I’m probably not alone in that since becoming a mum I have found a passion for taking photographs…mainly ones that involve my baby! Literally 100s of photos that have robbed my phone’s memory — I seriously can’t delete any more apps to make way for new photos!
So with this in mind, I figured I could save some money by doing a cake smash photoshoot for my son’s 1st Birthday at home, and enjoy my new favourite pastime!! Was I genius or just plain deluded? Well you decide, as this was the final result….
If you want to recreate something similar, here’s what you will need:
- A room with good natural lighting or a well lit room
- A good backdrop, this could be a wall, plain sheet, photo backdrop or I have seen this done using rolled out wallpaper (if you’re going for a certain effect, e.g. brick effect). I wanted the photos to look relatively professional so I bought a backdrop 5ft x 7ft from Amazon (£15) (affiliate link)
- Baby’s outfit of choice: this ranges from just a nappy to baby vest to a cake smash outfit – we opted for the cake smash outfit with bloomers, braces, dickie bow and hat . This was our most expensive element – £20 plus £5 p&p – cheaper options are available if you opt for less. (bought from @jojocakesmashoutfits) If you don’t want this expense then you can just do a nappy, or jazz it up with a party hat or a cute clothing item.
- A cake – this can vary from a cupcake, homemade cake or store bought cake. I opted for a store bought sponge but decorated it myself, which cost me £6. You won’t see me on The British Bake Off anytime soon, but it did the job for a small cost.
- Decorations – this is purely personal choice – I have seen cake smash photos with decorations and ones with nothing at all. It all depends on what sort of look you want to have: decorations can create the party scene or a simple and plain setup can really focus the attention on the star of the show and their cake. I opted some balloons, that I already had in the house, and I bought a birthday banner, which cost me £2.85. (Affiliate link)
Bringing the total cost to £48.85…which can be done much more cheaply if you opt for a already owned outfit or nappy or without the backdrop purchase.
Even with my purchases, this is still less than paying a photographer and the cost of buying the photographs afterwards – because let’s face it we can never just have the one or two photos!! Lol.
Before you start
- Do some test photos in your intended space to make sure you are happy with the lighting and consider the space you may need to clear to avoid any cake becoming smeared on nearby furniture.
- Make sure the outfit fits – this is an easy one if you’re just opting for a nappy but if you’ve forked out on an outfit you want to be happy before introducing cake! In our dress rehearsal I learnt that my son wasn’t the greatest fan of his birthday hat – so I made sure I was prepared with lots of distracting items to stop him taking his hat off as soon as it went on!
- Cake protection! Although the backdrop would cover some of the floor, I also put down our splashmat extending from the area incase George decided to crawl off covered in fondant!!
- The cake itself – if you’re making it, just ensure you allow time for this. My cake took a total of 15mins to prepare (see method below)
- Consider the aftermath – once you’re finished with the photoshoot, your little one WILL be caked in cake so wet wipes or damp cloth to hand to clean hands did help and a bath straight afterwards! We opted for a sink bath 🙂
The Cake
I am no Mary Berry and will openly admit that I did not make my cake from scratch.
To achieve this item of edible creativity you will need:
- A store bought sponge (flavour of your choice)
- Tub of vanilla frosting
- Food colouring
- Sprinkles
- A pinch of ‘ah that will do’
STEP 1: Unbox your sponge and place on cake stand, so you can rotate it to decorate the cake – I didn’t have a cake stand, so used an overturned plastic bowl.
STEP 2: Spoon your frosting into a bowl and add in food colouring, stir until frosting has a uniform colour.
STEP 3: Spoon the coloured frosting onto the sponge and smooth using a palette knife – or a normal kitchen knife. (Tip: dip your knife into hot water to make smoothing easier) – turning the stand or bowl to cover the cake in frosting.
STEP 4: Use your knife to remove any drips of icing around the bottom of the sponge and decorate as you wish. I used sprinkles (copious amounts of sprinkles work well to disguise any flaws in your frosting technique!!!)
Despite the mess afterwards, which wasn’t anything a wet wipe, damp cloth and bath couldn’t sort, we had SO much fun doing our cake smash at home ourselves. The cost of the setup and printing our favourite snaps far outweigh that if we had opted for a photographer and the official prints!
I am not against the prospect of having a professional cake smash photoshoot- as this would be less work, you could stand back and watch a little more, and not everyone wants the mess at home either. But if you do fancy giving the Do It Yourself option a go, I say go for it!
WelshMummySteph 