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My daughter turned one this month, and for each of my children I’ve done a smash cake for their first birthday (mostly for the pictures) and knowing that my baby girl is my only girl, and my finale baby, I really wanted a simple smash cake for her.

The problem was that we’d just spent the last month in another state visiting family, and we’d just driven home (a tidy 20 hour of driving time… that we’d driven straight through… because we were feeling slightly insane, which is a story for another day).

Our kids did fantastic, but upon pulling up to our home we had time to drop off some of our crew before taking my eldest to the doctor for a suspect ear infection (which was confirmed that night).

And also… I had to do so much school shopping in a very short amount of time since my older kids started school the following week and… I’d done nothing.

So picture chaos across the board, unpacking, sick kid, school shopping, and lots of emotions coming down from a month of endless activities and fun with grandparents.  It was just a lot.

All of that is just to paint a small picture of me, wanting a smash cake and small family birthday party for my baby, while also feeling so totally overwhelmed and like I was drowning in life. (Did I mention my husband drove out with us, then flew home to work for the month, before flying back out to drive home with us, which left me as a solo parent with 4 kids – 1 under 1 – for the whole month.)

Anyway.  Yes I was super burnt out, and so I cut some corners, but still made it happen, and honestly I’m super happy with this 5 minute cake.  It did it’s job, I got the pictures, and no tears were shed.

How to make a smash cake in five minutes:

Supplies Needed:

• A normal sized bakery cake
• A sheet of semi firm plastic (I used shrinky dink film that I’d washed)
• Can of store bought frosting

Step 1)

Open your cake, and tape your plastic into a tube shape.

Step 2)

Carefully put that tube through the center of your cake.

Step 3)

Lift super gently while also picking up your cake and pushing a bit in that middle part from the bottom (prayers here are also a good idea)

Step 4)

Pull out that perfect round slice of cake and put it on a plate, scrape off the store frosting and frost to your heart’s content with a frosting of your choice

Step 5)

Enjoy your little one with their smash cake, and serve slices of the bigger cake to your guest or other family members.

Takeaways

My daughter wanted nothing to do with her cake, not the frosting, not the inside – nothing! (though she did want a bite of the outside of the cake when it came from my fork later) but I still got some cute pictures and in this chaotic time of life for me, I’m counting this cake and experience as a total win. (also all my boys were so excited for their little sister and the cake escapade, they are for sure her biggest cheerleaders)

10/10 would recommend this approach to anyone wanting a simple, easy, inexpensive smash cake.