Refined Sugar Free Banana Cake Recipe / First Birthday Smash Cake Recipe

For my friend's daughter's very first birthday, I was enlisted to create a refined sugar-free, baby-friendly cake (also known as a 'smash cake' in some parts). My sugar free banana cake recipe only uses ripe bananas and dates to naturally sweeten the cake.

I used pure full-fat coconut milk to make the frosting for this first run. I also came up with a last-minute hack by cooking it with cornflour and making a sort of pastry cream for the actual birthday because it was a really hot day and the cakes needed to travel for an hour and a bit. I'll post that recipe another time, but for now this recipe is great for regular days when it's not baking hot and the cakes can be served from home / don't have to travel before being eaten.

Apparently this is also known as a 'smash cake' in some parts, because the idea is baby can grab the cake with their hands and get messy if they like.

You can also see how to make this with my YouTube video:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Cake:

200g Medjool dates, pitted
250ml boiling water
3 super-ripe bananas
115g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
285g self-raising flour

Ingredients for Frosting:

2–3 x 400ml cans of full-fat coconut milk, left in the fridge overnight (two if spreading thinly, three if piping patterns)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, line a 26 x 36cm baking tray with non-stick greaseproof paper, and very lightly grease it.

1. Soak the dates in the boiling water for 15 minutes, and then blend until smooth.

2. Mash the bananas in a bowl, mash in the butter, then beat in the eggs and blended dates.

3. Stir in the flour until just combined and smooth, and pour into your prepared pan. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean.

4. Leave to cool completely while you make the frosting.

5. To make the frosting, simply open your cans at the top and scoop out the solidified coconut cream into a bowl. Whisk until fluffy.

6. Cut the cake into discs using a large cookie cutter, and stack up, using the coconut cream to sandwich the layers together and frost the outsides.

Enjoy, and have fun.