Always my favorite cakes to make - I think smash cakes are just the cutest!
Smash cake requests are my absolute favorite things! Smash cakes are so cute, they're so fun to make - and they make for the absolute best birthday party pictures! 🙂
I got a request for a 'Hawaiian Island smash cake' for a little girl’s first birthday not long ago…I was so excited! I've learned over time that the brighter the smash cake frosting - the better the pictures as it gets smashed and frosting gets everywhere!
I went with super bright colors for the frosting, but kept the rest of the decorations pretty simple. No Hawaiian-style flowers really grow where I live, so I opted for artificial flowers. Some candy melt seashells and graham cracker sand at the base, and this Hawaiian Island smash cake was all set! Recipe below!
FAQS:
"Your recipe calls for cake mixes? Seriously?"
- Okay, all my scratch recipe purists - hear me out on this one! 😉 Lol I have a reason!
- It's true, nothing beats scratch cakes for taste. But there's one catch. My favorite scratch recipes just bake too dense to be easily smash-able by little hands. My first smash cake barely got smashed at all, because the sweet little one-year-old I made it for just couldn't get her fingers through the cake!
- After making many smash cakes over several years, I've found cake mixes to work the best. Smash cakes need to be...smashable!
All of that said though - if you'd like a scratch recipe though, a half batch of my favorite Vanilla Cake layer recipe is great for smash cakes! 🙂 A scaled version perfect for 6-inch cake layers is on the Vanilla Cake layer recipe page, below the standard recipe.
“How do I transport or store this cake?”
Before serving - and if I need to transport a cake anywhere - I tend to favor cake boxes. Boxes help keep the cake from drying out without any plastic wrap touching the sides of the cake and potentially messing up the decorations!
I place cakes in the fridge if storing overnight, but allow them to come to room temperature before serving.
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Hawaiian Island Smash Cake
Equipment
- 1 8 inch cardboard cake circle (a 6-inch circle would work; I've just found moving cakes on larger circles easier)
- large offset spatula (to spread frosting)
- cake scraper or pastry cutter (to smooth frosting)
- Cake turntable (optional, but makes decorating much faster and easier!)
Ingredients
Cake layers
- 1 box Vanilla cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines French Vanilla)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick, melted and cooled)
- 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature, or use 1 cup milk mixed with with 2 tsp lemon juice)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 4 ounces butter (softened)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
- 2-4 drops yellow gel food coloring (save & add later)
- 2-4 drops orange gel food coloring (save & add later)
- 2-4 drops purple gel food coloring (save & add later)
Decorations
- 4 ounces White Candy Melts (for the seashells; I used Wilton Bright white)
- Seashell mold (I used this mold from Amazon)
- Silk tropical flowers (I found mine at Hobby Lobby, but these flowers clips and these small palm leaves are available on Amazon)
- ¼ cup Graham cracker crumbs (fake ‘sand’ for the cake base)
Instructions
Cake layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare cake pans with baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line with parchment rounds.
- Combine melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl and mix until combined. Add in cake mix and stir until moistened (about 30 seconds), then beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
- Using a kitchen scale, divide batter evenly between the 6” pans – I had about 300gin each pan. (Using the kitchen scale guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height.)
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt if needed and beat until well combined.
Assembly
- Once your cakes are cool, level them - this can be done with a cake leveler or a large serrated knife and a ruler. Place a smear of frosting on your cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center of the circle. Spread the layer with frosting. Add your second cake layer on top – I like to flip the top layer upside down to make smoothing the top edge easier.
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake tiers to keep crumbs out of your final layer. Place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to set.
Decorating
- Divide remaining frosting into 3 parts, and color one yellow, one orange, and one purple.
- Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layers of frosting with an offset spatula – each covering about 1/3 of the cake – and smooth with a cake scraper. Once your cake is covered, place it into the fridge or freezer to set the frosting.
- Melt candy melts in the microwave, in 30-second intervals on half power. Transfer to silicone mold and smooth tops with a scraper or offset spatula, and place in the fridge to set.
- The rest of the decorating process is fairly simple – top with flowers / palm leaves to your liking, transfer candy melt seashells to the cake, and add a rim of graham cracker crumbs around the cake base to resemble sand.
- Step back, admire your cake, and find someone to give you a high-five! (Shoot me a DM on Instagram if you can’t find anyone right away!)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Mentioned in post -
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
Did you make this Hawaiian Island Smash Cake?
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