7 November, 2014
An Elmo themed vanilla birthday cake (whole wheat, eggless, natural colors)
What’s special about this cake? Not just that it is for a cute little munchkin, a friend’s kid who loves Elmo.
This is my first vanilla-flavored birthday cake. I was able to decorate it with no synthetic food colors, just homemade plant-based colors! Using natural colors was not a criterion, but I wanted to see if it could be worked out. My friend only wanted a non-chocolate cake, and so I took this opportunity to optimize a recipe for a basic vanilla whole wheat cake.
Till yesterday, I did not think it was possible to get a bright red color in frosting. Tried boiled cranberries, but it did not work. I have used natural pink color from beets before, and read on the internet that it can make red too. It was time to test that! I juiced a beet and reduced the juice by boiling, and voila! There it was, a nice red frosting with the humble beet.
What about Elmo’s orange color nose? Surely carrots would work, wouldn’t they? Yes, they did. 🙂 And they both taste delicious!
Wait, what about the black? Any amount of chocolate yields only brown. And guess what came to my rescue, while I was frantically searching for a natural black color… black-strap molasses! This discovery really made me giddy with joy. 🙂
This white cake can be easily made vegan by substituting regular yogurt with soy yogurt.
Folks at Fiesta Friday #41 party, there’s one more cake that we can party with, as guilt-free as I could make it. Hope Angie and co-hosts Nancy and Loretta like it as much as we do!
Elmo themed vanilla cake
Ingredients:
For basic 8″ square vanilla cake:
dry:
whole wheat pastry flour- 2 cup
sugar- 3/4 cup
baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp.
baking soda- 1/2 tsp.
wet:
yogurt- 1 cup (2% or fat free)
canola oil- 1/2 cup
vanilla- 1 1/2 tsp.
Method:
* Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
* Mix wet ingredients in another bowl, add dry to wet in portions.
* Bake at 350 °F for 35 minutes or till a knife inserted in the middle comes clean.
Ingredients for frosting:
organic Spectrum shortening- 2 cups
powdered sugar- about 2 lb.
water- as needed
colors:
red – beet juice concentrate
orange- carrot juice concentrate
black- melted dark chocolate and black-strap molasses
brown- cocoa powder
35 thoughts on : An Elmo themed vanilla birthday cake (whole wheat, eggless, natural colors)
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What a lovely cake and love the fact that you used all healthful ingredients too! Awesome job Apsara! I am sure your friend’s kid would have loved the cute Elmo theme! 🙂
thank you, Indu. Yes, all the kids liked it!
This looks absolutely amazing! Well done!
thanks, Nell. Glad you like it!
Such a fun cake!
It was fun to make! 🙂
Wonderful job…Got excellently!
thanks, Swetha.
Wow stunning Apsara. … what a fabulous cake and love the use of natural colours there and that sounds terrific. … kudos to you lady. …
Very happy that you like it, Chitra!
Love that you make it all natural and healthy!
I did rack my brains in the experiments, but I’m glad it worked out!
Just amazing Apsara, you never cease to impress
you’re very generous, Naina.
Adorable!
thanks, Julie!
I thought for sure you had used beets to make the red icing…but nope! You surprised me again by using cranberries! And then you use carrots and molasses too. Fabulous idea…your creativeness never ceases to amaze me. 🙂 Adorable cake…Elmo looks fabulous all dressed in his beautiful colors! Thanks for sharing your unique ideas with the Fiesta Friday party goers! <3
thank you so much for your generous words, Nancy. You’re a great co-host for our party!
Wow! Clever and creative you!! It seems you were out to just use plant based ingredients and you were very very successful. Love Elmo, you did such a super job. Bravo!
thanks, Loretta!
So cute!! I love Elmo, by the way. I made Elmo cupcakes for my daughter’s 2nd birthday- lots of candy for the decorations- and red food coloring. You did such an impressive job getting a perfect red without it!
Yes, Josette, it is very hard to avoid synthetic colors. I do not think I could have made many cupcakes with this natural color though, that would take a lot of beets and time too!
Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.
This cake is so cute! I’m very impressed with how vibrant you got those natural colours, I know it’s not easy! I bet his mum was happy not to have kids hyped up on artificial colourings!
Thank you for the nice comment, Michelle! Yes, everyone was happy and I felt all the effort was worth it.
Apsara, I could see your excitement in the post and the fun you had while baking this cake…looks awesome!
thank you, Divya. You missed it, but maybe next time!
Looks beautiful and healthy ingredients I like it.
Healthy and yummy cake
Hi Vidya, you’re back. I missed you! thank you!
So sweet of u Apsara:-) I too missed visiting all your pages
Colours made from the humble kitchen is amazing and Elmo seems like enjoying it. Good job, Apsara!
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what a delightful cake again!! you are too good 🙂