Tastey Tuesday - 1st Birthday Cake

With Rylee's first birthday coming up I made a trial cake for a little photo shoot we did at Sears. I decided on a carrot cake as an healthier alternative for her (although the icing is far from healthy :P but everyone's allowed a treat now and then right).

This recipe I found is good for one double 8" round cake which I found on a great website that I've used frequently for information and recipes on making baby food. 

(Check out Wholesome Homemade Baby Food)

Grocery List:
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots
2 1/2 cups apple juice concentrate (you may use slightly less)
1 1/2 cups raisins
Vegetable Spray/Shortening
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (which I made from scratch)
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 Tbsp low sodium baking powder
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the bottoms of two 8 inch circle cake pans with waxed paper and spray the paper with vegetable spray/shortening.

Step 1: First combine the carrots with 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the juice concentrate in a medium size saucepan.
 

Step 2: Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer with a cover. Simmer until carrots are tender about 15 to 20 mins. Puree in a food processor until smooth. Add the raisins and blend until finely chopped. Let mixture cool.
 

Step 3: While the carrots are cooking combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups apple juice, the oil, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla; beat just until well mixed. Once mixed fold in the carrot puree and applesauce. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
 

Step 4: Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 mins. Cool briefly in the pans, then turn onto wire racks to cool completely. When cool, frost with a cream cheese frosting which you can find a sugar free recipe on the wholesome foods website (I might try it for her actual birthday cake), for this cake I made a vanilla butter cream frosting and sprinkled rainbow dots all over the top.

This was the first real sweet thing we have given Rylee and at the photo shoot she was so adorable. I totally expected he to dive right into it but she was a classy lady and pinched the icing with two fingers and ate it barely making any kind of mess. She giggled the whole time and was bouncing up and down so I will take that as a sign she loved it! I can't wait till she see her real birthday cake which will be SOOO much better (thank goodness for a cake decorating Godmother!).