Have you ever heard of a smoothie cake before? Basically it’s very much like an ice cream cake, but made with smoothie instead of ice cream. Yes, a hard concept to wrap your head around, I know. Why change up something as perfect as ice cream cake?
Let me tell you why. Ice cream, while delicious, is full of sugar. Sugar presents a variety of problems when included in human diets, especially when the human is your child and you are happier when they are calm and able to control their bodies and voices (or, as able as they ever are, anyhow). We learned the hard way during our family travels in Colombia that sugar has some pretty phenomenal effects on tiny little bodies and systems that aren’t used to the energy overload. “Sure, we’re on vacation” got used a few too many times, and while a lollipop offered to your child might quell the storm in the moment, it’s a sure fire way to make moods, listening and cooperation skills, and energy levels go all haywire.
Before the trip that ruined my toddlers blissful ignorance of sweets and sugar, we were very careful to keep sugar – especially refined sugar – out of her diet. When other parents were dealing with meltdowns and frustrations after doling out chocolates and cotton candy, we held strong to our commitment to keep our little one sugar-free. Oh, how I miss those days. Once you taste that sweet, sweet deliciousness, you can never go back. We try to keep the sweets to a minimum, but have you ever tried telling a toddler who has tasted the sweet nectar, that they can’t have a cookie when you yourself are inhaling one? Not an easy task, my friends. You may find yourself ducking behind counters and in closets shoving oreos in your slobbery little trap to keep your little one from catching you.
But, let’s get back to the smoothie cake recipe.
For my daughter’s first birthday I tried my hand at sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan cupcakes (if you know someone who is a celiac, or you live on health-conscious Salt Spring Island, gluten-free and vegan is a must for gatherings). While the whipped topping was deliciously sweetened with flavoured stevia, the cupcakes were absolutely awful. I can only blame myself because, as usual, I “tweaked” the recipe to suit my needs without properly substituting. Oops.
When Z’s second birthday rolled around, I had a new plan for a cake that everyone could eat. Having seen and tasted the most beautiful smoothie cake at another baby’s birthday party, I knew I had to try it for our own celebration.
I’m not going to complicate things for you. The basic method to making a smoothie cake is to make a smoothie, pour it into a cake pan, and freeze it. Voila! Smoothie cake!
Because I wanted to replicate the beautiful coloured layers of the first smoothie cake we experienced, we made the cake over a period of a few days, to give each layer time to freeze. This worked well, since each day I could offer my toddler a bit of healthy smoothie as a snack. We made four different layers: green, yellow, purple and red.
Since the cake was supposed to look like a field on top, as a base for the little farm animals for Z’s farm-themed birthday party (I know it sounds like it might have been a well-put-together party – trust me, I’m not that mom, I just slapped a couple semi-farmy things together in a room), we made the green layer first. You see, it would be the flattest part, so when taken out of the pan and flipped over, the green would be on top.
To make the green smoothie we used:
To make the red layer:
To make the yellow layer:
To make the blue purple layer (a naturally coloured blue smoothie is not an option, I quickly realized, seeing as blueberries are not truly blue):
The cake turned out to look pretty cool, if I do say so myself, and tasted delicious (once we got it cut and it had a chance to thaw a bit). There were a bunch of comments on how unique and cool it was. After everyone had eaten their slice, we cut the remaining cake into pieces and wrapped them in plastic wrap to keep in the freezer. This made for a few easy-smoothie days later on, where I could grab a piece of frozen smoothie cake for myself and my toddler to share in a bowl. If we let the cake thaw for long enough, it turned into a liquid smoothie bowl (like a smoothie soup) which we could eat on it’s own, or with “sprinkles” (omega seeds), cereal, and whatever else sounded good.
Have you tried a smoothie cake before? I’m interested to hear your experience, any tips, and see how yours turned out. Use the comment section below to tell me all about it, or connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I’ve also recently hopped over to Periscope, too, so you could always share your experience with me that way, too!
Want to try natural stevia liquid sweetener for yourself? I’ve been using NuNaturals and NuStevia stevia products for over a year now, and have nothing but good to say about them (you can read more about the products and what I use them for here, here and here). The awesome people at NuStevia have given me the go-ahead to offer up another set of their fabulous giveaway packages to you lucky readers! Enter using the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win 1 of 4 NuStevia prize packs. Each prize pack includes one bottle of the Vanilla NuStevia Liquid, a bottle of sugar-free cocoa syrup (great for chocolate milk!), & a bottle of sugar-free mint cocoa syrup, plus a 50 packet box of NuStevia No Carb Stevia packets. In addition, each of the 4 winners will also receive a free bonus prize. The total retail value of each package is $70.00.
In addition, you can use the discount code BLG0616 (which remains in effect until JUNE 30, 2016) to order anything from the NuNaturals website: www.nunaturals.com. The code will get you 15% off your entire order, but you can’t combine it with other discounts.
Giveaway open world-wide. Prizes can not be shipped to P.O. boxes.
*Disclosure* The sweet people at NuNaturals (see what I did there?) have generously donated the giveaway packages to the 4 lucky winners, seeing as I used some of their tasty stevia products in this delicious creation. Therefore, the giveaway is sponsored, but the post is not. (Although, I should probably let you know that NuNaturals has sent me a bunch of free products over the last year, so that’s pretty cool.) You can read my full disclosure statement here.
43 thoughts on “Smoothie Cake – Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Vegan Birthday Cake {Giveaway}”
I recently lost weight and am trying to maintain my low-carb eating. I have a sweet tooth and would love to try some of these delicious sounding NuStevia flavorings in my baking.
We are trying to do away with sugar, so these would be a great alternative for us!
I use Stevia sugar in my baking products and have had great results. I would love to try these products as well.
Besos, Sarah
Journeys of The Zoo
I would love to try this because my husband is diabetic and I would love to bake with this product to see if he likes it
My husband does not eat sugar. Stevia is a great sugar substitute when baking.
I like cutting down on sugar, so this would be useful to me.
Stevia is the only sugar substitute I would want to use. Beautiful cake!
Definitely with you there! There’s some pretty scary stuff on the market. :S Thanks!
I’d like to try these to better my health.
I’m looking to cut back on sugar in my household, and I think these products will be a big help.
They are so tasty!
I would love to make a few things with this. The first would be the Almond Butter Chocolate Banana Smoothie from their site. Our family is gluten free & this sound like a perfect addition to bake with as well!
Wow! That does sound like a great smoothie!
id like to try this out cause I would like to try out some dessert recipes and substitute this in to cut down on sugar intake as I am on an special diet.
I want to try because it looks great
I have used Stevia in the past..I found it too bitter. I strongly suspect though that this one might be better.
I want to try NuStevia because I have not tried it before, and I would really like to replace sugar in my household with a healthier alternative. Thank you for the great recipes and inspiration.
we are trying to move away from sugar
I am diabetic and have to be very careful. I have tried many sweetners,but I’d like to try another that seems safer
I would love to win because I like to do sugar free baking whenever I can.
Great creative cake and with quinoa flakes, who knew?! I have made great progress removing most of the sugar from my diet. I’ve tried the blends but want a good all-stevia substitute to sugar that is actually sweet with a small amount. This is a must-pin cake recipe for me! Thanks.
Stevia is the best product to use…. and perfect to help my sugar levels normal.
I love that Stevia is natural and doesn’t add all the calories that sugar would
I love stevia, but I’ve never tried NuNaturals! Would love to check it out.
I love trying new products and discovering the great things you can make with them.
Wow! These products look amazing.
They are! I have gotten so much great use out of them, and my toddler loves adding a drop of Vanilla liquid NuStevia to her milk with cinnamon for a special drink, as well as in yogurt, coffee, baking…. so many great uses!
I would love to try this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would like to try these NuNaturals stevia products because since an illness I have had to cut out all sugar. I have used some of their products and liked them but I have never tried their syrups or vanilla flavored stevia and would love to. Thanks for a great giveaway!
trishden948(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would like to try because my husband’s father had diabetes. We want to sweeten or food but naturally and with something that is not going to raise the blood sugar. My husband is likes his sweets but is very careful about what he eats.
It looks like a healthy approach to reducing sugar, I would love to make that Smoothie Cake. Thank You.
I’m cutting most of the sugar out of my diet and this looks like a great alternative. I’m especially interested in the Cocoa Mint Syrup! Thanks.
I am diabetic and need sugar substitutes. I am looking for one that tastes good and that is hard to find.
I would love to try this as it sound like a great sweetener and much better than sugar
I’m tired of using sugar.so unhealthy . i would love to give this a try so i can replace my sugar
A smart alternative! Thanks!
I want to try this because I am trying to remove sugar and this sounds like it would be wonderful.
I want to try this because I;’m a diabetic
if it’s natural I would love to try it
I would love to switch from sugar to natural sweeteners to lead a healthier life.
I would like to try them as they are such a healthier alternative to sugar.
Laurie Emerson
for weight loss, and I is healthier
I want to try these stevia products because they look very tasty and healthy.