First Birthdays · Cake Trends · 2019 Archive
Cake Smashing: Cute Milestone Or Cake Crime?
Archive note: This opinion piece was written in 2019, when cake-smash photoshoots were gaining visibility in our feed. The trend comments below describe that period. The linked Pastel Swirl Number Cake is still an active current product, but the argument is preserved as a 2019 rant rather than a statement about today's market.
People were 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.
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. It can also be wasteful, sticky and a tiny bit absurd.
Cake Is For Eating
I understand why parents like the pictures. Babies are adorable. Cake is adorable. Messy babies with cake are undeniably funny. I simply object to sacrificing an entire cake when a slice can achieve exactly the same buttercream-on-cheeks result.
My 2019 compromise was: give the baby a slice, take the photographs, then let everybody else eat the birthday cake like civilisation intended.
A Better First-Birthday Cake
Our current Pastel Swirl Number Cake makes the age part of the design and is intended to be eaten, which already puts it ahead in my very biased ranking system. You can also browse our current number cakes and birthday cakes.
So, Was Cake Smashing The Dumbest Cake Trend Ever?
My answer in 2019 was: possibly. The photographs can be cute, but a beautifully made cake contains ingredients, time and skill. Watching the whole thing get flattened for content still feels like a tiny buttercream tragedy.
Love,
Reshmi xoxo
Earlier in the archive: Fault Line Cake Recipe and Tutorial
Later in the archive: Birthday Cake Trends 2020
IT’S FOR CHAVS
I hate seeing smashcakes it’s just so ridiculous… children year after year have less good manners and you even encourage them to be worse for fun yey
@MCK take a chill pill! Calm down and take a deep breathe. It will all be fine. Ommmmm
They’re called smash cakes because that’s what a baby does….smash something to try and get it in his or her mouth. For each of my children’s first birthdays, I baked something small and simple with easy whipped topping. I did something a little more elegant for guests. What is ridiculous is suggesting a recipe with considerably more complicated elements as though either a one year old should be skilled with a fork or shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy the cake at all. Are you even a parent? It’s a first birthday with a cake that many people turn down and much ends up in the trash anyway. Get a grip.
What a great way to start early in teaching a child some manners when it comes to eating and proper behavior at the table. “Oh look, little Suzie Q has a nostril full of cake and is having difficulty breathing! This will be a great photo for FB. Not many can compare with this!” Adults with that attitude are anything but adult.
I think it’s a dumb “tradition”. What’s wrong with a square or slice of cake for baby to eat/play with? Over-indulgent. Also,the staged nature is annoying. Just my opinion! But, as another poster, said, “To each his own”. Despite the dopey nature of a smash cake (not to mention waste), it’s not really hurting anyone. Same as Gender Reveal cakes.
When my 21 year old son turned one I baked him his own personal cake. It made great pics. So imagine my surprise when I heard they had come out with “smash cakes”! These people just didn’t know me because I have 11 years on the supposed 10 year history of its popularity! IJS
So when did this become a smash cake. We used to always have a little cake just for baby to eat & get messy with so they didn’t destroy the other cake for the adults & other kids. We just called it their cake. And if u can keep a 1 yr old from destroying any food put in front of them , including a slice of cake, well….
I see in the pics that the kids are often messily eating the cake, not just smashing them. The cakes are made for that purpose, and are small and of uncomplicated in design. I don’t see the problem with doing it honestly, as cake making is a form of temporary art. All cakes, no matter what they are for will be destroyed at the end of whatever their purpose was – many ending up in the toilet.
The only thing that disturbs me about fads like this is the contrived element. I like more candid, ‘organic’ photos.
But to each their own.
FINALLY someone who understands that cake should be consumed and not obliterated!
Loved your post. Love your delectable selection, too!