Georgina Hayden

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A perfect first birthday cake, with not an ounce of added sugar

06.18.2018 by georgie // 20 Comments

I have been on a mission the last few weeks. I wanted to create a birthday cake for Persephone that is:

– not full of sugar, honey and maple syrup. That is actually free from any added sugars.

– isn’t full of weird stabilisers/ strange ingredients/ obscure fillers

– tastes delicious, doesn’t just look good

I read, and researched, and read – SO many recipes. I feel like I’ve got to place where I can vaguely suss out a recipe on reading it. I don’t think I’m perfect by any means, and I’m prepared to be proven wrong, but gosh so many of them included weird substitutions. No I don’t want gluten free, or vegan, or beans in my cake. I just want to make a delicious cake that hasn’t got any added sugar in it. And I’m happy to say I got there. Now I hate it when people ‘write’ recipes which they have just ripped off from somewhere/ someone else and tweaked one or two things. Not cool. So to be totally clear, I found a sweet recipe on the Waitrose website which is what inspired the one below. No fussy ingredients. Super quick and easy. If cake making isn’t your bag, I urge you to still give this a try. I promise you this is the least intimidating one you’ll find.

It is truly delicious, a flavoursome cake that is moist and moreish. For Pea’s birthday I made two times the recipe and layered them up with double the quantity of the cream cheese frosting recipe below. However, you genuinely don’t need it if you want to stay 100% away from anything sweet. The cake is dreamy enough on its own.

 

Apple + Cinnamon No Sugar Cake

(The layer cake above is 2 x this recipe)

  • 150g butter, at room temperature
  • 125g medjool dates
  • 3 apples, around 325g in weight
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 large eggs
  • 80g ground almonds
  • 75g self raising flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  1. Preheat your oven to 180/ gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin.
  2. Peel the apples, and roughly chop, discarding the core. Place in a food processor and add the butter cut into chunks. Tear in the dates, discarding the stones. Blitz till smooth, then add the remaining ingredients. Pulse until just come together.
  3. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin, level it out and place in the middle of the oven. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

 

 

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

(This makes enough for one cake, if you want to achieve what I did with Persephone’s cake, double the recipe below. Equally if you really don’t want to use any sugar, leave out the maple and just finely grate in the zest of an orange, it still works I promise).

  • 1 x 280g pack of full fat cream cheese
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Beat the cream cheese in a mixing bowl with the maple syrup until just mixed together. Use to top the cake. Or, if you are making a double batch of cakes (2 sponges), double the cream cheese quantity, and use to fill and cream coat the cake too.

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Categories // Baking & puddings, Cake decorating, Celebration, Parenting, Pregnancy and Parenting

Comments

  1. Kim Somauroo says

    June 18, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    Sounds delicious as well as healthier!

    Reply
    • georgie says

      November 18, 2018 at 1:53 pm

      Absolutely! I imagine so x

      Reply
  2. Emma says

    June 18, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    Yum! I often add courgettes, bananas, anything but sugar to cakes and muffins these days for my daughter (& me & my husband!). They still taste great but are way healthier. Although I have to admit I didn’t for her birthday cake this year (she’s 6). I’ll be trying this once I can get my hands on some dates (hard to come by in Seoul). Happy first birthday Persephone x

    Reply
    • georgie says

      November 18, 2018 at 1:54 pm

      Thank you! Love all this and totally agree. I imagine when P is 6 she’ll want a full sugar number too but its all about balance right?!

      Reply
  3. Lauren says

    June 19, 2018 at 11:30 am

    That’s a beautiful cake! I’m totally making it this week.

    Reply
    • georgie says

      July 3, 2018 at 9:48 pm

      Thats! I hope you like it!

      Reply
  4. Marije says

    June 21, 2018 at 9:21 am

    Sounds great! How did you make the elderflower lemon + almond cake?

    Reply
    • georgie says

      July 3, 2018 at 9:47 pm

      Hello! I will write that up soon I promise x

      Reply
  5. Nadja says

    June 25, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    Has anyone tried using coconut oil as opposed to butter?

    Reply
    • georgie says

      July 3, 2018 at 9:48 pm

      I havent, Im afraid, I imagine it would work well though.

      Reply
  6. Emma Merritt says

    June 27, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    Hello! LOVE the sound of this recipe, going to test it out this weekend. Couple of questions: to create the layered version, did you bake one big cake with double the mixture and then slice into 3 layers, or did you bake separate cakes? And once iced with the cream cheese does it need to be kept in the fridge? Thanks! Xx

    Reply
    • georgie says

      July 3, 2018 at 9:47 pm

      Hi Emma!
      I baked two separate cakes, and split them into two. I only used 3 of the sponges as we ate the 4th to test it! And yes, I would keep in the fridge but if its there for too long the cream cheese starts to crackle a little. Its fine, mine did, I just smoothed over it with a palette knife. Hope you like it! x

      Reply
  7. Tom says

    October 31, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Thank you for the lovely recipe. I made this yesterday without blending, just finely chopped the apple and dates and it worked great. Served with a wedge of Stilton

    Reply
    • georgie says

      November 18, 2018 at 1:55 pm

      OOOOH love that! What a fab idea x

      Reply
  8. Jenny Gatenby says

    April 9, 2021 at 8:17 pm

    Could I use flax egg instead of egg or an egg replacement powder?

    Reply
    • georgie says

      April 11, 2022 at 8:14 pm

      Hi Jenny,
      I haven’t experimented with any egg alternatives but I imagine an egg replacement powder would be fine. Let me know how you get on!
      G

      Reply
  9. Morgan Tarver says

    June 25, 2021 at 2:51 pm

    Newbie question. Could you use almond flour instead of ground almonds?

    Reply
    • georgie says

      April 11, 2022 at 7:51 pm

      Hi Morgan,
      As with another poster – you can use flour but the almonds give moisture so it will need less flour. Use 75g of flour and it should be ok – the fruit in the recipe should bring enough moisture for it to work.
      Good luck!
      G

      Reply
  10. Andrea says

    January 14, 2022 at 1:07 pm

    This cake sounds amazing. If I omit the almonds, would I add the same amount of extra self raising flour instead? Would that work? Thanks

    Reply
    • georgie says

      April 11, 2022 at 7:47 pm

      Hi Andrea,
      You could definitely do that but bear in mind the almonds do add moisture. Use 75g self raising flour and it should be ok as there is lots of fruit.
      Good luck!
      G

      Reply

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Georgina is an award winning food writer, cook and presenter from North London.
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