Monkey Smash Cake for Baby’s First Birthday {All Things Baby Blog Hop}

It’s hard to believe how many months have passed since we celebrated Baby’s first birthday!  He is now a walking, talking, running, climbing toddler who regularly charms (and exhausts) us with his escapades.  He is a source of endless amusement and frustration to his brother, as all younger siblings should be.

When his first birthday rolled around, I chose to make his smash cake in the form of – what else! – a monkey 🙂

In case you aren’t familiar with the term, a smash cake is made on a baby’s first birthday, separate from the cake that will be served to the rest of the family and other guests.  It is just as you would imagine – a small cake that the baby can smash and enjoy all for himself!

So often, babies don’t really eat any of the cake on their first birthday, but they love being able to dig their hands into that tempting confection as, for once, no one fusses if they smear food everywhere, even on their nice birthday clothes!

To make this monkey smash cake is really quite simple:

1) Start with your favorite yellow cake recipe, enough for a 9″ cake.  Instead, use a 6″ cake pan (I had to look at a party store to find one) and cupcake tins.  (You only need two cupcakes, but depending on your recipe you may have one or two extra, which come in handy if there are any older brothers milling about while you are baking the evening before the party).  The 6″ cake will serve as the head and the two cupcakes as the ears.

2) While they are baking, prepare your frosting.  You will need two kinds: chocolate and vanilla (is anyone brave enough to try a banana flavored frosting?)

3) After the cakes cool, frost them, starting with the vanilla frosting for the face.  Then frost around it with chocolate for the rest of the face and the “ears.”

4) Decorate with chocolate chips for the eyes, nose, and mouth.

As you can see, the cake didn’t last long at the hands of my monkeys!

How did you celebrate your baby’s first year?

I am so excited to be a part of the Ultimate Guide to Baby’s First Year. This amazing ten day event represents a massive effort from over 40 bloggers to provide the best advice on celebrating all of those firsts of a baby’s first year. Today we are talking about Celebrating with Baby.

For more great tips, visit our group Pinterest board: Follow Dayna :: Lemon Lime Adventures’s board Everything Baby on Pinterest.

As an additional surprise for you, The Colic Solution by a Mom, for a Mom is 70% off for the duration of this event. Click here to apply the code:ULTIMATEBABY. Here are all the great topics being covered today: Ultimate Guide to Taking Care of Baby ~ Lemon Lime Adventures

Topic: Celebrating with Baby

Ultimate Guide to Celebrating Baby’s First Year ~ Lemon Lime Adventures

Party Ideas

Baby’s 1st Birthday Party Activities ~ Makeovers & Motherhood

How to Use Pinterest to Plan Baby’s First Birthday Party ~ Trust Me, I’m a Mom

Big Brother/ Big Sister Party – getting siblings excited about the new baby ~ Mom Favorites

Simple 1st Birthday Party Ideas ~ Bare Feet on the Dashboard

Piper’s First Birthday Celebration ~ Conceiving Piper

Five ideas for an “original” first birthday – La Cité des Vents

Party Favors

Monkey Smash Cake for Baby’s First Birthday ~ All Done Monkey

Gifts

Five ideas for an “original” first birthday ~ La Cité des Vents

Remembering the First Year

Tips for Taking Better Baby Photos ~ Happily Ever Mom

Keeping Memories for Baby’s First Year  ~ Powerful Mothering

Baby’s First Year Photo Album ~ BPhotoArt

Making Memories Into a Movie ~  Conceiving Piper

Finally, enter the giveaways! We have eight – yes, eight! – giveaways going on this week, so don’t miss out on your chance to win! a Rafflecopter giveaway