As The Cake Mom, choosing a smash cake recipe for my precious babe was no small feat. I wanted it to be healthy but delicious. I wanted him to be obsessed with it. It needed to be simple but elevated. Not like I tried too hard, but amazing at the same time. Anyone else?
I spent WAY too much time scouring Pinterest for the PERFECT smash cake recipe. Hours honestly. There were so many things to think about, consider, decide. (I’m being dramatic but this is how I felt). I finally decided on a recipe (which I still made some adjustments to), and only THEN got to make and decorate it. All that to say, the process of finding a smash cake was my least favorite part. And I don’t want you to have to waste so much time looking for the perfect recipe. So I’m sharing mine with you! I’ll also share my tips and tricks for baking and decorating! I want your cake to be a smashing (pun intended) success.
3 Things to Think About
1. What is a Smash Cake?
A smash cake is your baby’s first birthday cake! You sing happy birthday and put it in front of them in hopes they’ll smash it. Hence smash cake. Babies react so differently to the cake. Some dive right in, some are more hesitant and need a little nudge to dig in, and some have zero interest at all. Being the center of attention can definitely cause a pause, so don’t feel bad if your baby doesn’t dig in right away!
2. Ingredient Preferences
Are you going for health? Appearance? Or just want them to dive right in? I honestly wanted all of these things. So this smash cake recipe is made with clean ingredients, however the frosting recipe is a yummy buttercream frosting (which has sugar) to make sure Miles would actually want to smash it! I’m anti food coloring so I just decorated it in simple white frosting. Which was honestly perfect.
3. Party Theme
Do you have a theme your smash cake needs to match? Want to go all out with color and sprinkles? Or do you want to keep it simple? You didn’t ask, but I have thoughts. It’s often hard to match the frosting colors on your cake to your party decorations. It always seems to be a little off (in my opinion). So I tend to stick with simple white frosting and add color with toppers! Which is usually easier anyway.
The Recipe
This cake recipe is moist and delicious. I loved it so much I ate the leftovers Miles didn’t get to. It’s gluten free and sugar free! It’s naturally sweetened with bananas. And tastes like the best ever banana bread. Your little is sure to love it. (And you are too!) Okay, here it is.
Cake Ingredients
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 stick butter, softened (not melted)
2 large eggs at room temp
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup blanched almond flour
¼ cup oat flour (you can make your own by just grinding oats in a blender!)
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Baking Steps
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line the bottom of 3 4” round cake pans (or 2 6” rounds) with parchment paper or tin foil.
- Spray the bottom (on and under the parchment paper) and the sides of each pan liberally
- Mix together the bananas, eggs, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy
- Stir in the dry ingredients – almond flour, oat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Just until combined.
- Divide batter evenly between your greased pans
- Bake 15-20 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean)
Here is the original recipe that inspired me if you’re interested!
And now for the Frosting. I used powdered sugar in the frosting because I wanted to make sure Miles was obsessed with it. And I wanted it to have a good texture to frost with. But you can totally experiment with different frostings/sweeteners if you don’t want to use sugar! Let me know in the comments below what you try!
Frosting Ingredients
2 sticks of butter room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar (+/- a little depending on your preferred consistency)
2 tsps vanilla
Frosting Steps
- Cream the butter
- Add in vanilla
- Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time and continue until desired consistency
My Professional Frosting Tips
A couple of basic tools will take you a long way!
- This rotating cake decorating stand is very helpful for spinning your cake so you can make the frosting smooth.
- This plastic frosting scraper is what I use to smooth my frosting. It takes the cake to next level smoothness in my opinion.
Here is an example cake of what you can do with just these tools!
If you want to get fancy, here are a couple more tools I love.
- These stainless steel icing spatulas can be used to frost the cake regularly or to make ribbed edges along the cake.
- This piping bag with these frosting tips can be used to add fun borders to your cake for a more finished look. They can also be used to add flowers/polka dots/other fun decorative frosting.
- These larger tips are my favorite for bigger borders or for cupcake decorating!
Here are a few cakes you can make adding in these tools!
To Frost
- Let your cake completely cool before you begin frosting! Trim off any excess cake to make sure you’re working with a smooth top.
- Frost in between the layers. Make sure your frosting is room temperature (or softened) to ensure it’s easy to spread. Use a large scoop of frosting and try not to lift your knife (or spatula) up at all. This helps prevent excess crumbs!
3. Frost the cake in a crumb coat. This is a thin layer of frosting on the cake to trap all the crumbs! After you’ve done the first coat, pop it in the freezer for 15ish minutes.
4. Pull your cake out of the freezer for your second coat! This is where you can decide if you want to use the plastic frosting scraper for a smooth look, or the stainless steel spatula for a ribbed edge! I went with the ribbed edge. I use the plastic frosting scraper to make the frosting smooth before I use the stainless steel spatula for the ribbed edge.
5. If you went all out and purchased the frosting tips and bags, it’s your time to shine. I use the Wilton #12 tip for my cake border, but this part is totally up to your creative inspiration! I like a simple bottom border, but you can also do a top border and add writing or design to the top and sides of yours as well!
Final Thoughts
Okay, I feel like you are set up to make the most healthy, delicious, and beautiful smash cake. From the clean ingredient cake recipe to the tempting frosting recipe to the simple but beautiful frosting techniques. Your precious babe is sure to LOVE their cake. I have full confidence you can do it! If you have any questions about the recipe or frosting your cake, I’d love to help! Comment below or send me an email! I would love to hear how yours turns out!
I know you’ve been dying to know if Miles liked his cake. I’ll let the picture do the talking.
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