First Birthdays · Cake Trends · Strong Feelings
Cake Smashing: Cute Milestone Or Cake Crime?
In today’s edition of “Things That Make No Sense”, people are buying cakes specifically to obliterate them for the gram. Because nothing says “happy first birthday” quite like wasting a perfectly good cake while a baby looks mildly confused under a cloud of buttercream.
For real, it is a thing. It is called a cake smash. And if you are anything like me, the thought of a celebration cake being smashed, smooshed, squished and generally sacrificed for content is pretty horrifying.
Nobody wants to own up to inventing this mess, probably because they know deep down it is ridiculous. But somehow, over the last decade, cake smashing for baby birthdays has become a first birthday photoshoot trend in the US, and it is gaining ground here in the UK too.
A smash cake is a small cake made for a baby, usually on their first birthday, to prod, grab, smear and destroy during a photoshoot. It can make cute pictures, yes. It can also be wasteful, sticky, stressful and a tiny bit absurd.
What Is A Smash Cake?
A smash cake is a cake made and bought specifically so a one-year-old can wreak havoc on it. The idea is simple: put the cake in front of the baby, wait for them to plunge their tiny hands into the frosting, then photograph the glorious chaos.
The result is meant to be delightfully cute: baby with frosting on cheeks, sponge in fists, parents squealing nearby, everyone pretending this is completely normal human behaviour.
And look, I do understand the logic. Babies are adorable. Cake is adorable. Messy babies with cake are, allegedly, Instagram gold. But there is something deeply unhinged about baking a cake with the sole intention of destroying it.
Professional photographers now offer cake smash packages to capture a baby’s first big encounter with refined sugar. Forget first steps. Forget first words. Apparently, the real milestone is watching your child go feral on a sponge.
Cake Is For Eating, Not Pulverising
Cake is for eating. Not for pulverising. Not for content. Not for creating a buttercream crime scene that needs its own clean-up package.
Baby not into cake? Just bring cake to baby. Pic via themommyproject.com
There is no denying that cute babies and cute cakes can make a very sweet photo. I am not immune. I have eyes. I have a heart. I also have a fairly intense emotional attachment to cake being eaten rather than obliterated.
The oddest part is that lots of babies are not even that into it. Some stare suspiciously. Some cry. Some pat the frosting once and immediately regret every life choice that led them there. And then the adults start encouraging the smash because the photo needs to happen.
I am not entirely sure when engineering Pinterest-worthy scenes of a child destroying dessert became a normal part of turning one, but here we are.
Maybe, just maybe, a cupcake could do the job. Mash one cupcake. Take the picture. Keep the other eleven intact for actual humans to eat. Radical, I know.
The Better First Birthday Cake Idea
Instead of buying a cake purely for destruction, choose a cake that both baby and guests can enjoy. You can still give your little one a slice, let them get messy, take the adorable photos and then, crucially, serve the rest of the cake to people who want to eat it.
Number birthday cake by Anges de Sucre
For a first birthday, our number one birthday cake makes much more sense. It still feels playful, colourful and properly celebratory, but it is not designed to be a disposable prop.
Our vanilla sponge is sandwiched and frosted with smooth, silky vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, glazed with Belgian chocolate drip and decorated with a pastel buttercream piped mosaic. Swirly, whirly, florally and far too nice to be launched into the carpet.
Put a slice of this in front of your baby and I am fairly confident you will get the same cute messy cake pictures, without sacrificing an entire cake to the social media gods.
Give the baby a slice, not the whole cake. You still get the frosting face, the sticky fingers and the adorable photos, while everyone else gets to enjoy the birthday cake like civilisation intended.
So, Is Cake Smashing The Dumbest Cake Trend Ever?
I will be generous and say this: the pictures can be cute. First birthdays are emotional. Parents want a memory. Babies covered in icing are objectively funny.
But as a cake person, I cannot fully get behind a trend built around destroying something beautifully baked and frosted. Ingredients, time, skill and deliciousness all went into that cake. Watching it get flattened for content feels, frankly, like a tiny tragedy in buttercream form.
So yes, I understand the cake smash. I simply do not support full cake annihilation when a slice would do the job perfectly well.
If your little one’s first birthday must involve cake, as it should, choose something worth eating. Smashing is for piñatas, not dessert.
Browse our number cakes and birthday cakes for first birthday celebrations that still give you the gorgeous photos, without wasting the cake.
Love,
Reshmi xoxo
I came across this post because I was trying to figure out when did this smash cake thing for a one year old begin and why?! This one is a fad that I just can’t get with, however if other parents really want to do this for their little one I’m in agreement with you that they should bake or get a jumbo cupcake. Less waste.
You are officially a karen. Let the kids enjoy their cake and stop judging parents. You sound like someone who has ocd and is a germaphobe and a snob. If you don’t like it, don’t look. Pull your finger out and let people enjoy life
Quite hilarious on how someone is mad about what another parent chooses to do with THEIR child. My daughter just had her smash cake photos today , spent $30 on a beautiful cake , she had such an amazing time eating it and everything. Cleaned her up , and served the rest of the cake she didn’t touch. BEST money I’ve ever spent and I will always have the memories. It’s not about the money , it’s about the memories and watching my daughter enjoy herself.
My daughter is paying $40-60(Cdn) for a smash cake at a photographer’s house, during a pandemic, just for cute pictures of her 1yr old.
I told her that I too have pics of her when she was 1 yrs old ripping apart a homemade giant cookie. We were broke and couldn’t afford to shop so I baked the cookie mix I had in my cupboard that day, in 1994!
The thought of spending money on a cake (or cookie) for a 1 y/o to simply get pictures and make a mess, is clearly in the best interest of the person receiving the payment. Dummy mummies everywhere, baby doesn’t care and won’t care in their 20s that you gave them sugar on their 1st birthday. It’s currently, all about you!
Careful what you post on social media, as it will live on or haunt them forever!
I don’t care what people do with their kids, but I find photos for public display of kids with food (cake or otherwise) all over their faces to be repulsive. I hate when other millennial parents post this garbage on social media, and have unfollowed many people for posting these disgusting pictures, as well as pictures of their babies with snot all over and pictures of kids feces. It’s sick and disrespectful to your child who will someday be an adult, but mostly it’s narcissistic. When my kid turns one, they’ll get cake, but I’ll promptly clean their face when it’s dirty just like I always do. They don’t need some douchie smash-cake to have a sensory experience. Keep it to yourselves please.
I came to this article because I was browsing a handmade pottery website that sold custom “Smash” cake sets. It was $175 for the cake stand and cake. I had no idea what a smash cake was. I was appalled to find out that it is for babies! I can completely understand baking you own cake for smashing purposes but the idea of purchasing such lavish expensive cakes or cake stands for the sole purpose of smashing? ABSURD. Yes sensory play is great and I love kids but I find the commercialization of this event and reveal parties completely frivolous and what the youth would call appallingly extra. But if one has the money who cares I suppose.
Sorry, but this post is just ridiculous… I’m baffled how someone can get so worked up about a birthday celebration for a one-year-old?
A cake is meant to be eaten, and it’s used for celebration. Babies learn to eat by being messy, and discovering new foods and flavors is a joy I think all people can get behind. What on earth is so offensive to you as to let a baby explore new textures and flavors in a celebratory manner by getting them a small, personal cake for such a major milestone?
It’s not only about the pictures (which, by the way, most people I know don’t bother with a professional photographer), it’s about the experience, and seeing your baby’s joy as everyone sings happy birthday and cheers them on.
Smash cakes are harmless fun. I don’t agree with parents forcing the ‘smash’, but most parents just want their babies to have a delightful and delicious party. If you don’t want to have that kind of celebration for your kid, that’s fine, but stop judging other people for getting some joy out of it.
Lighten up!
Like some other commenters shared, it is about the play, the sensorial fun of the creamy frosting, and getting all messy. That is what being a baby is about! If you are worried about the cake, that’s pretty sad! Valuing food over an unforgettable experience for the entire family and a fun activity for a miraculous little human who is growing, learning and magically becoming an independent person, who just survived his or her first 12 months of life! That is a more than enough reason to “sacrifice” a combination of flour, sugar, and some hours of work. That little life deserves that and much more, if you ask me! May the tradition continue and may many cameras/phones around the world continue immortalizing these adorable moments forever! My baby turns one in a few weeks, you better believe it that she will be smashing a cake and having all the fun of sensory play with that yummy and sweet creation💗🙌🏽
Such a nasty tradition! ( if you want to call that Made up thing a tradition!) Very gross and the so are the First birthday pictures!
What The Hell is cute about your baby getting filthy ??
you all are NO FUN! Its just cake. It’s often free when you buy a sheet cake, so no one is spending $40 to let a baby mush a cake. The concept of manners isn’t destroyed by 15 minutes of messiness. I am adamant about keeping images of my son off the internet… so I no social media validation aspect for me..
When he turns one, he’s going to mush up a cake and I’m going to take pictures for his baby album. Messy babies are very cute.
Get over yourselves.