By Melissa Grant
Destroying a perfectly good cake for the purpose of taking a photo may sound a little bonkers, but it’s fast becoming a popular part of a child’s 1st birthday celebrations.
The cake smash trend has taken off in Australia, with some parents even forking out hundreds of dollars for a professional photographer to capture the action on camera.
It’s a simple but messy equation – bub is given an iced cake to eat in front of some cute and colourful decorations.
A vanilla sponge with white buttercream icing is often the cake of choice. The sponge breaks apart easily and the white frosting looks a treat in the photos. Chocolate mud cake, while yummy, probably isn’t the best idea (after all, you don’t want people saying is that cake or something else…)
It’s also a good idea to have plenty of baby wipes and the bubble bath ready as the cake will end up everywhere!
While professional cake smash packages can cost upwards of $600, it is possible to spend much less and still be happy with the photos.
Pakenham mum Ally Singh did a cake smash for her daughter, Grace, on a budget.
Ally bought a supermarket sponge cake and decorated it with buttercream icing, got Grace’s tutu from an op shop, purchased the decorations from a discount store and took the photos.
The cake smash, including the set-up, took a couple of hours.
”The clean up wasn’t too bad – I just threw her in the bath and had the cat help out with the clean up,” Ally said.
“We had an absolute ball and would recommend for mums to do their own.”
