Wild One Smash Cake
Have a wild little one getting ready to turn one? This 'Wild One' Smash cake is sure to be a smash hit for their party!
Servings: 1 smash cake
Calories: 4500kcal
Equipment
- 1 8 inch cardboard cake circle (a 6-inch circle would work; I've just found moving cakes on larger circles easier)
- Baker's floured cooking spray (optional)
- large offset spatula (to spread frosting)
- cake scraper or pastry cutter (to smooth frosting)
- Cake turntable (optional, but makes decorating much faster and easier!)
- small piping bag + leaf tip (I also used a grass tip, but this is optional)
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake layers
- 1 ⅛ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ⅛ cups granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick; softened)
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- ¾ cups buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon 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 electric green gel food coloring (save & add later)
- 2-4 drops green gel food coloring (save & add later)
Decorations
- cake topper
- wafer paper leaves (optional)
Instructions
Chocolate cake layers
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (180C). Prepare three 6-inch round pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle (or hand mixer or whisk) until well combined. Add in bits of softened butter, mixing until no lumps of butter are visible and the mixture looks crumbly.
- Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix until no dry ingredients are visible. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another 20 seconds. Fill the three pans evenly - I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part.
- Bake for 28-35 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans, and 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. (Don't add the gel color yet - see below!)
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, and add the next layer on top. Repeat the process with your remaining layers – 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
- Add a final layer of frosting to the outside of the cake - I didn't worry about making it thick enough or perfectly smooth at the base of the cake, since I knew I'd be covering that part with other frosting colors.
- Add 2-4 drops of electric green gel color to about 2/3 cup of your remaining frosting, and add a layer of bright green frosting around the bottom two thirds of the cake. Smooth with your bench scraper.
- Add 2-4 drops of deep green gel color to about 2/3 cup of remaining frosting. Repeat the above process around the bottom third of the cake.
- Transfer your remaining deep green frosting to a piping bag fitted with a leaf tip, and add 'vines' of leaves up the cake as far as you'd like - I went about halfway up.
- Add your cake topper on top! The wafer paper leaves are optional, but I thought they added a really cute touch to the cake. And with that...you’re done! Enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate. Counts will be lower in all fields if not all frosting is used to decorate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1cake | Calories: 4500kcal | Carbohydrates: 623g | Protein: 64g | Fat: 242g