We have a first birthday fast approaching and I for one cannot stop thinking about cakes. For the actual cake I am going to make a sugar free vanilla sponge, double layer, sandwiched together with an apple and pear compote. For the icing I think I have settled on using just a thin layer of elderflower infused cream. But the decoration has me flummoxed. I swing between edible flowers or coloured icing and sparklers, or the number one in hundreds and thousands.

Whilst the edible flowers and sparklers are nice natural options, I love the impact of the big colourful ‘1. I just needed to find a way of making a more baby friendly version of the popular sprinkle. After a few experiments I settled on desiccated coconut as the ‘sprinkle’ as it absorbs colour really well and has a pretty similar appearance to the original counterpart. When it came to colour I only did four but is it so easy to do that you could get seriously creative!

To make the lighter purple I used blueberry juice (I was making the 20th batch of blueberry jam this week). The darker purple is acai, the green is matcha and the yellow is bee pollen. I’m thinking that beetroot juice or powder would make a great pink and very concentrated carrot juice would make a soft orange colour. For brown you could use cocoa, and this would make a great ‘soil’ for any type of garden or farming cake too. These hundreds and thousands are a more natural option and you can pick the colours that you need. They are quick to make, look great and can be stored in an airtight container for at least two weeks. First birthday cakes here we come!

Ingredients

200g desiccated coconut split into 4 x 50g

1 tsp matcha

1 tsp blue berry juice

1 tsp bee pollen

1 tsp acai

6 tsp boiling water

Method

Place each ‘colour’ into a glass jar/bowl/cup

One at a time add in a 1.5tsp of boiling water stir to form a paste and then stir in the 50g coconut

Stir really well using a fork to coat the coconut fully

Repeat with the other colours

Use or store in airtight jars