a lovely living

I swear I was just in the hospital after giving birth to my sweet baby girl and yet today she is officially one year old! Is it too cliche to say time flies? Because it certainly is! Amongst the Mother’s Day celebrations yesterday, we also had Audrey dedicated at our church and celebrated her first birthday…it was quite a whirlwind! I had so much fun prepping for her party…I love decorating on my own terms, before they grow up and decide they want a monster truck/football/princess/sesame street party ;) I have a bunch of shots from her day, but I also wanted to share the recipe for her smash cake that I made (although nothing was smashed, she seemed quite confused until I cut it up for her…apparently she wasn’t up for the mess!). It’s a healthier version of cake and since it wasn’t destroyed everyone tried it and loved it! I iced it and topped it with fresh flowers and a ‘one’ banner from Glam Banners (so cute, isn’t it?!). One of my favorite cakes, for sure.

I printed out a bunch of my Instagram pics using Postal Pix to displayed around the party.

This is her ‘cheese’ :)

Banana Baby Cake via Sugary & Buttery:

INGREDIENTS

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup oatmeal (ground oats)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup oil
• ¼ cup plain applesauce {unsweetened}
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large bananas, mashed

• FOR THE FROSTING:
• 1 stick butter
• 1.5 packages (12oz) cream cheese
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• food coloring (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325°F and grease three 5 inch cake pans, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, excluding the sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.
3. In a different bowl, whip sugar, oil and applesauce together. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mashed banana. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
4. Divide batter amongst cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool completely.
5. To make the frosting, whip butter with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, add milk and powdered sugar. Keep whipping until it becomes creamy, for about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and whip until fluffy, 5 minutes. Add food coloring (if using) and whip until incorporated.
6. Layer, frost and decorate with flowers, sprinkles etc.