How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?

How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color? - Delicious birthday cake with football theme and number candle

My dad's birthday party is tomorrow, and I do not know how to decorate his cake. He does not eat foods containing artificial flavoring or coloring. What are some methods I could use to accomplish this last-minute effort, and still suit his dietary needs?



Best Answer

The options are very wide. You are not telling us what kind of cake you have in mind, so I'll be making a few assumptions here. But once you start thinking outside the box that equals "birthday cake" with "cake with different colours of icing", a whole world of options opens up.

  1. Birthday cakes need not be (multi-)coloured.
    A one-tone cake that plays with texture can be very elegant, from luscious glossy chocolate ganache to swirls of light and fluffy frosting. You don't even need great piping skills (although it's a neat thing to master some day), heaping on the frosting and texturing into big fluffy "clouds" either with a spoon or a knife can be very beautiful and even my 7yo can produce very impressive results.

  2. Find edible decorations for that pop of colour.
    A bright red strawberry or raspberry on a white frosting, a few sprigs of mint or chopped pistachios for a touch of green. Some lemon or orange zest, perhaps. Even some jam or a fruit compote will do, put on top or served as a sauce on the side. Or go for a nature walk and find edible flowers.

flower and berry cake

  1. Choose non-edible decorations.
    Birthday candles aren't edible, so you can add more non-edible elements. Little flags on toothpicks or even a small garland held up by two or three large skewers come to mind. Perhaps spell out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD" on bunting? Print a photo of your dad and mount it on a skewer or two? I have in the past even used toy figurines as cake topper. As long as everything that actually touches the cake is food safe, you needn't worry. You can use some parchment or plastic wrap to create a barrier under a topper, if necessary. The flags in the picture below are made from origami paper, masking tape is very handy, too, because it needs no extra glue.

muffins with flags




Pictures about "How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?"

How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color? - Young couple in elegant outfits in restaurant while blowing in candle on small cupcake and celebrating birthday near brick wall
How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color? - Delicious cake with berries on table
How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color? - Cupcake With Chocolate Icing



How can I decorate my cake without anything?

Annette Warrell-Jones, marketing manager at the Warrell Corporation, a candy manufacturer that is, at this very moment, working on a \u201cnatural birthday cake-flavored\u201d cotton candy, agrees that in her estimation, the flavor of birthday cake is essentially vanilla batter. Everyone agrees on this: Birthday cake is vanilla.

What is the actual flavor of birthday cake?

  • Step 1: Prep the piping bag. Fit your piping bag with a tip, and fill it about halfway with icing. ...
  • Step 2: Prepare your parchment paper. Cut a piece of parchment paper the same size as your cake. ...
  • Step 3: Transfer the message. ...
  • Step 4: Practice your piping. ...
  • Step 5: Write on the cake. ...
  • Step 6: Add decorations.


  • How do you make a happy birthday cake for homemade?

    Natural Frosting Coloring Ideas for Every Shade
  • Pink: Concentrated beet juice, concentrated strawberry juice, strawberry powder, raspberry powder.
  • Red: Beet powder.
  • Orange: Concentrated carrot juice, carrot powder, sweet potato powder.
  • Yellow: Saffron, turmeric. ...
  • Green: Matcha, spinach powder, spirulina ($27, Amazon).




  • 1 Minute Birthday Cake! *LAZY* Blender Cake!




    More answers regarding how can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?

    Answer 2

    Since it's last-minute, I'm guessing it'll be tough to work out natural colorings, so I'd avoid doing color-based decorations altogether.

    You can use chocolate chips or shavings, nuts, fruit (fresh or dried), crumbled cookies, or anything else you like as toppings. I think even just an even coating of chopped nuts looks pretty good, but you can get pretty fancy with patterns, especially if you use more than one thing.

    Or if you want something you can pipe on, make frosting and a ganache (or another frosting) in different colors - plain white and chocolate, or caramel, or maybe even fruit if you have something strongly colored you can puree.

    Answer 3

    What you are seeking are natural food dyes (or natural food colorings).

    These are commercially available and you may find them at a local health or natural foods store or even a quality grocers.

    They can be homemade, if you have the time and can get the ingredients.

    Examples of their effects in buttercream:

    (from Nourishing Joy)

    Be careful not to end up with natural fabric dyes without careful checking, as many of these are toxic or bad tasting.

    Answer 4

    Takes very little turmeric to give a bright yellow colour - not enough to have a noticeable taste, especially if you use flavouring. Got any beets around? They give a lovely magenta red colour to food. Diluting would give a pale pink. Mashing fresh peppermint leaves will give a green juice but since you couldn't use much without thinning down the icing, it would likely be a pale green. I know of nothing that gives a blue colour since even blueberries cook a purple-red.

    So forgoing blue, you can play around with those three shades to make some varied colours. None of this is helpful though if you don't have these ingredients. Hopefully, someone else may know of others.

    Answer 5

    Suggestions:

    • Using a stencil, a seive and some icing sugar, you can create simple decorations known as cake dusting
      cake dusting
    • Consider using chocolate icing
    • Fruit can be arranged on top to make wonderful toppings/decorations
      cake - fruit decorated
      (source: stylemotivation.com)

    Answer 6

    Jam or Jelly

    Got a jar of jam or jelly in the fridge or pantry?

    For jam, you may want to run through a sieve to remove seeds. You may need to add a bit of water or liquor to thin it out enough to press through. If too thin, simmer briefly on stove to evaporate.

    Mix well to your batter or frosting for a bit of color.

    Or swirl. After apportioning batter to the baking pans, plop some jelly and swirl with toothpicks or a thin knife.

    Ditto for frosting, but you may want to practice first on a plate or waxed paper. If too thick for the frosting, thin a bit with water, liquor, or real maple syrup. Heating in a pan briefly can also help to thin.

    Another alternative: Drizzle a series of lines across the top of the cake, then swipe across the lines with a toothpick to get the fancy effect seen commonly on Napoleon pastries. As seen here or seen here.

    enter image description here

    Answer 7

    To prepare cake at last minute, i would make vanilla or chocolate flavoured pancakes or red velvet pancakes. For red color, I would use color from beet. Just grate and squeeze color from it and use how much you need.

    Layer the pancakes by adding some whipped cream or chocolate ganache or cream cheese frosting which goes so well with red velvet pancake.

    Top it with some more frosting and fruits of your choice. You can definitely play with flavours and look of it.

    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Vidal Balielo Jr., Katerina Holmes, Piotr Arnoldes, Jess Bailey Designs