Small, three to five inch cakes, or smash cakes, are for babies on their first birthday and designed for what some babies already do-smash cakes.
“They just recently became a thing,” said Jamie Holst, of Pine Valley. “I’ve been to six (parties with smash cakes).”
Holst baked a three –inch homemade strawberry cake with buttercream frosting smash cake for her daughter Autumn’s first birthday party.
Autumn is now 3 ½ years old.
“They have been popular for the last several years,” said Jessica Abat, a baker at Alpine’s Albertsons. “Usually five inches in size.”
The price can vary depending on if you buy it in a grocery store or bakery.
“They are $6.99,” said Abat. “And one of the most popular ones is an ombre rosette that goes from dark pink to light pink and then white.”
Homemade smash cakes can feature Cheerios spelling out of the number one, a hat or mound shaped cake, fancy or plain.
Holst did not recommend using fondant frosting due to its harder texture.
According to the Life with Littles website, tips for smash cakes are pick an outfit that will be OK if it stains, bring a change of clothes, a towel and some water for your baby, don’t bother with a cake stand for the photo shoot. Plan the background and have a few props but keep it simple so the focus is on your baby. Use a small cake with colorful frosting, top the cake with something cute, do the smash somewhere with easy cleanup. Take pictures the whole time and get lots of different angles.
Backdrops celebrating the “big one” are also available in party supply stores or online. The backdrops, fake lighting stands and props used for filming the actual smashing of the cake offer a photoshoot-like home video taping opportunity.
“They are small because you don’t want to eat it after they smashed it.” she said.
