Inside a first-birthday cake smash.
What actually happens during a cake-smash session — the order we shoot in, the size of cake that works, and why we never start with the icing.
Cake smashes are the only session in my calendar that go out of their way to look uncomplicated and never quite are.
The setup looks simple. Dress baby in something cute, hand them a cake, take photographs. In practice the lovely frames come from the bits before and after the cake, and from getting the order right.
When to book.
Most cake smashes are photographed within a fortnight of the first birthday. Babies of about thirteen months sit, crawl, sometimes stand, and have just enough motor skills to pick at frosting without face-planting it. Anything earlier than eleven months and they're usually too sleepy to engage; later than fourteen, you have a determined toddler who would prefer the cake at a different table altogether.
Aim for mid-morning, after the first nap. A tired baby and a sugar rush are not friends.
Clean portraits first.
I always shoot the clean portraits before the cake comes out. Five minutes, maybe ten. Baby in the outfit they'll wear for the smash, sitting nicely, looking up at parents with a smile. These are the frames that end up framed on the wall; the messy ones end up on the fridge.
Once the clean portraits are in the can, I bring out the cake. There's no negotiating that order. If we hand over the cake first, the clean portraits never happen.
About the cake.
I bake a small giant-cupcake-shaped sponge for every session, and you choose the icing colour to match the nursery, the party theme, or simply your favourite. The cake is small on purpose. Smaller cakes are easier for tiny hands, less likely to topple, and they still smash beautifully on camera. A two-tier cake makes for an impressive Pinterest board and a confused baby.
If you have a cake from a local bakery you'd rather use, that's absolutely fine. Just send me a photograph beforehand so I can plan the backdrop colours around it.
How the smash actually goes.
Babies fall into one of three rough camps. Some dive straight in with both hands; those sessions are quick and joyful and over in fifteen minutes. Some stare at the cake suspiciously and need an older sibling, mum or dad to demonstrate before any smashing happens. And some take one careful poke, decide they're not interested, and the rest of the session is parents trying to coax them back in.
All three make for lovely photographs, just different ones. We work with whatever you have on the morning, and I never push a baby who doesn't want to play. The image that ends up on a grandparent's wall is usually the one where everyone is laughing, regardless of how much cake survives.
After the cake.
Most studios end the session at the smash. I follow it with a short bath portion when babies enjoy it: a small tub, warm water, a few rubber ducks, and the whole frosting situation gets washed away. The bath frames are quietly some of my favourites of the morning. Babies in their element, parents beaming, no cake in sight.
What to bring.
A change of clothes for baby (multiple, ideally). A small towel. A bottle or sippy cup. Wipes, of course. A second top for whichever parent will be holding baby afterwards, in case of cake transfer. And looser expectations than you'd bring to any other portrait — cake smashes are short, busy, and the photographs come from letting it happen rather than directing it.
If a first birthday is on the way.
If you have a first birthday in the next few months, send me a note. I'll hold a slot near the actual birthday so the timing lands properly, and we'll talk through icing colour, outfit and any siblings who'd like to be in the clean portraits before the cake comes out.
More from the journal: A newborn session at our Cashmere studio →