Birthday Party

On January 5th, we celebrated having our Monkey for one whole year! A year has gone by so fast and I really wanted to make her first birthday something special. After she freaked out at Thanksgiving having so many people around who wanted to adore her, we decided to split the festivities into two events: One party for friends and one party for family. And I decided to make as healthy a cake as I could, so I opted for a sugarless cake with unsweetened whipped cream frosting. Both my hubby and I were skeptical so I made a trail batch and... YUM! So I made two sheets ready for the parties.

Ah. The best laid plans.

On the fifth, our Monkey got sick for the first time! Happy birthday! So of course we had to cancel the first party since it was being held on her birthday. It was a nasty stomach virus that lasted 24 hours. I only know because after Monkey got better, Hubby got sick. When Hubby got better, I got sick. Party number two canceled since 1) I was so sick on the day of the party it was gross and 2) we figured since it rounded this family in three days it must have been highly contagious. So I had these beautiful cakes stashed in the fridge with both parties canceled. Drat.

After a few days and the Monkey Virus going around to a few more family members who braved the quarantine, we decided to invite family to come for a week-late birthday party. I got decorations up haphazardly and went to decorating the cake.

 3-layer sheet cake for the adults.

3-tiered cake for the Monkey

We had a great time watching Monkey dig into her cake and presents. She LOVED the cake (the adults, however, were underwhelmed.) I decided that it might be better to try the cake recipe as morning muffins and it worked great! The best part is that you can put all sorts of stuff in them... Dried fruit, dark chocolate chips, shredded carrots, nuts, and the list goes on! So, after the adorable picture of Monkey digging into her birthday cake, get the recipe for Monkey's Morning Muffins!

1/2 C butter, melted
2 eggs
1T liquid sweetener (I think this is supposed to be a sugar alternative, but I used honey.)
1-1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
2 medium bananas, mashed (which equals about 1/2 C)
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 "chunks" (dried fruit, nuts, chips, etc.)

Preheat oven to 300 F. Sift together all the dry ingredients. Mix together all the wet ingredients and incorporate the dry stuff gradually to make an evenly developed batter. Mix in chunks. Bake time will vary on method:
Sheet cakes=20 minutes
Muffins=35 minutes (or longer)
Loaf=50 minutes (or until springy-ish in the middle)

And if you try it, let me know what you think!