If you’re an avid baker like me, you’ll be soaking in all the inspiration possible for your little one’s first birthday cake. I couldn’t wait to bake Azaiah’s cake, and I eagerly started to plan the theme early via a Pinterest board. I went with a wild one jungle theme, but there are plenty of fun and exciting ideas to get stuck into to celebrate your bub’s first big day. Take a look at some of the best first-birthday cake ideas to mark this beautiful milestone.
Baking Essentials
HaWare 8 inch Cake Tins
This set of two cake tins is the perfect size to cater for a little party. They’re stainless steel, feature a non-toxic coating and ensure your bake is heated evenly. Simply grease your tin with butter or baking parchment, and you’re good to go.
Salter Marino Baking Stand Mixer
If you love to bake regularly, then a stand mixer is a great investment. Hand whisks will also do the job, but I love using a stand mixer, particularly when it comes to the lengthy process of making a pale, fluffy buttercream to coat your sponges with. This 5-litre mixer features 6 speed settings, so you’ll be whipping up a storm.
ACCUWEIGHT 201 Digital Kitchen Scales
A baking essential, this set of scales will ensure you nail your recipes.
Bakery Direct 100% Recyclable Piping Bags
Pipe your creation like a true professional with this set of disposable piping bags that allow for plenty of buttercream.
Wilton Decorating Piping Icing Tips
When it comes to icing nozzles, I swear by Wilton. This set features a range of shapes depending on the design you’re going for, plus they’re of great quality.
PME Cake Scraper
If you want to perfect smooth edges, then a cake scraper is essential. This tall stainless steel scraper is perfect for getting clean and neat edges on your cake.
Cake Turntable
A cake turntable is great to have in your kit; not only does it make decorating easier, but it also allows you to get more precision.
Themes
Wild One
I went with this theme for Azaiah’s first birthday and had so much fun with it when it came to making his cake. You can decorate your cake with a variety of jungle animals as well as leaves and foliage. I went with two shades of green to decorate the cake and experimented with a faultline design with fondant leaves, spheres and animals.
Beary First Birthday
This is a really cute theme that could work for boys and girls. Simply decorate the cake with a light brown/nude buttercream icing and decorate with fondant bears. Pops of blue or pink also add a really nice touch, and spheres could be used to make it even more extravagant.
Alice in One-derland
I love the idea of this theme, and a cake would make the perfect centrepiece of a madhatters tea party. Fondant could be used to create teapots and mushrooms along with a checkered border.
However, if, like me, you’re not overly confident with fondant, you could decorate with pink or blue buttercream, pipe mushrooms and foliage using particular nozzles and top the cake with a bunny, clock or even an Alice in Wonderland cake topper. Toppers are easy to locate on sites like Etsy or if you’re feeling super creative, you could attempt them yourself.
Berry First Birthday
A theme that you could have a lot of fun with. The cake could be decorated with pink and red icing, buttercream strawberries, and hints of green. Alternatively, fondant strawberries could be made to place around the cake.
First trip around the sun
There’s so much to be done with this captivating theme that takes on a space and planets aesthetic. The cake could be decorated with a dark blue icing to fit the outer space theme, along with either buttercream or fondant stars and planets. Edible glitter could also be used to add a bit of wow factor and sparkle. Cake toppers could also be used to add planets and astronauts.
One-der the sea
This theme could take your cake down several avenues. You could go with a traditional under-the-sea theme with perhaps blue buttercream, fondant or cake topper sea creatures and crushed digestives to create sand to add texture to the base of the cake. Or you could go with a mermaid theme using a variety of pastel colours and metallics, which come in the form of sprays. I love the idea of spraying the buttercream base of the cake with a metallic spray for this theme.