Cake Alternatives

If you don’t want your 1-year-old to be on a sugar high at his or her very first birthday party, here are some alternatives to serving a big piece of regular birthday cake:

• Serve mini-cupcakes (and mini-doses of sugar!).
• Make a small, somewhat healthy cake for your birthday kid, like a banana or carrot cake.
• Substitute an alternative sweetener for sugar in your cake recipe, but make sure to note the differences between regular sugar and the sweetener before you start to bake.
• Serve a small piece of ice cream cake.

Chances are good that you could even get away with having a regular cake; just have your kid blow out the candle, eat a bit for the picture, and then give him or her some juice and bring out a game to play. Your kid probably won’t even realize that there’s cake left! Now, why can’t I learn that trick??