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Make // Homemade Smash Cake
Since I ended up planning Skylar's sky-themed first birthday party at the last minute—seriously, less than a week before his actual birthday—I quickly realized that the bakeries I usually trust wouldn't be able to whip up a cake for us in time. Talk about a mom panic! What’s a mom to do? DIY it, of course. I really wanted some adorable smash cake photos, so I knew I had to make both the party cake and a separate smash cake. Spoiler alert: it turned out to be easier than I thought!
I’m definitely not a professional baker, and my icing skills are far from flawless. I even purchased fondant but chickened out when it came to using it because I was absolutely terrified of messing it up. But guess what? The vision I had in my mind still came together beautifully in this sky-inspired smash cake. So here we go, friends—this is the second installment in our birthday series this week!
The smash cake turned out super cute, and honestly, most smash cakes end up getting more smashed than eaten anyway. For this, I went with a basic box cake mix and a tub of white frosting that I dyed into a soft baby blue shade using food coloring. Super simple yet effective.
I initially thought about using mini cake pans or even Corningware dishes that were roughly the same size. Following the instructions on the box, I prepped the batter and baked the cakes. Once they were cooked and cooled, I carefully sliced off the rounded tops with a sharp knife to create flat surfaces for stacking. At first, I considered going for a three-tiered cake, but after preparing all the layers, it just looked too tall, so I settled on a two-tier design instead.
To finish things off, I added a light layer of frosting between the cake layers to hold them together while stacking. Then, I simply spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides. Some bakers prefer to start with a “crumb coat,†which is a thin layer of frosting to seal in any loose crumbs, and then apply a thicker layer afterward. Either way works fine—it’s not like the cake will stay pristine for long once the smashing begins.
With the leftover cake mix, my kids and I made some extra cupcakes just for fun. It’s always nice to have extras around, especially when baking with little helpers!
For the finishing touch, I wanted something whimsical to match the sky theme. I used sugar paper to cut out some fluffy cloud shapes, which added a sweet touch. Since we also had a cotton candy machine for the party, I decided to use blue spun sugar as a topper. It looked magical, but surprisingly, Skylar didn’t seem to enjoy cotton candy, so we removed it before taking the photos. Oops!
All in all, we had a blast putting this cake together and celebrating Skylar’s special day. Watching him grow up so fast has been surreal, and I’m grateful for moments like these to cherish forever. If you missed it, check out the first post in our birthday series this week, "Confetti Popcorn + Free Popcorn Box Printable."
And there you have it—a quick and easy smash cake recipe that turned out better than expected. Happy baking, everyone!
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