Kid's Cakes

This weekend I am helping a friend by making her son's first birthday cakes! I am so excited not only for the cake which will be a pull apart Mickey Mouse face cake( Pictures coming to the Baking Gallery soon), but also for his smash cake. The smash cake is going to be a jumbo cupcake and my friend requested a cake with a little less sugar than normal. I tend to get this request often when it comes to kid's cakes so I though I would share not only my coveted Vanilla cake recipe, but also how to cut down on sugar while baking and still have a moist and tasty cake!

The Rule:
For Every 1 Cup of Sugar your recipe calls for, substitute it for 1 Cup of unsweetened organic applesauce. Also, reduce the amount of liquid in your recipe by 1/4 cup. 

Pretty Simple!

So now that you you know the big secret, here is another, my Vanilla Cake recipe!

Vanilla Cake: 
3/4 Cup butter
3 eggs
2 1/2 Cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 Cups Sugar
4 teaspoons pure organic Vanilla
1 1/4 Cups Milk
2 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
1.Leave your butter and eggs on the counter for little bit before baking so the butter softens.
2. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake tins and set aside.
3. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Once they are smooth add in the eggs, then the vanilla.
5. Add the mixture of dry ingredients slowly to the bowl with your sugary butter mix and also slowly add in the milk while you mix.
6. Once everything is combined, pour batter into your cupcake tins and bake for 15 minutes or till a toothpick placed in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Note: when I'm checking with a toothpick I like to test the cupcakes in the very middle of the tin. They tend to take a little longer so if they are done, you will know the others are done as well.

Remember what I told you in the post for the egg cups? Cupcake Tins: cooks everything for 350 and 15-20 minutes! True to my word : )

Now to make this recipe work for the Kid Cakes:
Use 1 3/4 Cups of unsweetened applesauce and cream with the butter just like you would the sugar.
Use 1 cup of Milk
And I leave the Vanilla the same even though its a liquid, because you want to have that super rich vanilla flavor still!

Bon Appetit Friends!