also use freeze-dried strawberries instead of blueberries to make a pink-frosted cake.
- To make this as a larger two-layer 8-inch cake, follow the same steps but bake for 18-20 minutes.
- Sweeten frosting to taste, if desired, with 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe if you try it, so please rate and comment below!
Blueberry Smash Cake (First Birthday Cake)
Ingredients
Blueberry Cake
- 4 medium bananas (very ripe with lots of brown spots is best for flavor)
- 1¼ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (or plain whole milk yogurt)
- 1 cup blueberries
Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup freeze-dried blueberries
- 12 ounces cream cheese (softened at room temperature; I prefer full fat)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extra
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 6-inch cake pans with nonstick spray and line with rounds of parchment paper. Grease again with nonstick spray.
- Add the bananas to a blender. Blend into a puree. Measure out 1 ½ cups.
- Add to a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Stir together gently.
- Divide in half and pour into prepared cake pans. (You’ll use about 1 ½ cup batter in each.)
- Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cake comes out cleanly.
- Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Let cool completely in the pan.
- Make the Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting. Add the freeze-dried blueberries to a blender or clean spice grinder. Grind into a powder. Measure out ¼ cup of the powder and add to a medium bowl. Add the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract. Beat until very smooth with a handheld electric mixer.
- When ready to frost, place one cake, parchment paper removed, on a cardboard cake round or plate. Top with ⅓ cup of the frosting. Remove the parchment paper from the second cake and place on top of the frosting. Add the rest of the frosting on top and spread over the top and around the sides.
- Sprinkle on additional freeze-dried or fresh blueberries if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Dairy-free: Use melted coconut oil instead of the butter in the cake. For the frosting, use plain or vanilla nondairy Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese and omit the butter. (If using vanilla nondairy yogurt, omit the vanilla extract.)
- Gluten-free: Use cup-for-cup gluten-free flour instead of whole wheat.
- You can also use freeze-dried strawberries instead of blueberries to make a pink cake.
- To make this as a larger two-layer 8-inch cake, follow the same steps but bake for 18-20 minutes.
- Sweeten frosting to taste, if desired, with 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey.
- You can make the cakes a day ahead. Let cool and store in the fridge in airtight containers.
Nutrition
This post was first published July 2019.
Hello! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes – especially this eggless one! My daughter is allergic so this will be perfect for her 1st birthday. I was wondering if you think substituting the fresh blueberries for fresh strawberries in the cake would work? I’m going to do a strawberry frosting and thought maybe strawberry in the cake would be nice too. Thank you again 🙂
Sure, I think you could use diced strawberries for sure! Enjoy it!
Hi! I plan on baking a cake for my son’s first birthday. I’ve recently made a similar blueberry frosting, but with cashews in order for it to be vegan.
The problem is that the colour of this frosting tends to get darker if you leave it in the fridge. Would a cake glass cover be sufficient to keep the colour purple? I wouldn’t want to go decorate the cake exactly before serving it as I would have guests in the house already… what would you recommend? Thanks!
Hi- In my experience with this, the color held nicely and only started to darken after about 24 hours. I think if you frost it before the guests arrive and cover it in the fridge, it should stay the same color since that likely wouldn’t more than a few hours? I hope you have a great time celebrating!
I’ll give it a go, I must have not covered it properly last time since it kept well for you for so many hours. I hope it will turn out as nice as yours 🙂 Thanks!
Hi! I am going to make this cake for my daughter’s 1st birthday, but I only have 9-inch pans. Do you have any recommendations for changing this recipe for a double layer 9-inch cake? Thanks!
To make as a two layer 9-inch cake, you can use this recipe and bake for 16-18 minutes. The cakes will be much thinner though. I would line the pans with parchment and let them cool completely in the pan and be gentle when transferring them to the cake plate. To have them as thick as the layers shown here, you’d need to double the recipe and then I would guess that the baking time would be closer to 28-30 (I haven’t done that so that’s my best guess). I’d love to hear how it goes if you try it!
For the frosting i found a non-dairy cream cheese i would like to use but i would like to use something instead of the butter. Cant find non-dairy greek yogurt in the grocery stores here. What do you suggest for butter sub ?
Vegan butter? Or I think you could use all cream cheese.
Could you freeze this cake?
I haven’t tested that but I think it would work if you let it cool fully and wrapped it well. Plan to make the frosting on the day you plan to serve it though.
Hi. Just baked this in an 8” pan and it seems very thin. I’m wondering if I doubled the ingredients if it would bake for the same amount of time? Hoping to bake thicker layers. Smells amazing.
Hi- I think you’d need to bake it longer if it was doubled. Maybe in the 28-30 minute range.
Hi, baking noob here, first time making cake for my girl first birthday. I have a few questions:
1. I only have fresh blueberries here, how can use them? Can I just put them in the freeze then use as the freeze dried ones?
2. Over here we use more metric system like grams for measuring. What is your conversion from cup to grams? I see online there’s all kinds of numbers.
Hi- for the frosting, I would make it plain, then decorate the top with fresh berries. It won’t work the same to use them like I did the freeze-dried ones here. I am in the process of adding a conversion to metric and will try to do it today or tomorrow. (I test all of my recipes in cups though.)
Had the metric conversion been published please?
Yes it’s there. In the recipe card, it’s on US Customary by default, so just click Metric right next to it and it will switch. It’s right by the word “ingredients”
Hi! Can I use fresh blueberries for the frosting ? I don’t have freeze dried and I really need to make the cake now
It won’t turn out the same if you use fresh so I would make the cream cheese frosting plain and decorate with fresh berries.
Can I use dried blueberries or do they have to be freeze dried? Not sure where to find freeze dried blueberries in Nova Scotia but I think I can get dried blueberries at bulk barn.
Made this for my twins first birthday and they loved it! Now I make it monthly for them to eat.
I love hearing that!
Hello~
Can I make it with almond flour? Thank you!
Camilla 🙂
Almond flour usually isn’t a good substitute for regular flour since it absorbs liquid very differently, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
We made this for my youngest daughter’s 1st birthday party! She is allergic to eggs, peanuts, and sesame, so I was happy to find something that was egg-free, not loaded with sugar, and also yummy! We used 2 TBSP of seedless strawberry jam instead of the freeze-dried berries to make the icing a slight pink hue. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear it and happy birthday to your daughter!
Can I make this entirely with oat flour instead of whole wheat flour?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure!
Hi there,
I hope to try your recipe for my daughter’s birthday this week! I was just wondering if I could add eggs to make it lighter/fluffier?
Would I need to adjust the wet ingredients if I do add in 1-2eggs?
Thanks in advance!
I haven’t tested it that way but I bet you could reduce the mashed banana by 1/2 cup and add 2 eggs. Let me know if you try it and happy birthday to your daughter!
Hi Amy!
Love your blog and all the great nutritious baby safe recipes!
Great idea for using freeze dried berries for the frosting. Would you say the frosting is versatile enough that it can also be put into a piping bag so I can squeeze it out to make little flowers with it?
Hi- I think so. It’s primarily cream cheese, so that’s similar to the final texture. It’s not as stiff as buttercream since it doesn’t have powdered sugar, but it’s fairly sturdy!
What amount of time
would you give if you made them as cupcakes?
Probably in the 18-20 minute range (that’s my best guess since I haven’t tried them!)
Could you make the frosting a day in advance too and ice the cake the day you serve it?
You can, but if you do I recommend putting the frosting into a zip top bag and removing as much air as possible before you seal it to keep it the bright color.