baby first birthday carrot cake (with applesauce instead of sugar) smash cake with handmade fondant bunting

My friend Irene has a son named Aaron, who recently just turned one! For his first birthday party, Irene asked me to make a few goodies, one of which was a carrot-cake smash cake for baby! To decorate, we decided that I would make a fondant blue bunting with his name on it, along with a big fondant number "1" for the cake topper.

About week before the party, I started making the topper, so that it would have enough time to dry. I basically took a big hunk of white fondant, rolled it out to about 3/4" thick, and then cut the number "1" out with a paring knife. (I did it this way, instead of shaping it, because I wanted the nice sharp edges).

To help smooth the fondant out a bit, I used square-edge handle on a fork, along with some cornstarch to prevent sticking.

Next, I started on the blue fondant bunting. After tinting my fondant a pretty shade of blue, I rolled it out really thin, and then used a pizza wheel (and a ruler) to cut out my triangle shapes. Then I used white royal icing to pipe letters onto each triangle of fondant (not pictured).

For the cake itself, I started on it two days before the party (I typically give myself one day to bake and cool the cakes, and then one day to frost and decorate). Irene wanted a cake without sugar in it, so I found this recipe from Natasha's Kitchen for an applesauce carrot cake. However I omitted the honey, and added a few squirts of agave instead, and I also made homemade applesauce instead of store-bought.

I also bought organic carrots to grate into the carrot cake (only the best for baby!).

I baked the cakes in four 6-inch round cake pans, and let them cool before filling and stacking them with freshly whipped cream.

Then I covered the tops and sides with cream cheese buttercream (crumb coat, chilled for 30 minutes, and then then final coat).

To finish off the cake, I used a Wilton #7 tip to pipe little beads of frosting along the top and bottom of the cake.

To secure each bunting triangle, I piped a small dot of frosting on the back of the triangle, before placing it on the cake.

And the final touch - the big fondant number "1"!

In the next few posts I'll have more on the rest of the goodies that I made, but in the meantime here's a picture of the birthday boy as he investigates his cake! He's SO cute!!!

Happy First Birthday, little Aaron!

funfetti welcome home cake with handmade bunting

Some of you may remember that we spent an entire month of our summer visiting my husband's family in Hawaii (see the bottom of this post for a few pictures from our trip).  What I didn't mention is that when it was time for us to go home, my son Matthew decided to stay and spend the rest of the summer at his grandparent's house in Hawaii. We missed him like crazy and skyped and talked on the phone to him almost every day while he was gone. But he had such a good time, and we were so glad that he was able to bond with his grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunties!

When it was time for him to finally come home almost 2 months later, we decided that a "welcome home" mini party would be a great way to celebrate his return! So I baked up a homemade funfetti cake for the occasion!

I used this vanilla cake recipe from Sweetapolita (except I use sour cream instead of whipped cream), and added a bunch of colored sprinkles to the batter before baking (although I should have added way more!)

Then I sliced each cake in half horizontally, and filled the layers with freshly whipped cream (giving me 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of whipped cream).

Next, I covered the entire cake with two coats of whipped cream, and then added a decorative shell border on the top as well as the bottom of the cake.

I had recently found these colorful sprinkles (at Target!), and thought they would be perfect - colorful and fun just like the the funfetti in the cake batter!

So I sprinkled them generously along the top and bottom borders.

While the cake chilled in the fridge, I made a "welcome home" bunting to go on top of the cake. I cut little triangles out of cardstock and craft paper, and used a needle and thread to string them together.

Then I attached each end of the bunting to bamboo skewers, before securing the skewers in the top of the cake.

My brother's girlfriend helped us make a matching "welcome home" bunting for the wall decoration as well, and they picked up colorful balloons for the celebration.

Little Melodie was so happy to have her big brother back home again!

Cutting into the cake revealed the lovely layers, however I just wish there was more funfetti on the inside of the cake!

Welcome home, my Matthew! We missed you so much, and it's great to have you home again! :)