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First birthday smash cake
A small sponge cake for your baby to smash, smear and enjoy on their big day
- Difficulty: Medium
- Serves 6
Preparation
- Total time
- 40 Mins
- Preparation time
- 15 Mins
- Cooking time
- 25 Mins
For the cake
-
100g butter, room temperature, softened
-
100g caster sugar
-
100g self-raising flour
-
2 medium eggs
-
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
-
2 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam
For the buttercream icing
-
75g butter, softened
-
150g icing sugar, sifted
-
1-2 tbsp milk (if needed)
-
Blue, yellow and pink gel food colouring
-
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line your 2 sandwich tins with baking parchment.
-
Cream together the softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, until pale and fluffy.
-
Beat in a tablespoon of the flour and 1 egg, then repeat with another tablespoon of flour and the second egg, plus the vanilla if using. Fold in the rest of the flour until you have a smooth cake batter.
-
Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and a cocktail stick inserted into the middle of one of the cakes comes out clean.
-
Leave to cool for five minutes in the tins, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
-
While the cakes are cooling, make the icing. Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, then gradually add the icing sugar. Keep beating until you have a pale and fluffy icing.
-
Add a little of the milk to thin the icing to your desired consistency - if needed. You may not need all of the milk. The icing should be soft but thick enough to pipe and hold its shape.
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Divide the icing into three smaller bowls - adding a bit more to the third bowl as this will be used to ice the top as well. Add a few drops of blue to one bowl, pink to the second and yellow to the third. Whisk the colours into the icing.
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Once the cakes have cooled completely, spread the jam on top of one of the sponges, and then sandwich together.
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Add the coloured icing to disposable piping bags with a star-shaped nozzle attached. Pipe rose-shaped swirls around the bottom third of the cake.
-
Pipe the second layer of swirls around the middle of the cake, overlapping slightly.
-
Pipe the final layer of swirls around the top third of the cake and the top of the cake. Finish with a 1-shaped candle.
You will need
2 x 15cm round sandwich tins
Baking parchment
Disposable piping bags and star-shaped nozzle
1st birthday candle
Tips
To reduce the sugar in this recipe, swap the jam for a low-sugar jam, and sandwich the cake with whipped cream or whipped coconut cream instead of using and covering with buttercream icing.
Reviews
-
Poppy Y
★★★★★too cute!
Reviewed on 25/06/20
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