Mommy Phanessa: Dustin's First Birthday Cake Smash

Dustin is turning 1 in just 3 days! I can't believe it was a year ago that it felt like everything was going wrong during my 3rd labor. The emotional wound hasn't healed yet...

I did his cake smash session early because his birthday lands on a Wednesday... I've been preparing for a long time now making things for the backdrop, crocheting his hat & bow tie and learning how to make a giant cupcake. I'm so glad everything worked out good because I was starting to worry!

I decided to use a tassel background (how I made it) because it was easy and fast to put together. I barely have enough time with the little kiddos around.

I had some paper balls laying around so I just made a few more in the colors I needed.

Less clothing is better with a Cake Smash session because they get pretty dirty... covered in cake & icing! So I decided to crochet a Newsboy Hat & Crochet Bow tie.

I was mostly worried about the giant cupcake. I am not a baker but I love learning new things and was up for the challenge! I borrowed the cupcake pan and actually made one for my son's last day of preschool. I didn't have time to make the chocolate cupcake liner then. I was worried about this more especially since I didn't get to practice. I don't know how to frost cakes either nor have I ever made icing from scratch! I used 2 boxes of cake mix & 2 cans of icing. For the chocolate cupcake liner, I used candy melts. I was really worried about the liner being a disaster because I just can't see myself pulling off melting anything haha.

I baked the cupcake using 2 boxes of yellow cake mix. I used 2 canned frosting that was already blue. I was worried the night I made it because it looked like it was melting and I screwed up parts of it BUT I just made sure this was the side that was on the back! haha

After it was refrigerated overnight, it looked much better!

I used the microwave to melt the candy melts. The trick is to do it in multiple sets of 20 seconds on HIGH each time and stirring in between. It was easier than I thought! I used the cake pan as the mold and put it in the refrigerator for at LEAST 40 minutes. I tried to take it out after 15 minutes and cracked a portion of the liner! I googled and people recommended leaving it in the refrigerator for at LEAST 40 minutes. It slid out with no problems at all! I just covered the imperfections with the icing hehe

It's not perfect but I'm happy with it! I made the cake stand using a glass plate and candle holder from the Dollar Tree and spray painted it white. I thought the doily added a nice touch. :)

I used an old DIY Paper Medallion I made for another session. I found free templates for the letters to spell out "ONE".

The session was not a success. He cried most of the time. He did not like the feel of the icing and he just kept crying. I took some photos before we put the cake down.

At first he couldn't wait to get to the cake...

And then he touched it.....

We had to clean him up and gave him a break. He was a little happier after I nursed him but he would still cry. He would cry and then stop to taste the cake... and then cry a little... and then stopped to taste the cake. It was so cute....