21 March, 2014
A healthy birthday party cake- whole wheat carrot, orange cake featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar on carrot frosting (Fiesta Fridays- #8)
I have been busy planning my son’s birthday party to be held tomorrow. He loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, so I decided that is what I would make. If you are not familiar with the book, it is a lovely story about the caterpillar who eats lots of things including fruits, a cupcake, lollipop and cheese over many days and then undergoes metamorphosis to turn into a butterfly.
I decided to make it as healthy as possible, with oranges and carrot and a thin layer of butter cream frosting made with organic un-hydrogenated shortening and vegetable juice for coloring. The caterpillar alone is made with fondant and synthetic colors, just for decoration (who eats fondant props anyway, it does not taste good). Other props are plastic fruits, mini cup cake and a lollipop. Making this was so much fun!
The cake is ready, just in time for Angie’s Fiesta Friday #8 and you all get to taste it virtually before we cut it at the real party!
Ingredients for cake:
whole wheat pastry flour- 4 cups
baking powder- 4 tsp.
baking soda- 3 tsp.
sugar- 2 cups
salt- 1 tsp.
cinnamon- 1/2 tsp.
yogurt- 3/4 cup
milk- 3/4 cup
canola oil- 1 1/4 cup
navel oranges- 2
grated carrot- 3 1/2 cup
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 °F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon powder in a bowl.
2. Peel orange roughly, trim the edges and chop into big chunks. Blend it along with the yogurt.
3. Add orange mixture, milk and oil to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in grated carrot.
4. Pour batter into greased 10 ” and 6 ” pans lined with parchment paper. Bake for 1 hr.
5. Make another batch of the same and arrange the layers with cherry filling in between. Use separator plate for the layers.
Ingredients for frosting:
Spectrum organic shortening- 2 cups
powdered sugar- about 1.5 lbs.
carrot juice- about 5 tbsp.
beet juice- 2 tbsp.
Method for frosting:
Beat frosting ingredients with a mixer and decorate!
68 thoughts on : A healthy birthday party cake- whole wheat carrot, orange cake featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar on carrot frosting (Fiesta Fridays- #8)
Awwww…… How sweet. And what a wonderful gift for you son….. Happy birthday to your son.
Thank you, Aruna.
Wow! Healthy, and so creative! You did a great job on that….absolutely gorgeous!
thank you, Lori
What a creative cake – I love it!
thanks, celeste. Actually, I got some ideas to make the caterpillar from pintrest, the best resource for cake decoration.
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Whoa! Lucky family of yours to have a fun, delicious AND healthy-as-possible cake! And of course, the caterpillar is the icing on the cake!! 🙂
thank you Priya. Yes, my kids love the caterpillar!
This cake is adorable! Very happy birthday wishes to your son:)
thank you, Nancy. I will pass on your wishes…
Apsara, this is such a fun and adorable cake–perfect for a child’s birthday party. Happy birthday to your son!
thanks, Ngan, I’ll pass on your wishes
What a neat idea. This cake can be eaten without any guilt. Good job.
thank you, Sadia.
Brilliant cake!!!
thank you, Elaine
Uhm, Apsara, do you take orders? Seriously, that looks beautiful and it’s so much healthier than your regular birthday cakes! You did an exceptional job! We’ve been reading the Hungry Caterpillar this week in school. 🙂
Btw, Apsara, the Fiesta Friday badge that you post here on your footer leads to an error message when clicked. If you go back to your widget, you can link it to either my Fiesta Friday page or a post on your blog. That way it won’t have that error message. Let me know if you have questions.
thanks, Angie. I will check the FF badge and correct it.
Angie, how do I link it to a page? Having trouble with the widget, don’t know how to add a URL in it.
Try image widget instead. It’s a lot easier. On the bottom, there will be a place for you to link the URL of the page. Give that a try, and let me know how you make out.
got it, thank you!
What a lovely cake Apsara! My munchkin loves ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ too 🙂
thank you!
Awesome job Apsara! Not only a healthy cake but also so beautiful! Well done! Happy Birthday to your son! I am sure he must have loved it!
Yes, he did love it! thank you, Indu
Great Apsara! This is really wonderful… Happy Birthday to your son!
thanks, Harini! I will pass on my wishes.
What a fun cake! Love the caterpillar 🙂
yes, it was fun to make. thank you!
I would love to have a healthy birthday party. What a great idea!
thanks, Liz
Such a great cake, Apsara! As always so healthy and well thought. Happy birthday to the little birthday boy 🙂
Thank you, I’ll convey your wishes 🙂
What a lovely cake! Happy Birthday to your son 😀
thank you, Abby!
That is an amazing cake! Happy birthday to your boy! 😀
thanks, Nell
Sooooo cute!
thanks!
Happy birthday to the little one! The cake looks professional… very well made.
thank you Namrata, I will wish him on your behalf.
This is seriously so cool! I’m a little jealous!
🙂
Lovely! Love to get a piece of that cake! Your son would have been very happy! Enjoy!
thanks, Sridevi. Yes, the kids liked it!
Happy birthday to the sunny boy, Apsara 🙂
The cake looks so awesome and yumm…..I am sure that your son loved it..
yes, he did 🙂
That caterpillar on top is absolutely adorable!!!
yes, isn’t it?
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Thank you for dropping by my blog. Loving yours! This cake is just so adorable and it is so wonderful that something this pretty can be so healthy!
thank you, Afra, for visiting my space and this nice comment!
🙂 the pleasure is all mine. Looking forward to coming back to see your posts. Don’t be a stranger, drop by, I always like reading comments and feedback!
We so love that book in my house too. This cake is awesome and true to the illustrations!
thank you!
So cute! The Hungry Caterpillar is one of my favorite children’s books!
yes, Allison. I love the book too, especially the video that I happened to find on Netflix too!
Now that looks fantastic!! 🙂 You have a great blog!
thank you!
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Your cake is just beautiful! I’m sure your son just loved it. I remember reading that book over and over again when my kids were little. Your cake brings back good memories! Thanks for sharing the recipe and picture!
thanks, Shari. Yes, I hear the book is a classic, my son recites every line. I’m glad you like the cake.
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Hi Apsara,
I made the cake with your recipe for Karthik’s birthday. It came out so nice. Thanks for posting eggless cake. We all liked it along with my daughter.
Sushma, I’m so glad it came out well for you and my belated wishes to Karthik! You made my day. 🙂
I made this on Friday for Marten’s birthday (of course without the Hungry Caterpillar theme) and it was delicious!!! It was the best egg free cake I have made (by far) and everyone at our house loved it!!!
I am so glad that you found this useful, Trisha. This is a favorite in our house too! Thanks for the feedback.