1st Birthday Cake Smash

It doesn’t matter how hard I work at my photography – I am nothing compared to a professional. I’m always snapping away on my phone or camera, but I’m pretty useless when it comes to editing. The photos are nothing worth bragging about and not really the sort of thing I want printed and put on the wall!

When Piglet was born we had a newborn photoshoot with Iana from Lace Photography. We really enjoyed the experience of having the photos done in our own home, and Iana was so patient with Piglet who refused to have a sleep at all during the shoot! As he approached his first birthday it just made sense to go back to Iana for some up to date photos – and we decided to go with a cake smash!

1st Birthday Cake Smash | We celebrated our baby's first birthday in the best way we knew how - with cake! It was a perfect way to capture his personality at this age, and our photographer did and excellent job https://oddhogg.com

Cake smash photos have become more and more popular in recent years. Some people go all out and purchase a cake specifically to smash. Although they look great, that just isn’t for me. I could bare the though of spending £50 on a cake that no one other than Piglet will get to eat!

I opted to make my own. I had discussed with Iana in advance and told her I would do a simple cake with very pale blue icing. This meant she knew what colour decorations to bring. Anyone who knows me will tell you that although my baking often tastes nice – aesthetics are not my strong point! I think I proved this quite well by turning my blue cake green!

The butter I was using to make the buttercream icing was quite a bright yellow. That should have been a fairly big warning sign, but I stupidly carried on regardless and added the blue food colouring. Blue and yellow make green. Well done Kim! 2 more tubes of food colouring later we had what vaguely resembled a blue cake (it was more turquoise) and were ready to get started.

Iana brought everything she needed to set up a mini studio at home. Since my house was a building site (seriously – renovations are the worst) we did it in my mums house where we didn’t have to worry about stray rusty nails on the floor!

The set-up was gorgeous. It was really simple, but the paper decor made sure that the cake still took centre stage.

1st Birthday Cake Smash | The Set https://oddhogg.com

I picked up Piglet’s outfit from ebay. I figured now was my chance to get those hilarious pictures that I’ll want to putt out on his 18th birthday! I thought minimal clothing would be key if there was to be cake flying everywhere so he not only look ridiculous adorable, but it was practical too.

1st Birthday Cake Smash | Ready To Smash https://oddhogg.com

Piglet has had cake before – he has 7 older cousins so there was no chance of keeping him away from sugar – so I thought he’d be quite into the cake smashing idea. He’s a confident eater so I know he’d work out what to do.

What I had failed to remember was what a delicate child Piglet is turning out to be. He hits his musical drum with one finger. He doesn’t snatch, he takes with just two fingers. Compared to his rough and tumble cousins he is much more gentle – and no amount of cake was about to make him change!

1st Birthday Cake Smash | Toddler Touching The Cake https://oddhogg.com

1st Birthday Cake Smash | Licking FInger https://oddhogg.com

He’d have quite happily and sat in front of that cake all day, dipping his finger into the icing and licking it off. Iana captured the moments brilliantly, but after a while even she needed a little more to work with 😉 So I got my hands dirty and smashed the cake up for him. It was only then that he realised he could get a hold of the cake in fistfuls.

1st Birthday Cake Smash | Looking Up https://oddhogg.com

Once we were done I had fully expected to have to plonk Piglet straight in the bath. He was surprisingly clean though so he escaped with just a wipe down. I’ve heard of many cake smashes that have been a sticky mess of icing though!1st Birthday Cake Smash | Uh-Oh https://oddhogg.com

For those of you in the Aberdeen area looking for a photographer, you should definitely check out what Lace Photography has to offer. From couples shoots to newborn photography, weddings to maternity, Iana has a package for just about everything.

I love all the photos that we have. The Cloudburst package (the cake smash one) comes with 20 digital images so now we have the dilemma of choosing what to print! Our new living room will be finished soon and I want to get one of these on a canvas on the wall. I just don’t know which!

If you’ve got a favourite from this post then please tell me which in the comments below.

1st Birthday Cake Smash | Licking Finger https://oddhogg.com

We received a cake smash photo shoot for the purposes of a review. All words and opinions are my own.

13 thoughts on “1st Birthday Cake Smash”

  1. Beautiful photos Kim, what a wonderful way to capture Piglet turning one! I love the photo of him in black and white and the last one, his eyes are gorgeous in both. Good idea to make your own cake as well, it looks like someone was a fan of it!

  2. I love these, the black and white is my favourite.Id love to do something like this for Kai I just can’t guarantee il remember to book it.

  3. Oh what a brilliant way of capturing milestones. Love Piglet’s outfit, one to get out again when he is a moody teenagaer ;-). The photos and attention to detail with the decorations are just stunning. I wish that I lived in Aberdeen as I would be hiring Lace Photograpy!

  4. Sinead (shinnersandthebrood.com)

    I’ve never had a professional take photos of the kids and it’s something I’ve been meaning to look into since the third was born. I’m the same re the photography – I snap away but there’s no comparison!

  5. Awww I love these photos, piglet looks utterly adorable on them all! I never did a cake smash with any of mine, I think they are great for what they are, but they aren’t the kind of photos that I would then want to display on my wall – my kids smeared in icing isn’t quite as pretty a sight as piglet tucking in!! I can’t believe you made that cake too, it looks amazing!

  6. This isnt something that I ever did with the boys but I really wish I had now! The photos are just stunning, the photographer has done a fantastic job! What a perfect addition for your new living room x

  7. This is so cute! Great idea making your own. Lobe the black and white one! They are all great! Good idea jumping in and showing him how to smash the cake!

    My husband is turning 40 next year and I want to do something funny like an adult cake smash photo shoot! haha

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