Monster Smash Cake Tutorial

For both my daughter and son's first birthdays I made their smash cakes and made cupcakes out of the rest of the cake batter. I personally think it is a waste of money to spend $15-$35 on a smash cake for your one year old that is going to play with the cake and only eat about one fifth of the cake while the rest usually goes to waste. If you can afford that then more power to you but I prefer to spend $3-$5 and make my own smash cake and cupcakes to go with it. It is a lot easier than you would think and I'm going to show you how I make my children's smash cakes.

Monster Smash Cake

Supplies:

• Cake Mix plus ingredients on the box (usually 2 eggs, vegetable oil, water)
• 1-2 containers of Icing - this depends on if you need icing for the cupcakes as well
• #21 Piping Tip
• Ziploc bag, freezer bag or pipping bag
• 4" Small Circular Dish - I use a Pyrex Simple Storage glass dish we have

How To:

1. Preheat the oven and make the cake batter according to the directions on the box. 

2. Grease the pan you plan to bake your smash cake in and pour the cake batter into the pan filling it  ¼ of the way full.

3. Use the rest of the cake batter to make cupcakes or a cake.

4. Bake. I set the timer to about 5 minutes shy of what the cupcake time is and check the smash cake. Keep an eye on it because every oven and pan cooks differently so yours may cook the smash cake faster. Let cool.

NOTE: If the top of your smash cake rose like cupcakes do you can cut it off so it is flat if you want to. 

5. Once your cake is cool it is now time to decorate it. I recommend quickly icing the cake to set a base for your decoration and incase you miss a spot so the cake won't show through.

6. Optional: Pour the icing into a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until the icing looks smooth. This makes the icing easier to work with and makes it last longer. Cut a small hole in corner of your Ziplock bag and add your #21 piping tip. Once your bag is set you can spoon the icing into the bag.

7. Start at the bottom of the cake and go around dabbing the icing onto the cake until you make it back to where you started. Repeat dabbing the icing onto the cake on the row above the one you just did. Continue doing this until your smash cake is fully covered.

8. Create monster eyes for your cake. You can do this several different ways. I was originally going to use the candy eyes but I didn't want my son to choke on them so I attempted to make monster eyes out of mini oreos and white icing. You can also make fondant eyes, marshmallow eyes, or paper eyes attached to a kabob stick and have the eyes sticking out of your cake. Make any monster eyes you prefer and stick them on the cake wherever you want them placed.

9. Add a candle, take a picture and let your little one enjoy!

I essentially made the monster smash cake the same way I made the Pink and White Smash Cake. I used a 4" pan for the monster smash cake instead of the 6" pan. I also used blue raspberry icing from a container and a piping tip. There is a lot more icing in the containers than the Wilton Decorating Icing Bags, plus the container icing is cheaper so if you have a piping tip I recommend using the container icing. If you are in a hurry and money isn't a problem then the Wilton Decorating Icing Bags will probably take less time and make less of a mess. 

Below are the Monster cupcakes I made with the left over cake batter. I iced the cupcakes the same way I iced the smash cake. Once I was finished icing the cupcakes I added candy eyes I bought at Micheals to make them look like mini monsters.

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You can check out my son's first birthday party here: Monster Birthday Party