Birthday Cake alternative?

My birthday is coming up and I've decided to forgo the normal high calorie/no nutritional value cake for something else that's sweet.  I've thought about doing healthy muffins or somthing with tofu, but I haven't decided what to make yet.  I was wondering if any of you had any ideas/recipes for an alternative to cake?  Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!!!  Thanks!

Pavlova made with splenda, if you top it with fruit and yoghurt(cool whip if in the states) its ultra low calorie and delicious!!! there are plenty of recipes so just search the net!

Man, thats exactly was i was going to say (aussies must seriously think alike)
I made the sparkrecipies apple oatmeal muffins. They're good but not really a dessert.
How about a jelly fruit cake thing? Pick your 3 fav flavours and 3 containers to set them in of different sizes. Eg for me, strawberry, lime and then blueberry (so I'd get diet s'berry, lime and normal geltaine with blue food die). Need a double batch of strawberry. As its setting, swirl in some yogurt mixed with gelatine at the top and drop in some strawberries. In the lime layer I'd prolly go canned pineapple and the top layer more yogurt and blueberiies. Tip upside down and pile on top of one another. Could be mess.

How about like pavlova, but bomb/baked alsaka?
Make an angel food cake, but make it very shallow. Place the angel food cake on baking paper on a tray. On it put peaches in lite juice (so the juice can soak a little into the cake) or any other fruit you want (cherries, mangoes). Scoop the lowest cal icecream you can find over the peaches/base, so its in a cake-ish shape (like a dome) and put in a cold freezer. Wait until its hard agiain and make meringue (for baked alsaka, look on the net) using splenda. For a fun look grab a fork and fluff up the egg into spikes. Pile that stuff on and put it in a hot oven (for temp check a net recipe) until just browning and set on the outside. The inside should still be cold. Its soo yummy!! CAn serve with passionfruit too. its like a funny pav

Other than that? Diet coke cake

How about a fruit pizza?  if you make your own crust - (just make a "half crust", and make it thinner - use a lower fat shortbread recipe.  It would still be a special treat, but offer more nutritional punch than cake -- and they always look nice too.

make a peanut butter pie. ITs loaded with calories, yes... but it has cream cheese, peanut butter and if you make the crust with whole wheat flour, etc. It acutally has a bit of nutrition in it.

or make a fruit cobbler, etc.

But if i were you, i would just enjoy yourself and eat what you want, its your birthday. when i dieted i still ate what i wanted on my birthday.

Strawberry Shortcake?  You could use splenda to make the shortcake part, and the low fat/low sugar cool whip?

I've never had Pavlova before so I looked it up on google and it looks AMAZING!!!!  I found several recipes for it but I'm not sure which to try.  Do any of you have a recipe for it that's good?  Thanks you guys!

Try this

Dr Bird Cake

It's a lower calorie version of an old favorite, loaded with pineapple and bananas.  If you substitute Splenda for sugar it will be even lower in calories.  It's best made the day before and refrigerated so the flavors really soak in.

Or an angel food trifle with low-fat yogurt or sugar-free, fat-free pudding and fruit.

I agree with dartrinton - don't deprive yourself of cake if you really want it! You could still have cake and have it be lower in calories. Get a regular cake mix and instead of adding the recommended butter and eggs and the like, just add diet coke (or any other soda - use clear sodas for vanilla mixes, though!). This is good for slashing calories.

Or, you could only use half of the cake mix (remember, only use half a can of coke!) and make your cake have lots of layers with cool whip free and fruit in between. This will give the cake the appearance of being big, but not having lots of actual CAKE in it. If you put fruit and whip in the middle, I recommend freezing and serving like ice cream cake. I'm afraid if you try to serve it without freezing, it'll fall apart when you cut into it (plus, who doesn't like ice cream cake?)

Have an awesome birthday, hun. :D

my birthday was may 10 and i felt the same way since i have been trying to eat very well...instead of birthday cake/ice cream/cookies i made an amazzzzing fruit salad then bought a container of fat free cool whip for anyne who wanted to put some on..you could also make the fat free tapioca or rice pudding and add fruit to them as well..those are some of my favorites :)

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14966/pavlova
Here's a pav
Switch the cream for strained yogurt and use splenda isntead.
http://www.empowerfoods.com.au/forums/viewtop ic.php?=&p=18083 for ideas (but switch high fat ingredients, this is a low carb page)
http://www.atkinsalltheway.com/kb.php?mode=ar ticle&k=250&sid=450ce36ae1de062e3b7f7 70d62eaa94e

For my birthday I had angel food cake with strawberries and light whipped cream.  It wasn't exactly low calorie, but lower than most

I have a fat free choc mousse recipe...

8oz cointainer of cool whip (light, sugar free or fat free) 8 oz fat free cream cheese 8 oz fat free sour cream 1 pkg of fat free/sugar free instant chocolate pudding tsp of vanilla additional spenda/sweetner to taste (if needed)

blend together and put in the fridge

before serving, spread into a grahm cracker crust (they have a reduced fat version)

top with strawberries or chopped oreo cookie crumbles.

I was going to suggest the same thing nbensel did.   Strawberry shortcake + birthday is a winning combination in my book.

In fact, I've been treating myself to that this week.  For 1/5 of our big angel food cake, I think it's just a little over 100 calories.  (That's a big hunk of cake that could easily be cut in half.)  And with light cool whip at only about 20 cals. a serving, it's pretty low cal.  

I'm sold on it, and plan to have that for my birthday. ^_^

Chocolate Pot de Crème
 
Makes 6
   
1/4  cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted 
  
1/2  cup plus 1 tablespoon skim milk 
  
1/4  cup evaporated milk 
  
2  large eggs 
  
1  large egg white 
  
3/4  cup granulated sugar 
  
1  pinch of salt 
  
  Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling 
 
  1.   Heat oven to 325°. Line a shallow baking pan with a cloth towel, and set aside. Place cocoa powder in a medium mixing bowl. In another bowl, combine skim milk and evaporated milk. Slowly whisk about 3 tablespoons milk mixture into cocoa powder until it forms a thick paste. Whisk in remaining milk mixture until thoroughly combined, and set aside. 
 
  2.   In a large bowl, combine eggs, egg white, granulated sugar, and salt, and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Whisk in cocoa-milk mixture until completely combined. Divide the mixture among six 3-ounce pot de crème molds or six 3-ounce ramekins, and place in the prepared baking pan; fill the baking pan halfway with hot water. Transfer to the oven to bake until the puddings are set and leave no residue on your finger when lightly touched, about 25 minutes. Remove the baking pan from the oven, then remove the puddings from the water bath. Transfer the puddings to a wire rack, and let cool 20 to 30 minutes. When ready to serve, dust the puddings with confectioners? sugar. Serve warm. 
 
    Per serving: 64 calories, 3 g fat, 72 mg cholesterol, 4 g carbohydrate, 134 mg sodium, 5 g protein, 0 g dietary fiber. 
    

Courtesy of :Martha Stewart

found this recipe in time for Valentine's Day :) MMM :)

how about angel food cake topped w/ coolwhip and fresh strawberries?

I like to use diabetes-safe recipes to help cut calories.  Check out any of the websites on diabetes and look for recipes.  One of my favorites is dlife.com 
I'm actually making a flourless chocolate cake for my father's birthday tomorrow.  He's a diabetic and I'm a calorie counter...so it's a great match.  The cake will be topped with fresh raspberries and sugar free cool whip, for about 160 cals/slice....and one slice is 1/8th of a 9" pan. ...not so bad. 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!