Mio and the mess she created.

Continuing from Part I and Part II of Mio’s birthday party posts, here’s the finale portion of Mio’s first birthday celebration — the smash cake! While we had made plenty of cupcakes to go around for our guests (in lieu of a birthday cake), we had a dedicated birthday cake all for Mio to enjoy! For those who are not familiar with a smash cake, it’s a common first birthday tradition where the child is encouraged to attack the cake with her fingers, fists, or face — no utensils required! It typically makes a huge mess on both the baby and the surrounding area, but it’s a whole lot of fun for the grown-ups to watch and get a good laugh out of it. And I’m sure most children don’t mind digging into a sweet dessert without restraint, so it’s a win-win for all!

 

Dan with Mio's smash cake
Dan with Mio's smash cake

 

I worked so hard on this cake!

 

Because we haven’t really exposed Mio to anything with sugar in her diet yet, and would like to avoid giving her sweets for as long as we can manage, I did some research before making her smash cake, to see if there were any wholesome cake recipes that didn’t contain sugar and artificial sweeteners. Thankfully, it seems that there are many other mothers out there who feel the same, and I was able to find some helpful resources and recipes! After going through various recipes, I decided on making a carrot cake that used applesauce and apple juice concentrate as sweeteners in place of sugar, and that used whole wheat flour instead of enriched white flour. (I took a taste of it when it came out of the oven, and it actually still tasted pretty sweet, thanks to the natural sweetness of the apples and carrots!) The frosting was the toughest part, as most frosting depends on sugar to achieve its thickness and ability to crust, and many of the sugar-free recipes I found on the web used artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes like Equal and Splenda, which I think are just as bad (if not worse) for a baby to ingest. I ended up using a stabilized whipped cream recipe, which used gelatin to help it hold its shape, and added some meringue powder as well to help with stiffening the frosting. I then added icing colors to achieve the hues I wanted as I frosted roses onto the carrot cake. Even stabilized, the whipped cream was melting down the sides of the cake (see picture) while I was frosting it, and I had to keep it in the freezer until right before the party began to make sure it held its shape. I guess something’s gotta give when you are working with limited ingredients! I am just happy that I was able to make a cake that was pretty healthy and wholesome and still enjoyable to eat.

Mio went to town with the cake and really worked the crowd (she’s quite the entertainer!), but you can see for yourself here in the video, or scroll further down to see the cake demolition step by step!

 

Mio staring at everyone.
Mio staring at everyone while we sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

 

Singing "Happy Birthday"

 

My little birthday girl!
My little birthday girl!

 

Reaching her hands in...
Reaching her hands in...

 

Scooping up the frosting...
Scooping up the frosting...

 

Taking fistfuls of frosting
Fistfuls of frosting!

 

Bringing it to the mouth!
Bringing it to her mouth!

 

"Go Mio! Go Mio!"
"Go Mio! Go Mio!"

 

Surrounded by paparazzi!
Surrounded by paparazzi!

 

Going for more...
Going for more...

 

An impressive cake beard.
An impressive cake beard.

 

She just keeps going...
She just keeps going...

 

Smash that cake!
The cake didn't stand a chance.

 

Breaking into the cake
Breaking into the cake

 

A sheepish smile.
A sheepish smile.

 

"Banzai! I am victorious against the cake!"
"Banzai! I am victorious against the cake!"

 

Me surveying the damage.
Me surveying the damage.

 

"Here, have some!"
Mio trying to hand me a handful of frosting. "Here, have some!" No thanks, Mio...

 

Carrot cake inside the smash cake
The demolished cake.

 

 

Afterwards, Mio changed out of her caked dress and we gathered around to open presents.

 

Our guests watching us unwrap presents.

 

 

A beautiful dress from the Satos!
Thank you Sarah for the adorable lamb hat!

 

Mio with her lovely shoes!
Mio with her lovely new ruffle shoes!

 

Because Mio had been up from 6:45 am, and didn’t take her morning nap due to all the excitement, she was noticeably cranky and tired by the 3 o’clock hour when we were opening presents. I can’t believe she was able to stay up that long!

Mio started getting cranky...
Starting to whine.

 

Getting more and more cranky.
Getting more and more cranky.

 

A generous gift from the Nojimas and Kims.
We tried to carry on opening presents, despite all her protests.

 

Mio is reaching her limit.
Mio ended up curling up in Daddy's lap, crying with her eyes closed.

 

Can't... stay... awake.
Can't... stay... awake.

 

Sleeping despite all the noise.
And within a minute, she passed out. Poor Mio was exhausted.

 

Even rolling a toy on her doesn't wake her up.
It was so noisy, but she didn't even stir. Even rolling a toy on her doesn't wake her up. She was out cold.

 

So many gifts from Tarrin and Jason!
So we just continued opening presents on her behalf, in peace.

 

Thank you everyone for the generous gifts!
Thank you everyone for all the generous and thoughtful gifts!

 

 

In all my busy-ness running around during the party, I lamely didn’t take many pictures with our guests! I have what little photos I have with them from pulling them off of friends’ Facebook and phone uploads. Thank you to everyone who shared their photos with me, and if you have any more photos from the party, please feel free to send them on over! 🙂

Adorable Megumi and Sam with their mason jar mugs.
Adorable Megumi and Sam with their mason jar mugs.

 

With lovely Sam!

 

With beautiful Megumi, who has spoiled Mio so much, from even before she was born!

 

With Jason! Thanks for coming from all the way across the bridge!

 

Hyang Sun was 8 months pregnant at the party and was still a month away from her due date, but she ended up having her baby girl a month early, the day after Mio's birthday party! Congratulations!

 

Thank you ladies for all your help!
Special thanks to Wynn, Megumi, and Sam who came an hour before the party started to help with last-minute preparations and set-up! We couldn't have pulled it off without their help.

 

Sign for the party favor cookies.
I didn't get to take a photo of the favor box until after all the favors were gone, but we gave away our homemade cookies in little packages for our guests to take home with them.

 

See below for a slideshow of all the photos taken at the party! (We couldn’t post all of them on the blog without crashing your browser.)

 

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to Mio’s birthday party to celebrate with us! It was definitely memorable and we will treasure these precious memories for years and decades to come. Our first year as parents was definitely a challenge and had its fair share of ups and downs, but it is thanks to the love and support of our family and friends that we’ve been able to come this far. We look forward to many more great memories together with you! 😀