Baby’s First Smash Cake!

9.21.16

There are stages in your life that no one tells you about. You feel like you’re the only one going through it. But when you mention it to others, they all nod in understanding, like three years ago when my husband (then boyfriend) and I attended nine weddings within one year. Nine.  You read that correctly. But when I told friends this, they smirked and were like, “Oh yeah, so this is your year.” We’ve all been through it.  And now the next stage has begun.

All my friends have kids. It’s like one minute we’re drinking all the bourbon in Manhattan, and next, we’re drinking all the bourbon in Manhattan, but we have to take breaks to put the kids down. (My friends are cool and refuse to let their children totally reroute their priorities.) But it is crazy how I turned around and everyone now has children.  I even acquired a nephew last week! 

Even though I am someone who currently, and proudly, chooses to be child-free I do love hanging out with my friends’ kids.  It’s crazy to watch them start to have their own personality, begin to look more like mom or dad, realize my friends are more tired than I’ll ever be. It’s eye-opening. And while at this point in time I’m not very interested in having my own, I have no problem celebrating everyone else’s.  

So when one of my friend’s daughters was turning one (how is she one already?) I wanted to make her a cake. And I do mean her, the one year old.  What better way to practice making simple cakes then on a child?? Sorry Izzy, you were my guinea pig! But it worked! I made a simple, one-layer vanilla cake with lemon buttercream and it was easy, fast, and by no means did I get sad when her hand went in it. I encourage you to use the recipe, and tweak it to your liking.  Add cinnamon to the cake or the frosting! Make the frosting with some strawberry puree! Or make your favorite chocolate cake and use this lemon frosting because it would be divine.

The aftermath of this cake for the most part is undocumented, except for some Instagrammers at the party.  Izzy didn’t smash the cake as much as massage the top of it, which kept her calm at one point.  So I’m officially going to start selling therapy cakes to children and make a million dollars. 

I used some simple white sprinkles and a glitter “i” to decorate, knowing a one year old wouldn’t really care, but for personal reasons still wanted it to look kinda chic.  Also, if it’s over 90 degrees, try and keep this in AC as much as possible.  My journey to another borough on a painfully hot day made this cake a little melty by the time I reached my destination.  But like I said, a one year old doesn’t care.  But at least it looked nice beforehand!

I also looked into my mixing bowl and got really sad that I had leftover frosting. So I took to the internet and found a recipe to use left over buttercream in cookies! It’s so easy, and I have to say, these cookies are pretty good. They’re not life changing, but they are light and obviously take on the flavor of your buttercream. Good stuff.

I had about 1 cup of leftover frosting, so I doubled the recipe and it came out great! 

Whipping up a batch of these while you get ready for whatever party this cake is for takes no time! And then you have two treats instead of one!

Think these things still sound hard? Maybe you should take my Skillshare class and realize how easy baking can be! Sign up here!

Easy Smash Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup MINUS 1 3/4 tbsp flour
• 1 3/4 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp milk
• 2 Tbsp sour cream
• seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean (or one tsp vanilla extract)

For the Frosting

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1-2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• zest from 2 lemons

Instructions

For the Cake

• Line and grease one 6″ cake tin and preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside
• Whisk together milk and sour cream in a small bowl, set aside
• In a stand up mixer cream butter until fluffy, about two minute, the slowly stream in sugar, allow to combine
• Add in egg and scrape down sides of bowl
• Alternating, add in milk mixture and dry ingredients on low speed, allowing each to mix in before adding the next
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add in vanilla seeds, allow to just combine
• Pour batter into cake tin
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, until tester from the center comes out clean
• Allow to cool on wire rack while you make the frosting
• Then, cut off top of cake for an even surface, then flip it over and use that as your bottom
• If desired, spread a quick crumb coat with a thin later of frosting, then chill for ten minutes
• Once chilled, frost rest of the cake and decorate as desire

For the Frosting

• Cream room temperature butter until light and fluffy
• Add in lemon juice on low speed
• Pour in one cup of confectioners sugar to start, then slowly add more to reach desired consistency
• Add in lemon zest and allow to evenly distribute through the batter

P.S.

*Does the flour thing seems weird? Sorry, that’s how you make your own cake flour. It’s typically for every 1 cup of flour, remove 2 Tbsp and replace with 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. Since these measurements are a little different due to only one layer, it looks weird. But this cake turned out great, so trust me

Leftover Buttercream Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup leftover buttercream frosting
• 1 cups flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

• Line a baking sheet with silicon mat or parchment paper, preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Throw all ingredients into the same bowl as your leftover frosting
• Mix on low-medium speed to combine
• Spoon about 1″ globs of batter on baking sheet
• Bake for about 11-13 minutes, until just starting to brown
• Allow to cool before enjoying

Adapted from The Cupcake Project