Hi Friends! We are working hard to remain true to our healthy habits in 2015 and hope you will continue to find support to do the same here. We love connecting with everyone via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to hear what you are doing to stay healthy. Everyone has such unique insights and we really learn a lot from our readers and like-minded health food lovers!
This year, as always, we have vowed to steer clear of anything artificial. Artificial
foods have no place in a living organism if we expect that organism to thrive and be as healthy as possible! Artificial ingredients such as colors, sweeteners and flavors are linked to fatigue, skin rashes, hyperactivity and headaches. Worse, they can negatively impact your thyroid and have been linked with cancer.
Personally, it’s easy for me to avoid artificial ingredients 99% of the time. The trouble happens when I need to make a cake for someone’s birthday. Those “someone’s” birthdays are usually my kids requesting themed birthday cakes. When white frosting won’t cut it, I usually turn to my trusty India Tree natural food colors, but if you have ever tried them, you’ll know it’s tricky to get really vivid or unique colors. When my daughter had requested a Sophia the First birthday party, I really wanted to make her a true purple cake. I honestly lamented about it for days! Was I really entertaining the idea of baking a delicious and healthy cake and then slathering it with red 40 and blue 5? EEEK!!
Well, inspiration hit JUST at the right moment. I remembered a trick we already had!
The solution? A full bag of freeze dried blueberries. I knew this trick worked with strawberries in my daughters 1st birthday cake so I used the same basic frosting recipe and it worked like a charm with blueberries! Simply pulverize them in a blender or food processor until they turn to powder and blend into any vanilla frosting of your choice. Start with a little and slowly add more to achieve the color you are looking for. I originally bought two bags and mixed one bag of the pulverized blueberries into the cakes as well, but it made very little difference in the color of my cakes once they were baked. So I suggest saving the blueberries for the frosting and letting the cakes remain their natural color.
My daughter was thrilled with her “Fia Cake” and talked about it for days. I was thrilled to have a healthy cake to celebrate her day and felt like Cool Mom and Super Mom at the same time because it was healthy enough to let her eat it for breakfast the next day too!
Healthy Purple Frosting Recipe
3 ounces Cream Cheese, Softened (can use vegan cream cheese)
4 Tablespoons Raw Honey, Maple Syrup, Agave
2 Tablespoons Rice Flour or Oat Flour
1 1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2-3/4 cup Dehydrated Blueberries, powderedInstructions:In a high powdered blender, blend the blueberries until a fine powder.
In a small bowl, beat cream until whipped cream. Beat in the cream cheese until smooth. Add the liquid sweetener of your choice, flour, vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the powdered blueberries to the frosting to your desired thickness/color purple.
Pipe or spread onto any cake recipe. Keep any leftovers, sealed, in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Jenna says
What a beauty!! This cake looks delicious and so festive. I will have to try this frosting recipe!