When my little guy celebrated his first birthday, we wanted to capture the moment of him enjoying his "first" cake. As far as my husband and all the other "I-think-you-should-do-it-this-way" family and friends were concerned, it was his first time eating cake.
 |
| First Birthday Cake |
Making the cake myself did give me the benefit of controlling what goes into it and ensured that it was fresh.
Tips for making the cake:
Cake:
For all the subsequent events and birthday parties, it's worth spending the money on a good set of pans. There is a wide variety of pans to choose from, however I found this 3 piece one most useful: Wilton Pans. You can always decorate a round cake with different items and colours, where a shaped pan has limited use.
Funny moment: I ran out of cooking oil! Luckily I still had some applesauce. Turns out, using applesauce instead of oil made the cake taste so much better, and it added a little bit of fruit to the otherwise complete sugar overload!
Decorations:
Ensure that there are no small decorations that could pose a chocking hazard. If you do want some decorations that might be hazardous, have the photographer take a picture of the cake and remove them before the actual cake smash. I used coloured sugar on the cake, it added some nice sparkle and dissolved as soon as you eat it.
Frosting/Icing:
I used this icing recipe, sans alcohol: Icing/Frosting. Although fondant looks nice, it will not be as practical for smashing. The whole idea of a cake smash is to get the icing all over the little one! To obtain a smooth look, dip a knife/spatula in a glass of water (room temperature) and moisten the icing. It will harden and it will resemble fondant.
Colour:
Although the pastels and soft colours are soothing, for this occasion go primary! The more colour the better. I recommend spending a bit more on the food colouring itself to avoid subpar ingredients that might also be dangerous or even cause a reaction to your little one. Another option is doing it yourself, I found this post really inspiring: Care2 Food Colouring Guide.
Storage:
Making the cake a day ahead of time will ensure that the icing is set and the cake looks its best for the day of the shoot. If made the day of, there are a lot of factors that might not work in your favour, so save yourself some headaches and make it a day in advance. Excellent containers include Cake Container or another unique idea is to place the lid of the Chip and Dip set as the base and turn the bowl over as the "lid".
May you have a wonderful first birthday CAKE SMASH! Feel free to comment and link to photo's of your little one's big day.
 |
| Birthday Balloons |
Photographs courtesy of Elfreda Dalby Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment