This First Birthday Smash Cake with Yogurt Frosting is an easy and super special first birthday cake. It’s moist, flavorful, and so yummy—and has the creamiest yogurt frosting. Find everything you need to make this vanilla oat smash cake, plus allergy-friendly and make-ahead options.
I first learned to make this healthy first birthday cake from a friend when she made it for her daughter Ruby, and I’ve now made this cake about a dozen times in various forms over the years. I love both how easy it is to make—no special skills required!—and how good the final result tastes.
The tender crumb of the smash cake is paired with a yogurt-based frosting for results that are as delicious as they are fun for the kids to smash.
This is a perfect first birthday cake option since it’s sweetened with maple syrup and has plenty of flavor and healthy fats. It can also be made ahead of time too, which is helpful when planning first birthday party ideas for a little one.
(You may also like Blueberry Smash Cake, Sweet Potato Baby Cake, and my full list of Kids Birthday Cake Recipes.)
Table of Contents
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1st Birthday Smash Cake Recipe
This healthy first birthday cake is made with whole grains and natural sweeteners and is a fun way to celebrate the big day! The cake tastes like maple and vanilla, with a slightly tangy yogurt frosting.
We like to top it with fresh fruit for a simple and bright finish.
What’s a smash cake?
A smash cake is a first birthday cake meant for a baby turning 1. The idea is that they will eat, smash, and generally make a mess of it as they explore this new food by using their hands and sometimes their bodies! (It’s usually placed in front of baby on a highchair or on the floor on a sheet or drop cloth.) It’s a fun tradition to mark a big milestone, and this version of a smash cake is an easy one to make at home.
TIP: You can place the cake onto the baby highchair, or onto the floor with baby set on top of a sheet to contain the mess a bit.
Ingredients You Need
Here’s a look at what you need to make this first birthday smash cake recipe to share with baby so you know what to have on hand.
- Oat flour: You can use store-bought oat flour or make your own by grinding rolled oats into a fine flour in the blender. I love using this ingredient because it creates a wonderful texture and adds nice flavor to the cake.
- Eggs: I bake and cook with large size eggs, so plan to use them here. They help bind the batter together and give the cake structure.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter in baking so it’s easy to control the level of salt in the recipe.
- Maple syrup: This natural sweetener adds flavor, sweetness, and moisture.
- Vanilla extract: You can use regular vanilla extract or an alcohol-free option.
Ingredient Substitutions
Gluten-Free First Birthday Cake: If you need to make this gluten-free, you can use certified gluten-free oats or gluten-free oat flour.
Dairy-Free Smash Cake: You can make this recipe without dairy by using coconut oil and a dairy-free yogurt. See the Notes section at the bottom of the recipe card for the details.
Egg-Free Smash Cake: To make this without eggs, there are a few adjustments you’ll want to make to the batter, including adding ripe banana and a small amount of regular flour to help bind the batter together. The banana flavor is subtle and the cake is moist and sweet. See the Notes section at the bottom of the recipe for the details.
(This Blueberry Smash Cake is also egg-free.)
Step-by-Step Instructions
The process for making this first birthday cake is simple. Here’s a preview of the process so you know what to expect. Scroll down to the end of this post for the full recipe and all the variations.
Step 1. Lightly beat the eggs. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and stir.
Step 2. Gently stir together the dry ingredients and add to the wet.
Step 3. Divide the batter between greased cake pans. Bake until lightly golden brown around the edges and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly.
Step 4. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack while still in the pan. The cakes must cool completely to hold their fluffy structure.
TIP: You can make this recipe in 5-inch pans, 6-inch cake pans, 8-inch cake pans, or cupcakes.
How to Make Yogurt Frosting
The frosting for this smash cake is made with whole milk plain Greek yogurt, a little maple syrup, and a touch of vanilla extract. It’s slightly tangy from the yogurt and super simple to make. (And there’s no need for cups and cups of powdered sugar to make it thick and spreadable!)
Step 5. Strain the yogurt in a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheese cloth or paper towels over a bowl. This makes it thicker, as it helps to remove some of the liquid in the yogurt.
Step 6. Stir yogurt together with maple syrup and vanilla in a bowl. You can use a spoon or a hand-held mixer if you prefer.
Step 7. Add some frosting on top of the first layer. Spread. Add another cake and more frosting.
Step 8. Add the third cake, if using an additional cake layer. Top with the rest of the frosting. Add berries if you’d like.
TIP: You can leave it plain, top the layers with berries, add sprinkles, or add a candle for baby’s first birthday.
Frequently Asked Questions
It does contain natural sugars from maple syrup. Your little one’s first birthday is a big celebration, so it’s only fitting that they have a really special cake to mark the day! (Though this is so good you might hope they don’t smash it so you can have a piece for yourself. I usually use just two layers of the cake for the smash cake and save the third one so the rest of us can have a slice!)
TIP: If you want to use less maple syrup, a few people have replaced half of it with very smooth mashed bananas.
This cake, due to the oat flour, is a little denser than a traditional yellow cake. It will smash just fine, though, and has a wonderful flavor from the maple syrup and vanilla extract.
A smash cake is a cake meant to be placed in front of a baby on their first birthday and smashed, eaten, or explored in any way the child chooses. A cake is usually just sliced and enjoyed.
How to Store
This is a great first birthday cake to make in advance, especially if you’ll be busy celebrating your new toddler on their big day. Simply bake the cakes and make the frosting the day before. Store the cakes, once fully cooled after baking, in airtight containers (in one layer) at room temperature.
Store the frosting in an airtight container in the fridge.
TIP: I recommend frosting the first birthday cake just before serving, but you can frost up to an hour ahead and leave it at room temperature.
Make Ahead Tips
To Make the Cakes Ahead: You can bake the cakes up to a day ahead. Let cool fully on wire racks and store at room temperature in an airtight container. Frost just before serving.
To Make the Frosting Ahead: Prepare the frosting as directed and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours
Best Tips for Success
- Let the first birthday cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning them out onto the rack for the best texture.
- You can try making this 1st birthday cake with whole wheat flour if you prefer—though check for doneness closer to 18-22 minutes and stir very gently to avoid overworking the batter.
- To Use Three 4-Inch Pans: Divide the healthy smash cake recipe in half. The baking time will be 16-18 minutes and the layers will be slightly thinner than shown here.
- To Use Three 6-Inch Pans: The baking time will be 20-22 minutes, and the layers will be slightly thinner than shown here.
- To Use Two 8-Inch Pans: Bake in two 8-inch round cake pans, using about 2 cups of batter in each pan and baking for 18-20 minutes. The layers will be thinner than shown here.
- To Make as Cupcakes: Use about 3 tablespoons of the batter in each paper cupcake liner to make about 16 cupcakes. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (I did 20 minutes). The rest of the recipe is the same.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback if you try this first birthday cake, so please rate and comment below to share!
First Birthday Smash Cake (with Yogurt Frosting)
Ingredients
Greek Yogurt Frosting
- 1½ cups whole-milk plain Greek yogurt
- 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Oat Cake
- 3 cups oat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 4 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh berries to garnish
Instructions
To make the Frosting:
- Place 1½ cups whole milk yogurt in a sieve or fine-mesh strainer lined with a paper towel with a bowl underneath. Let sit for 30 minutes or up to overnight, covered in the fridge. (This helps ensure that the frosting is nice and thick.)
- Transfer the yogurt to a bowl and stir in 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract. Refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Trace one 5-inch cake pans onto parchment paper and cut out three times to make the rounds. Trim slightly to fit inside the bottom of each pan.
- Grease three 5-inch cake pans with nonstick spray and place a round of parchment inside of each. Grease again.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between prepared cake pans, using about 1⅓ cups batter in each pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 22-26 minutes. Remove from oven and place pans onto a wire rack. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then carefully invert to cool fully. Discard parchment paper rounds.
- To assemble, place one cake on your serving plate. Top with about ⅓-½ cup of frosting, spreading it in an even layer just past the edges. Add the second, repeat with frosting, and then repeat with the third cake . Use an offset spatula or knife to scrape off the frosting overhang for a "naked" cake look, or use additional frosting to coat the entire cake.
- Top with berries and serve…as in, let the birthday kiddo dig in!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post was first published May 2017.
Hi ,
Can you suggest something to substitute eggs in this recipe? My baby can’t have eggs.
Thanks !
Susan
I don’t have an egg alternative for this recipe, I’m sorry!
Hi!
I’m currently looking into healthy smash cakes (as I’m not much of a baker) and your recipe looks like the one! But I was wondering if I can add a mashed banana or coconut oil to make the cake more dense/moist? Just thinking of incorporating foods my boy currently enjoys.
The cake is very moist and dense as it is and I can’t say about those additions since I haven’t tried them. You could decorate the top of it with sliced bananas though!
My cake turned out really crumbly and broke into pieces! Where did I go wrong? It tastes delicious though!
Did you make any changes to the recipe? It may have been baked a little too long?
The same thing happened to my cake. It was too crumbly and broke. I used vegan butter instead of regular one. Do you think that could be the reason?
I haven’t made this with vegan butter so I can’t say but it’s possible. I’m sorry you had an issue though!
Food photography is a separate art form, so far I’m not doing very well, but I read a lot about it and your blog helps me improve my food photo skills!
Hi! Can I bake this cake in 5in glass pyrex bowls? If so, how might I have to adjust baking temp and time? Look forward to making this for my little one’s first birthday!
I haven’t tried that so I can’t say for sure, but this might give you some clues on what to watch for with the timing!
https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2018/03/29/glass-or-metal-or-stoneware/
Hi, can i make this with honey instead of maple syrup that is used in the recipe?
You can!
Hi there I cannot seem to find the recipe for the yoghurt frosting? Am I blind?! 🙂 Can you please tell me where to find it? I am hoping to make this for my girls first birthday tomorrow!
It’s at the bottom of the recipe in the Notes section!
When the yogurt is sitting for 30 minutes or overnight do you keep it in the refrigerator at this time or after this time is finished?
Yes, keep it in the fridge.
This sounds fantastic. Could I use cream cheese instead of the yoghurt for the icing? If so, I assume it wouldn’t be necessary to strain it first. My little girl’s first birthday party tomorrow and really keen for her to get to eat some cake.
Absolutely! This is typically what I do for a cream cheese frosting:
Beat together 1 8-ounce package cream cheese (softened at room temperature), 2 tablespoons butter (softened at room temperature), 2-3 tablespoons honey, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla with a hand-held mixer. Pipe or spread onto cooled cakes.
Looved the icing recipe! I didn’t use the cake recipe. I had planned to make banana bread as the cake. So I just slather this icing over it and done! Super easy to make. Everyone loved it including picky dad. Will make it again for sure. Thank you for the recipe.
Hooray and I love the idea of using the icing with banana bread!
Thanks for replying so fast! If I redo it I am going to double the recipe so I can fill the pans a bit more. I used whole milk greek yogurt from trader joes. It also seemed like 1 cup was not going to be enough. I had to use coffee filters because I didn’t have a cheese cloth…maybe it wasn’t strained enough
That sounds like a good idea given the pan size. You will need to bake them a little longer but use a cake tester or a toothpick in the center and stop baking when it comes out cleanly. (You should also be able to tell when the center gets firmed up.) You could add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to the batter to help it rise more but I think the main issue was likely that there simply wasn’t enough batter. If you don’t have cheesecloth, a thin kitchen towel might help strain it a little better. (I’m surprised that it was runny though, but I’m crossing my fingers that the second go turns out better!!)
I used 6 in pans and my cake didn’t rise. There was barley enough batter to fill two cake pans. And then my frosting was extremely runny. This was a major fail for me. The taste of the cake was great and I’m considering trying it again ? is the cake in the picture from a single recipe or was it doubled?? Wondering how mine could have been so off
Hi! Making this in 6 inch pans would make the cakes thinner since they are wider than 5 inch pans and would need more batter. Did you make any other adjustments? If you used Greek yogurt and strained it, it should be thick. I’d love to help if you have any other info you can share!
Would this work as a 2 tier cake or do you think it is too delicate for that? I plan on making this in a few weeks for my son’s first birthday, just the cake not the frosting. I’m going to make his smash cake look like a bear head so I’m going to use chocolate frosting for that. But for the adult cake I was planning to use this recipe also and make a 2 tier naked cake with either a maple buttercream or whipped buttercream and fresh berries. If you think it’s too delicate to hold all the weight of 2 tiers I can change my plans. I don’t want a disaster on my hands though!! Thanks in advance for your reply!
By tiers, do you mean two cakes sitting on top of each other with frosting in between? Or something else? If you just want to make a two layer naked cake with the larger size cakes, yes, that should work well!
No I mean like 2 tiers not layers. Like a 2 layer 6″ on top of a 2 layer 9″. Do you think that would work?
I can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried it but the cake is fairly sturdy so I would think so!
Would the frosting be able to go through a piping bag to make “roses” shapes from it?
Yes, that should work! If you need it to be stiffer, put it into the piping bag and pop it into the fridge for a few minutes!
Hi! Wondering if you can frost this cake the night before. I was thinking of making it for my daughter’s smash cake photo session but I don’t want to be rushing around the morning of, frosting and decorating. Thank you!
Hi! You can totally do it ahead but both the cake and the frosting will firm up some. I’d recommend that you let it sit at room temp for a bit before the session—though if it’s primarily for smashing and fun, it should be totally fine! I hope she enjoys it!