(Healthy?) 1st Birthday Cake

Cupcakes, rather.

I made 2 types of cupcakes for my son's 1 year old birthday party... We kept the party pretty low-key with just some family over.  Actually, we will celebrate more with other family later this month, so the party isn't over yet.  What a lucky guy :)  Anyways, back to the cupcakes.  Please excuse the drinking glasses in the way.  This is not a fancy photo.

Just like I had for my daughter's 1 year old birthday, I made a batch of Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting.  (I used unsweetened applesauce, not cauliflower puree.  I used multi-grain flour and sucanat.)  My baby boy devoured his!  He tried to eat his plate when he was done.

I also made some Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes.  However, I only used the filling recipe from that recipe.  For the cake part, I used the Green Baby Guide's Chocolate Beet Cake.  There are lots of Chocolate Beet Cake recipes out there, but this is the one I have found that uses the most beets and the least sugar.  I occasionally get a pound of beets in our produce box, and I always just puree and save them for this.  It is the perfect amount.  Note: I use 1/2 teaspoon salt (not listed in the recipe).  And I almost always use coconut oil in place of vegetable or canola oil.  Another note: I don't sprinkle any chocolate chips on top since I am adding the cream cheese and chocolate chip filling.  I have made these twice now, and the filling doesn't sink into this cake batter, so I try to layer it in the middle of some batter.  But the first time, I just put the filling on top, and it was fine that way, too.  I think I baked them for 25 to 30 minutes in a silicone cupcake pan.  Made 18 cupcakes.

As you can see, we also had cantelope and peaches, as well as iced tea, water, and homemade lemonade made with the ratio of 1 cup organic lemon juice, 6 cups water, 3/4 cup white sugar.