Healthy Cupcakes for Toddlers

When your child's birthday rolls around or when your toddler is invited out to a birthday party, you will need to prepare yourself for the inevitable birthday treats that will tempt your toddler. Toddlers will be thrilled at the moment, but parents will be less excited when they see their child melting down later from the junk food infusion. Avoid birthday party disasters by creating simpler and healthier cupcakes for toddlers for your next party.

  1. What is Healthy to You?

    • Parents will have different ideas about what a healthy cupcake is to their family. Some parents want to totally eliminate sugar, some wish to avoid dairy at all costs, and others may refuse to incorporate white flour or food coloring into their toddler's cupcake. Ask Dr. Sears recommends reading food labels to be certain that you know what is going into your toddler's food, particularly if you are buying pre-made cupcakes, frosting or toppings. Otherwise, even cupcakes marketed as healthy may have unwelcome surprises. The best bet when searching for healthy cupcakes is to make your own so that you can customize the ingredient list for your needs.

    Base

    • A regular cupcake recipe calls for plenty of sugar, butter, white flour and perhaps some cocoa powder. Reduce or eliminate the white sugar in a recipe and add mashed banana or a squirt of honey instead. The texture will definitely be different than a typical cupcake, but it will still be delicious, and toddlers are unlikely to notice. Replace white flour with whole wheat or oat flour, and replace butter with mashed banana or applesauce -- or even coconut oil. Do not replace both sugar and butter with mashed fruit at the same time, though, or your cupcake will not hold together well.

    Frosting

    • The frosting is most toddlers' favorite part, so you want it to be both delicious and a little healthier. A typical butter cream frosting is simply a combination of butter, powdered sugar and milk. Lightly sweetened homemade whipped cream makes a nice alternative to butter cream. You can greatly reduce the amount of sugar, but toddlers will still love the taste and texture. You can also create a nondairy whipped cream from coconut milk. Chill a can of full-fat coconut milk, scoop off the solidified cream portion, and whip in a blender or with a fork, sweetening to taste and using it to frost the cupcakes. If you'd like to stick with a traditional frosting, you can also simply use only 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of frosting used at a bakery to keep sugar intake to a minimum.

    Food Coloring

    • Some parents like to get creative when making their toddler's cupcakes, and food coloring plays an important role in making cakes and frosting look fun and fancy. However, typical food coloring also contains an assortment of chemicals that may have an effect on your DNA, and some food dyes have already been proven to be carcinogenic. You can easily purchase or make your own food dyes from natural plant sources, but be warned that these colors are generally not as vivid as artificial food dyes. Beet powder makes a nice pink, and carrots and spinach can be cooked down to make orange and green.

    Toppings

    • Toppings like sprinkles and prepackaged gel icings almost always contain loads of food coloring, plus high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients you may wish to avoid. You can often purchase natural decorations from health food stores, but simple sliced fruit can make a lovely topping. Slice strawberries vertically for a beautiful heart shape to finish off your cupcake, or dust the top with unsweetened shredded coconut. Toddlers will love the fresh taste, and adults will be impressed with your creativity and resourcefulness.

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