I had a blast baking a smash cake for my nephew then capturing him in the process of smashing it. I used a box mix Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge (Since I knew it was going to be mostly smashed and trashed and not eaten). Prepped my 6" round pan with Cake Release and parchment, then scooped 3 cups of batter into pan. Baked at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Invert pan onto cooling rack until room temp, then move to fridge. Use leftover batter for cupcakes.
Buttercream Frosting
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 sticks (1 1/2 cup) room temperature butter
1 tbsp clear vanilla extract
3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
food coloring as needed. For the drum cake 6" I left most white, colored some gray. (Leftover frosting used to cover cupcakes).
Once the cake was chilled, I leveled it and frosted it with the buttercream, moved it back into fridge to set. Using a plain Viva paper towel, I gently placed it on the top and sides to smooth out any bumps or air bubbles. Laid the paper towel on top and used Color Mist* in blue to spray the sides. *Remember to protect the surface you are working on with newspaper to collect over-spray. I used the gray tinted frosting in a piping bag with a petal tip 102 to make the top and bottom borders. Next, I used tip 3 to pipe the vertical lines and tip 102 again to go over the lines. Piped his little initials on the front and called it a drum.
We set up the area in my kitchen with lots of windows, covered it with a plastic silver tablecloth, threw in a couple balloons, hung his name in letters from the window sill, a pinata that I made, and I got to use my new cake stand. Add baby; commence pictures.
These I am going to put together into an album along with video we shot, set to happy birthday music. My sister is going to pick her favorite pic and they are also going to be used in the favor bags as thank you notes.
I can't wait to make his birthday cakes in a couple weeks for his actual party. They will be a larger drum cake and a guitar.
