The Baby Cake Smash

Are you a new parent? A new grandparent? If so, you are going to be presented with a new phenomenon when it comes to your baby’s or grandchild’s first birthday. What we are referring to is the cake smash, where one year old babies are allowed, even encouraged, to plunge their hands into a pristine birthday cake and rip out pieces to eat.

Sometimes the smash occurs to a single large birthday cake, the remainder of which, after the baby has performed the smash, will then be cut and served to guests. At other smash events, the baby will be allowed to smash a smaller cake, while guests enjoy birthday cake from a separate cake. If your baby has a cold, we strongly suggest that the two-cake event would be best.

There’s some confusion about where the cake smash came from. In Mexico, they have a tradition called the Mordida. “Mordida” means “bite” in Spanish. This tradition involves the boy or girl who is turning one having his or her face shoved into the cake to take that first bite.

However, there’s another potential explanation. It’s also possible that this tradition sprang from the American tradition of the bride and groom smashing cake into each other’s faces on their wedding day. Strange, eh?

If you are planning a smash cake, we recommend that you keep it simple. Your baby hasn’t had much exposure to sugar, and a sugar filled cake that is thick in fondant or buttercream is likely to result in a “poo-nami” at the end of the day.

Whatever you decide, enjoy your baby’s first birthday and don’t forget to take lots of photos.

• Topics:

• Living and Lifestyle
• Children
• Parenting
• Food