Smash cakes are the next big things after gender reveal cake. Click here to find out more about gender reveal cakes. So due to the popularity of these cakes, many a mum is searching for how to make their baby’s smash cake special.
By the way, for those of you who may be clueless about this trend let’s help you out (nothing to be embarrassed about; wouldn’t have known about it too if we weren’t cake decorators). So a smash cake is a small cake (nothing more than 8 inches at most and one layer) decorated in buttercream solely for a toddler to smash.
My guess would be that this trend started because toddlers were always reaching to get their hands into their birthday cakes. So mums/cake decorators thought “why not just bake a small cake and let the little one dig into it and smash it all up? We also get cute pictures and videos in the process. And voila! The smash cake was born!
Another school of thought is the idea of getting your toddler messy (in a cute way) so that you can have cute photos and videos. These come in handy when they become teenagers and are giving you a hard time (lol).
Most parents would not consider their baby’s first birthday party complete without a smash cake. For this reason, we have put together some great ideas on how to make a smash cake. This is actually a great time for you to practice your cake decorating if you are a newbie. The cake is going to be smashed anyways so who would really care about the decoration? Right?
Table of Contents
How To Make A Smash Cake – Recipe Ideas
Many parents are wary of giving their babies so much sugar at such tender age. That is what prompted many experiments and tweaking of recipes to get these recipes that are much healthier for babies.
Secondly, since your baby would be surrounded by a lot of goodies on this big day, you might want to make a healthier cake recipe for the smash cake. This would help reduce the sugar high for the day.
Here are two of those healthy recipes that you can make for your baby’s smash cake
Sugar Free Banana & Apple Smash Cake
Ingredients
For The Cake You’ll Need The Following:-
4 Well Ripened Bananas
3 Tablespoon Melted Coconut Oil or any other pure vegetable oil
3 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
¼ Cup Coconut Flour
½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 and ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
½ Cup Milk
To Make the Sugar Free Frosting You’ll Need The Following:-
1 8 oz Block Cream Cheese
¾ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2 Teaspoons Clear Vanilla Extract
Instructions For Preparation and Baking
(i) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
(ii) Grease and flour two 6 inches round cake pans.
(iii) Mash or coarsely blend your bananas and set aside
(iv) Sift your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
(v) Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl.
(vi) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
(vii) Finally, fold in the mashed bananas. If the batter is too thick, add a little water at a time until you get a good consistency (like a regular cake batter).
(viii) Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
(ix) Remove from the oven and leave in the pans for about 5 minutes.
(x) Invert onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
Make The Frosting
(i) Place the cream cheese in a mixer and whip until light and fluffy.
(ii) Add the applesauce a little at a time, mixing thoroughly. Stop adding the applesauce when you get the desired consistency.
(iii) Finally add, the vanilla extract and mix a little more.
You can make the frosting before you start baking. then when your cake cools completely, bring out the frosting , mix it a little and frost your cake.
This recipe was adapted from https://hipmommies.ca/recipe-healthy-sugar-free-smash-cake-for-babys-birthday
Guilt-Free Carrot Cake
Ingredients
To Make The Cake You’ll Need The Following:-
2 Cups Shredded Carrots
¾ Cups Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Cup All-purpose Flour
¾ Cup Wheat Flour
3 Large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
½ Cup Greek yogurt
2 and ½ Cups Apple Juice (preferably make the apple juice yourself)
½ Cup Wheat Germ or Oat Bran (If you use Oat bran, add a ¼ teaspoon of vanilla)
2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
To Make The Frosting You’ll Need The Following:
1 8oz Block Cream Cheese
½ Cup Greek yogurt if you use low fat cream cheese or ½ Cup Plain Yogurt with full fat cream cheese
¼ Cup Icing Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions For Preparation and Baking
(i) Grease two 9 inches round cake pans and dust lightly with flour.
(ii) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
(iii) Combine one cup of apple juice with the carrot in a large saucepan.
(iv) Place on a stove and bring to boil. Lower the heat and allow it to simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes or until tender.
(v) Puree the boiled carrot.
(vi) Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine well.
(vii) Add the wet ingredients a little at a time, mixing after each addition.
(viii) Divide the batter evenly between the two baking pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, start checking for doneness by 30 minutes. Your cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes come out clean.
(ix) Leave the cake in the pans for about 5 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.
(x) Remove the cake and leave to cool completely before frosting.
Make The Frosting
(i) While the cake is baking, place the cream cheese and yogurt in a mixing bowl.
(ii) Mix well until thoroughly combined.
(iii) Add in the remaining ingredients and mix all very well.
(iv) Use it to frost your cake when it is completely cool.
This recipe was adapted from https://www.southernmadesimple.com/guilt-free-smash-cake-healthy-ingredients-stress-free-cleanup
You can click here to check out our recipe archives if you want some healthy cake recipes for adults.
How To Make a Smash Cake – Alternatives to Smash Cake
One of the reasons we posited for the advent of smash cakes is that parents want to have cute messy toddler photos that would make great nostalgic memories.
How about if you have concerns about cakes or your toddler doesn’t care for cake? You might even just want to be unconventional. You can still get your cute messy face and fingers unforgettable memories with other food items.
We proffer some ideas that can ignite your imagination for a great photo shoot session.
Popsicle
If your baby is turning one on a hot summer day, an outdoor Popsicle photo shoot is not a bad idea.
Just look for a giant Popsicle that would have the syrup running down the toddler’s hands, face and body. You can either have this session alone or in addition to a cake smash.
For those parents that are concerned about nutrition, you can make your own Popsicle.
Here’s how:-
Make fruit juice with no additives and use Popsicle molds to freeze them. You can also puree fresh fruits and combine with fresh juice or low fat yogurt and freeze. That way, you can rest assured that your baby is not taking in so much additives or sugar.
Don’t worry if you don’t have time to make your own Popsicle. One day of sugar high wouldn’t hurt your baby.
Cookies
You can stack some large cookies to make a sort of cookie monster. Drizzle with glaze or some frosting and let the baby have a go at them. Some would get crushed, others splattered all over and a few eaten. But at the end you’ll get your cute pictures just as with the smash cake.
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Pancakes
So let’s say your baby loves pancakes; you can make a stack with gooey syrup drizzled over it. Then decorate with fresh fruits, sprinkles or chocolate chips or nuts.
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Ice Cream
This is also good for an outdoor summer birthday party. So instead of a smash cake, you can place a bowl of ice cream before the baby or give him/her a giant ice cream cone or ice cream sandwich. You can also do a no bake ice cream cake. Click here to check out some great no-bake recipes.
Add some sprinkles to the ice creams to make it more colorful. You can also spray some above the baby as confetti to get some nice shots.
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How To Make A Smash Cake – Tips From Veterans
Safety
Ensure that the smash cake is safe for your/a toddler to dig into. Avoid any sharp or harmful object in the decoration. Do not use small objects that the toddler can easily swallow or stuff into their nostrils. Also avoid anything that can suffocate the baby. While it is true that the baby would not be left alone with the cake, it is better safe than sorry.
The frosting would definitely get on the toddler’s face and body therefore extra care has to be taken with the ingredients used.
Dress Code
Bear in mind that this “rite of passage” is a messy business lol. Therefore you have consider the mess when you dress up the celebrant for the occasion. You could either allow the celebrant to go au naturel (with only diaper) or choose clothing that would wash well. Also consider clothing that you wouldn’t mind discarding after the party.
Set The Atmosphere
Do not make a big deal out of this; create a natural and unforced atmosphere for your toddler to smash the cake. Children are quite funny as we all know. We have met with toddlers who just decided that they wouldn’t smash the cake. But we also discovered that if everyone is relaxed and are having fun, they would be more inclined to join in.
Another important tip for setting the atmosphere is to make the smash cake with something that your baby is familiar with and loves. You can make a small cartoon character, or a giant cupcake with sprinkles. Just look for that thing that always catches the attention of your baby and make it part of the cake.
You can also order edible pictures to put on your baby’s cake. Due to the fact that this is a bit pricey, you can take photos of the cake (pre-smashing) with the celebrants and guest. Then Turn it over to the celebrant.
Another option is to order half page picture for a 6 inch cake; trust me a favorite cartoon picture would surely do the trick.
Venue Of The Smash Cake Photo Session
It’s best to have a birthday where there’ll be a smash cake outdoors. This helps keep clean up easier. But if due to weather or other factors you have to stay indoors, then protect your furniture and floor.
Confine the celebrant to an area that’s easiest to clean for the smash session. This is due to the fact that some frosting might still find their way underneath the protective furniture and floor covers.
Timing Of The Smash Cake Photo Session
Leave the smash session as the last event for the day because that would be a highlight that would take a long time. This is in addition to cleanup time. Also factor in the fact that some of your invitees might want in on the fun and there’ no telling the kind of mess you’ll have.
Another take on the issue of timing is consideration of the child involved. Although smash cakes are typically first year birthday rituals, you may choose to do it on your baby’s second birthday. Some babies are late bloomers and may enjoy the smash fest in their second year more than the first year.
How To Make A Smash Cake – Conclusion
The purpose of a smash cake is to have fun and create unforgettable memories. This means that you need to work with what makes you and your baby happy. You might also think of organizing a joint smash party.
Reach out to mothers in your circle with babies whose birthdays fall within the same time frame. This can save you some cost and also enable the celebrant to react more naturally. It can also be a lot of fun.
However, ensure that the people you are planning this joint party with are friends and that you can agree on several things. It wouldn’t do to be stressed out and lose friendships at the end of the day.
This accompanying video would also give you some inspiration on planning your baby’s cake smash photo session.
That said; just go ahead and have fun on your baby’s big day!
