As a child of the 90s, children’s birthday parties will always be synonymous with a few things: goodie bags of cheap, plastic favors, adults dressed as a Ninja Turtles and princesses, and, of course, character cakes.
You know the cakes I'm talking about, baked in specialty pans shaped like beloved Sesame Street or Disney characters, simple enough for the most novice of bakers to master.
But this trend has always made me wonder: Who are these cakes really for anyway? Most of the children receiving these cakes are sub-four-years-old. At such a young age, the child may or may not temporarily delight in seeing a beloved character in front of them (their smiles could just be gas, after all). And will they even remember it? Not likely.
Recently, a new baby birthday cake trend has emerged. More and more parents are choosing to celebrate their child's birthday with not one cake, but two—one for the party-goers to enjoy, and one smaller, cuter cake created solely for the baby to smash. Yes, smash.
Aptly named "Smash Cakes," the idea is that because the child is so young and will probably make a mess regardless, you may as well let them have at the whole thing face-first.
They have become a near-phenomenon over the past few years, and a quick Google search yields thousands of articles on the topic. Posts range from tips (Don't use food dye! Be sure to lay down a tarp!), to popular Smash Cake recipes, to photos of cute babies and cake galore. In fact, it seems like the biggest motivation for serving such a chaotic cake is for the photo opportunity it provides. Some even choose to go the professional photoshoot route.
The whole thing has me begging the same questions of character cakes: Who are Smash Cakes for—the birthday boy or girl, or the guests (and their Instagrams)? Is this annual anomaly just another signal that our culture is increasingly focused on curating shareable food-based visual content rather than experiencing a cherished moment? Or are Smash Cakes just a light-hearted birthday tradition too cute not to flood our social news feeds? What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Written by: Sarah E Daniels
Popular on Food52
32 Comments
A smash cake wasn't my cup of tea. It doesn't seem like a big deal though, even if it's more for the parents.
My family was rural working class, so you can save the bourgeois comments for elsewhere. Even people who don't have much can choose to indulge on special occasions--and a homemade small cake with whipped cream isn't that much of an indulgence.
When kids were older and got to request cakes, we might have some simple shapes but again, as all the cakes were homemade it wasn't too out there. That said, there are plenty of parents who use cardboard guides to cut out bunnies or Mickey Mouse or a car or whatever.
So in short: not new! Not necessarily wasteful! Not a sign of the upper classes!
I think this is reaching juuuust a tad....
Do you have kids? My daughter's first birthday is a couple months away and we'll be doing smash cupcake because it's fun. Period.
Baby birthday parties are for the parents anyway. We're looking at this as a celebration of keeping a tiny human alive (and our marriage alive!) for a year. Plus what baby wouldn't want a face full of (vegan, no sugar) cake?
And sure, the smash cake will lend itself to cute pictures. But so will the rest of the party. Cause babies are freaking cute.
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