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Kate writes in with a cake decorating question:
I’m not sure if this is a typical whipup question, but I’m sure that there’s a crafty solution out there somewhere, so maybe someone can
help….My daughter will be having her first birthday later this year and I’m planning on making her a healthy cake – free of refined sugar and that kind of thing, but I’m stuck when it comes to decorating ideas. Obviously the usual icing/frosting with lollies/sweets, licorice etc won’t be an option, so I was wondering if anyone has any creative or crafty ideas for decorating a cake?
It would be wonderful if the whipup readers could get my creative juices cooking!!
Thanks so much, I LOVE LOVE LOVE whip up!!
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
When my kids were littler and we could get away with healthier cakes, I made an “icing” that consisted of cream cheese and unsweetened apple butter sort of whipped up together (I don’t remember the proportions, I think we just kind of winged it). It was pretty good. Maybe you could use dried fruit arranged on top for decoration? Anyway, good luck!
How about using cream cheese or mascapone cheese? An idea I use in summer is to semi freeze yoghurt and spatula it over the cake and then freeze the cake…. which is normally carrot and take it out of the freezer five minutes before serving. I sometimes make an ice cream cake out of yoghurt as well…. they will never know the difference and with fresh berries…. YUM! I am a professional cake decorator from Australia and would be happy to ‘email chat’ about my ideas I have for this ‘dilemma’. You can catch me at elswyk@ecn.net.au.
xox Nicole
Sorry, I put in the wrong website addy before. xox Nicole
what about edible flowers? at one year old, she won’t know that’s not dora on there. . .and some are bright and colorful which will get her attention. or even ribbon? i think i saw that in a recent martha stewart weddings, but i don’t know which one.
There are lots of things you can do! For instance, I used dried mango slices cut into triangles for my toddler’s dinosaur cake a few years back.
All I can think of is fruit, fruit, fruit. Layered slices of kiwi, strawberries, peaches? You could do a long shaving of something like an Asian pear, and roll it up like a ribbon rose? Use citrus rinds as confetti spirals all over the top and spilling over the sides? Are you getting a visual on any of this or am I only making sense to myself? :0)
For my sons first birthday cake we used plain joghurt. You take a strainer and line it with cloth (cheesecloth?), put it over a bowl and dump the joghurt into the strainer. You leave it in the fridge over night (or longer) so a lot of the liquid will have drained. Then you can use it pretty much like whipped cream.
The cake was a strawberry sponge cake and about half the joghurt was used combined with the berries for the filling.
My mum made that cake, so I don’t know how well piping a design with the joghurt would really work, plus it’s been 5 years. But the joghurt tasted very good, and the cake wasn’t soggy at all. Maybe you can give it a try with a small amount of joghurt and see how you like it.
Otherwise: real whipped cream, not Coolwhip or something like that. Frozen or fresh fruit for decorating, chocolate from the healthfood store? I don’t know how the selection is in the US (I’m from germany), but I don’t think you can go wrong with a fruit cake and a candle on top ;-)
For the frosting I would use a small container of Heavy Cream and add 2-3 packets of splenda to the cream prior to whipping.
I would also recommend the whipping cream- but with maple syrup instead of Splenda. Maple syrup is loaded with calcium AND it’s a whole food.
Natural fruit leather works well for decorations too. Cut out flowers and leaves, etc. You can stack it to make great colour combinations.
I bet you could whip up a healthy icing alternative with cream cheese and fruit. You could use fruit juice as a sweetener and maybe even a little bit of beet juice for a beautiful rosey color! As far as extra decorations go, I’d bet edible flowers, asian style carved would work beautifully:)
How about edible flowers? If you’re okay with a bit of sugar, you can frost them in a sugar syrup and let them dry.
How about a berry syrup? or nuts?
When my daughter turned two, we used fruit and soy yogurt on her cake. It was pretty yummy!
Unsweetened whipped cream (which I actually prefer to sweetened) and sliced fresh fruit like berries, kiwi fruit, madarine segments, stone fruits … the possibilities are endless!
Likewise a cream cheese frosting sweetened with orange juice (whip them together with a beater) is really nice – add some chopped dried fruits to the top, such as apricots, pineapple and berries.
Edible flowers look great. You can also dust the cake with powdered sugar. Use a stencil for interesting shapes – can you get it in different colors? Dust the cake just before serving, because the moisture of your cake will absorb the powdered sugar and make it ‘disappear’ after a while.
kate is that you? if so, your cake turned out so deliciously! yay for yummy cake! (if this is another kate, i’m sure your cake will be good too! :)
I’d try a paper doily stencil with a strong contrast spice like cinnamon, or cocoa for a white cake.
I like the fruit shapes ideas. Many Bento box sites have cutely carved bits of fruit and vegetables.
A bundt pan makes the shape of the cake the decoration, and needs very little or no icing.
When I was small the most amazing thing was a doll in my cake. My mother often made angle food cake ( no fat ) and we would have whipped cream and barries to put on the skirt (cake) just be fore the candles were lit. I remember the wonder of my doll becoming a pretty princess. Baggie the lower half if it is cloth or buy a plastic birthday cake doll to use for all those special occasions ahead.
For decoration on one of my kids’ cakes, I decided against attempting to use icing to and simulate a picture she would like. Instead, I printed up a picture that I had created on the computer using a combination of images I found on the web. I dipped the paper in melted paraffin wax making sure that the paper was coated front and back. After I iced the cake (and you could use any icing being suggested–it doesn’t have to be sugar-based) I carefully laid the picture on top. After the candles were blown out. I just pulled it off the top before slicing the cake.
I have added raspberry puree to frosting to make it pink. My girls loved that. You could also smooth a colorful fruit puree over the top of a cake and then pipe whatever you are using for frosting around the edges.
Also, I second the adding an actual toy to the cake idea. One of my daughters is obsessed with My Little Ponies, so one year I put a new one on her cake, which made her very happy.